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04/10/2013 – Ephemeris – Where are Comet PanSTARRS and the two bright planets thia week?
Ephemeris for Wednesday, April 10th. The sun will rise at 7:06. It’ll be up for 13 hours and 14 minutes, setting at 8:21. The moon is new today, and won’t be visible.
It’s time to check out a comet and the two remaining bright planets for this week. Comet PanSTARRS is in the northwest in the evening, moving away from the sun and us, and getting a little higher in the sky as it moves northward. The comet will no longer set though it is best seen in the evening and mornings just after the end of evening twilight and before morning twilight. The comet is now down to near 6th magnitude, strictly a binocular object. Jupiter is located in the constellation of Taurus and is in the west during the evening. It will set at 12:51 a.m. The other bright planet Saturn will rise at 9:43 p.m. in the east southeast. It’s located in eastern Virgo. It will pass due south at 2:56 a.m. Both planets are wonderful sights in telescopes. Saturn has those wonderful rings.
Times are for the Traverse City/Interlochen area of Michigan. They may be different for your location.
Addendum
Jupiter and the setting winter stars at 10 p.m. on April 10, 2013. Created using Stellarium.
Saturn rising with bright stars of spring at 11 p.m. April 10, 2013. Created using Stellarium.
Comet PanSTARRS at the end of twilight at 10 p.m. for the seven days starting April 10, 2013. Created using Cartes du Ciel.
Comet PanSTARRS at the beginning of twilight 5:20 a.m. for the dates listed. Created using Cartes du Ciel.
04/03/2013 – Ephemeris – Where are Comet PanSTARRS and the bright planets this week?
Ephemeris for Wednesday, April 3rd. The sun will rise at 7:19. It’ll be up for 12 hours and 53 minutes, setting at 8:12. The moon, at last quarter today, will rise at 3:57 tomorrow morning.
It’s time to check out a comet and the two remaining bright planets for this week. Comet PanSTARRS is in the northwest, moving away from the sun, and getting a little higher in the sky as it moves northward rather than eastward. The comet will set at 11:22 p.m. The comet is now down to near 5th magnitude, strictly a binocular object. It’s also visible in the morning, rising at 3:04 a.m. Jupiter is located in the constellation of Taurus and is in the west during the evening. It will set at 1:16 a.m. The other bright planet Saturn will rise at 10:13 p.m. in the east southeast. It’s located in eastern Virgo. It will pass due south at 3:26 a.m. Both planets are wonderful sights in telescopes. Saturn is the most beautiful of planets with its rings.
Times are for the Traverse City/Interlochen area of Michigan. They may be different for your location.
Addendum
Comet PanSTARRS at 9:30 p.m. for the period April 3 through 9, 2013. Created using Cartes du Ciel.
Jupiter with the setting constellations of winter at 10 p.m. on April 3, 2013. Created using Stellarium.
Saturn rising at 11:30 p.m. on April 3, 2013. Created using Stellarium.
Comet PanSTARRS in the morning at 5:45 for the period April 4 through 10, 2013. Created using Cartes du Ciel.
03/27/2013 – Ephemeris – Where’s Comet PanSTARRS and the bright planets this week?
Ephemeris for Wednesday, March 27th. The sun will rise at 7:32. It’ll be up for 12 hours and 31 minutes, setting at 8:04. The moon, at full today, will rise at 8:49 this evening.
It’s time to check out a comet and the two remaining bright planets for this week. Comet PanSTARRS is in the northwest, moving away from the sun, and getting a little higher in the sky as it moves northward rather than eastward. The comet will set at 10:26. The comet is now down to near 4th magnitude, as bright as a relatively faint naked eye star. Jupiter is located in the constellation of Taurus and is in the high southwest during the evening. It will set at 1:35 a.m. Jupiter is a wonderful sight in telescopes with its cloud bands and its moons which change positions each night. The other bright planet Saturn will rise at 10:43 p.m. in the east southeast. It’s located in eastern Virgo. It will pass due south at 3:55 a.m. Saturn is the most beautiful of planets in a telescope.
Times are for the Traverse City/Interlochen area of Michigan. They may be different for your location.
Addendum
Comet PanSTARRS at about 9:15 p.m. from March 27 to April 2, 2013. Note that the comet will pass the Great Andromeda Galaxy in early April. Created using Cartes du Ciel.
Jupiter with the stars of winter in a moon brightened sky at 9:30 p.m. March 27, 2013. Created using Stellarium.
