Archive
06/03/2019 – Ephemeris – We’re starting Ephemeris’ 45th journey around the Sun
Ephemeris for Monday, June 3rd. Today the Sun will be up for 15 hours and 23 minutes, setting at 9:22, and it will rise tomorrow at 5:59. The Moon is new today, and won’t be visible.
With this program Ephemeris begins its 45th journey around the Sun. While this short program mostly covers the wonders visible in the heavens with the naked eye, binoculars or small telescope, as last week has shown we also cover news developments, hopefully whetting your appetite to dig deeper. Over the last 44 years we’ve seen the rise and demise of the Space Shuttle program, the fantastic images and data brought back by the Hubble Space Telescope, the planetary probes Viking, Voyager, Galileo, Cassini, MESSENGER, New Horizons, Rosetta, Dawn and others to visit all the planets in the solar system plus asteroids, dwarf planets, and comets. Discoveries beyond the solar system boggle the mind. Let’s go for another orbit around the Sun on spaceship Earth.
The times given are for the Traverse City/Interlochen area of Michigan. They may be different for your location.
02/02/2015 – Ephemeris – Ground Hog Day and other Cross-Quarter days
Ephemeris for Ground Hog Day, Monday, February 2nd. The sun will rise at 8:01. It’ll be up for 9 hours and 51 minutes, setting at 5:52. The moon, 1 day before full, will set at 7:26 tomorrow morning.
If Punxsutawney Phil, the groundhog in Punxsutawney, PA sees his shadow we’re supposed to be in for 6 weeks of winter, otherwise spring is just around the corner. The way the seasons really work, is that Ground Hog day is about half the way from the winter solstice to the spring equinox. In reality calendar-wise winter is about 12 weeks and 5 days, so we only have 6 weeks a few days to go of winter anyway. Groundhog day, May Day, and All Saints Day are holidays near cross quarter days, which are said to mark when seasons are half over. It seems no one cares when summer is half over around the first of August when Back to School Sales used to start. Of course now those sales seem to start the day after school lets out in June.
Times are for the Traverse City/Interlochen area of Michigan. They may be different for your location.
Addendum
Poor Punxsutawney Phil, rousted out of his mid winter nap. They might be in the middle of a blizzard today. Credit: http://www.fuzzytoday.com
04/12/2013 – Ephemeris – Yuri’s Night
Ephemeris for Friday, April 12th. The sun will rise at 7:03. It’ll be up for 13 hours and 20 minutes, setting at 8:23. The moon, 2 days past new, will set at 11:00 this evening.
A special celebration has been sneaking into my consciousness: Yuri’s Night. It is celebrated in many places around the world, including at NASA. The closest celebration to us is in Ann Arbor. It is the anniversary of Yuri Gargarin’s, and mankind’s first orbital flight around the earth in 1961. These are all in the nature of parties, talks and the like celebrating the beginning of humankind’s first steps into space. Gargarin never flew in space again and tragically died in 1968 when his jet crashed.
NASA has released a series of ebooks about the Soviet space program written by Boris Chertok, one of the rocket designers. It’s in four volumes Rockets and People. I skipped to the 4th, the Moon Race and their heart breaking development of the N1 moon rocket that never really worked.
Times are for the Traverse City/Interlochen area of Michigan. They may be different for your location.
Addendum
Link to NASA’s page to download Rockets and People.
Bob Moler's Ephemeris Blog 