Saturn near Spica and the moon at 6 a.m. on March 28th. The moon will be passing Saturn on Friday afternoon, below the horizon. Created using Stellarium.
03/25/2013 – Ephemeris – What are comets made of?
Ephemeris for Monday, March 25th. The sun will rise at 7:35. It’ll be up for 12 hours and 25 minutes, setting at 8:01. The moon, 2 days before full, will set at 6:51 tomorrow morning.
For Jews this the first day of Passover, which began at sundown last night. I’ll have more to say about the relationship between Passover and Easter, and the astronomical connection later in the week. Comet PanSTARRS is definitely heading away from us now, about 116 million miles Its distance from the sun is now 51 million miles, between Mercury and Venus’s distance from the sun.. Our modern understanding of comets comes from the mid 20th century when Fred Whipple proposed that comets were composed of frozen gasses and dust and small particles of minerals. This has led to the popular description that comets are dirty snowballs. This described the nucleus of the comet, tiny compared to its head or coma.
Times are for the Traverse City/Interlochen area of Michigan. They may be different for your location.
03/22/2013 – Ephameris – Comet PanSTARRS: Ancient and not so ancient fears of comets
Ephemeris for Friday, March 22nd. The sun will rise at 7:41. It’ll be up for 12 hours and 16 minutes, setting at 7:57. The moon, 3 days past first quarter, will set at 5:24 tomorrow morning.
Comet PanSTARRS is moving northward and away from the sun. It is slowly being seen higher in the west northwest when first spotted. The head of PanSTARRS’ brightness should be down to 3rd magnitude, as bright as the star in the Big Dipper that connects the handle to the bowl. Comets, in ancient times, were thought to be omens of the death of kings, famines and the such. Ancient astronomers and astrologers. were used to the motions of the planets, though they never really understood them, they could model the motions with varying degrees of accuracy. Comets were the wild cards, disrupting the plan of the gods, and so were considered bad news. Western astronomers from Aristotle up to Kepler thought they were atmospheric phenomena.
Times are for the Traverse City/Interlochen area of Michigan. They may be different for your location.
Addendum
Comet PanSTARRS about an hour and a quarter after sunset for March 22 through the 25th. Created using Stellarium and Cartes du Ciel. Click on the image to enlarge.
Comets were thought to be bad news:
The comet of 1857
Comets as daggers or swords. Bad news? You bet.
Comet leaves destruction in its wake. A woodcut.
03/21/2013 – Ephemeris – Where did Comet PanSTARRS come from?
Ephemeris for Thursday, March 21st. The sun will rise at 7:43. It’ll be up for 12 hours and 13 minutes, setting at 7:56. The moon, 2 days past first quarter, will set at 4:52 tomorrow morning.
Comet PanSTARRS is heading away from both the sun and the earth. It heading northward. Its orbit is inclined nearly 90 degrees away from the plane of the earth’s orbit. PanSTARRS will recede far past Neptune or the Kuiper Belt of objects that include the dwarf planet Pluto into the Oort cloud of cometary objects that extend out to a light year or 6 trillion miles from the sun. This cloud was named after Dutch astronomer Jan Oort. The comet may be ejected from the solar system. It’s orbit is currently calculated to be slightly hyperbolic. If that holds up, it will drift among the stars. It is thought that occasionally, in millions of years a star comes close or through the Oort cloud and scatters them.
Times are for the Traverse City/Interlochen area of Michigan. They may be different for your location.
Addendum
Artist’s impression of the Oort Cloud. (NASA/JPL). Hat Tip: Universe Today.
Comet PanSTARRS in the next 5 days at 9:15 p.m. Created using Stellarium and Cartes du Ciel.
03/19/2013 – Ephemeris – PanSTARRS, of course, plus a spring preview
Ephemeris for Tuesday, March 19th. The sun will rise at 7:47. It’ll be up for 12 hours and 6 minutes, setting at 7:53. The moon, at first quarter today, will set at 3:38 tomorrow morning.
Comet PanSTARRS continues to be seen low in evening twilight. It is moving now into the west northwest. When it becomes dark enough it will display a fan shaped tail in binoculars. It is moving away from both the sun and the earth. Tomorrow will see our own milestone as the earth moves into a position where the sun appears over the earth’s equator, and the sun sets at the south pole of the earth and rises at the north pole. It will be the vernal or spring equinox. Australians and other folks south of the equator may prefer to call it the March equinox, because for them autumn starts. The exact time the sun will appear to cross the equator heading northward will be 7:02 tomorrow morning. The sun will keep heading northward until June 21st.
Times are for the Traverse City/Interlochen area of Michigan. They may be different for your location.
Addendum
Comet PanSTARRS for this week’s weekdays at 9:15 p.m. Created using Stellarium and Cartes du Ciel.
The earth as seen from the sun near the vernal equinox. See the earth from north pole to south pole. Created using Celestia.
03/18/2013 – Ephemeris – Comet PanSTARRS, the view from Stereo B
Ephemeris for Monday, March 18th. The sun will rise at 7:48. It’ll be up for 12 hours and 3 minutes, setting at 7:52. The moon, 1 day before first quarter, will set at 2:54 tomorrow morning.
Comet PanSTARRS is now a prominent part of our twilight after sunset. It should be visible from maybe 8:40 until 9:41 p.m. when it sets, clear skies and a low horizon willing. Photographs are coming in from all over, including a time lapse movie from the satellite Stereo B, which is now nearly behind the sun looking back at the comet and the earth in the background. The dust tail of the comet was being ejected in sheets, possibly due to the rotation of the comet’s nucleus. Comets generally eject gas and dust from one of more hot spots. When rotated toward the sun they become active and begin to spew gas and dust. When rotated away, they become quiet once again. It looks like Comet PanSTARRS is matching its original brightness estimates.
Times are for the Traverse City/Interlochen area of Michigan. They may be different for your location.
Addendum
The video from Stereo B can be found here:
and here:
http://stereo.gsfc.nasa.gov/gallery/item.php?id=selects&iid=182
Comet PanSTARRS in the next 5 days at 9:15 p.m. Created using Stellarium and Cartes du Ciel.
03/15/2013 – Ephemeris – The latest on Comet PanSTARRS and possible viewing Saturday
Ephemeris for Friday, March 15th. The sun will rise at 7:54. It’ll be up for 11 hours and 54 minutes, setting at 7:48. The moon, half way from new to first quarter, will set at 12:14 tomorrow morning.
This past Wednesday evening it was clear around here and Comet PanSTARRS was visible very low on the western horizon. Estimates say the comet is now brighter than predicted. There’s wonderful images on http://spaceweather.com, and https://bobmoler.wordpress.com, the one on my blog was taken by Scott Anttila from Royal Oak last night. It should bode well for great viewing for the next week or so. The comet will set at 9:24 p.m. tonight. Saturday there will be a Star Party at the NMC Observatory starting at 9 p.m. Come a bit early and trudge through the snow a bit to see the comet. It isn’t visible from the building. Bring your binoculars, it’s the best way to see it, and hope for clear skies.
Times are for the Traverse City/Interlochen area of Michigan. They may be different for your location.
Addendum
Comet PanSTARRS over Royal Oak, MI March 14, 2013. Photo taken by Scott Anttila. Click to enlarge.
Comet PanSTARRS from March 14, 2013 through the 17th. Created using Stellarium and Cartes du Ciel.
03/14/2013 – Ephemeris – Comet PanSTARRS is hard to pick out of the twilight
Ephemeris for Pi Day 3/14, Thursday, March 14th. The sun will rise at 7:56. It’ll be up for 11 hours and 51 minutes, setting at 7:47. The moon, 3 days past new, will set at 11:13 this evening.
Comet PanSTARRS is moving northward and is seen higher in the west at 45 minutes after sunset. That’s 8:32 p.m. here in the Interlochen/Traverse City area. At that time it will be about 7 ½ degrees above the horizon. That’s three and a half knuckles up on a fist held at arms length above the horizon. Spaceweather.com has the latest photos of the comet with the advice that a several second exposure with a digital camera shows the comet better than to the eye. My finder charts which are close to photo realistic are on bobmoler.wordpress.com. Our weather isn’t the best here with rain fog and snow. But hope springs eternal. The comet will be around for the rest of the month but will still be fighting twilight and a brightening moon.
Times are for the Traverse City/Interlochen area of Michigan. They may be different for your location.
Addendum
Comet PanSTARRS from March 14, 2013 through the 17th. Created using Stellarium and Cartes du Ciel.
Now that the moon can’t be used as a pointer to the comet, I chosen to show the comet’s positions through the weekend.
Bob Moler's Ephemeris Blog 