Archive
12/14/2017 – Ephemeris – The Moon wanders over to Jupiter this morning
Dec 14. This is Bob Moler with Ephemeris for Thursday, December 14th. The Sun will rise at 8:11. It’ll be up for 8 hours and 50 minutes, setting at 5:02. The Moon, half way from last quarter to new, will rise at 5:26 tomorrow morning.
This morning the planet Jupiter will appear right below the crescent Moon. Jupiter is hard to miss, even without the Moon to point it out. It is with the rare exception of Mars when being its closest to the Earth the second brightest of the planets, after Venus. Speaking of Mars, which is to the upper right of Jupiter and has a reddish hue, if you’re going to send anything to Mars, next spring is the time to do it. Flight times to Mars are 6 to 7 months. The midpoint of the flight is when Mars is closest to the Earth, which next year is July 31st. NASA’s Insight Lander, grounded in 2016 due to an instrument failure has to wait 26 months for the next launch opportunity in May of next year.
The times given are for the Traverse City/Interlochen area of Michigan. They may be different for your location.
Addendum
The Moon, Jupiter and Mars this morning, December 14, 2017. Earth shine should be visible as shown, though not as prominent. Created using Stellarium.
A Hohmann lowest energy transfer orbit to Mars. This diagram is for the Mars Exploration Rovers Spirit and Opportunity launched in 2003, arrived in 2004. Solid planets, Spirit launch and arrival. Ghost planets, Opportunity launch and arrival. Credit NASA/JPL.
What’s a Hohmann transfer orbit? NASA explains.
11/20/2017 – Ephemeris – The Moon is near Saturn tonight and the approaching signs of winter
Ephemeris for Monday, November 20th. The Sun will rise at 7:46. It’ll be up for 9 hours and 23 minutes, setting at 5:09. The Moon, 2 days past new, will set at 7:04 this evening.
Tonight the two day old Moon will appear near Saturn. The ringed planet will appear to the left and a bit below the thin crescent Moon before they set about an hour later. The approaching winter season and the resumption of standard time have dropped sunset to 5:09 in the Interlochen/Traverse City area. Our sunset will drop another 11 minutes before slowly recovering 19 days from now. Two to three hours later another sign of the approaching winter season will appear, as the constellation of the giant hunter Orion rises in the east. He is resplendent with his nearly vertical belt of three stars rising, framed to the left and right by the bright stars reddish Betelgeuse and bluish Rigel. He will dominate our evening skies until April.
The times given are for the Traverse City/Interlochen area of Michigan. They may be different for your location.
Addendum
The Moon and Saturn at 6 p.m. November 20, 2017. Created using Stellarium.
Finder chart for the rising Orion at 9 p.m., November 30, 2017. Created using Stellarium and GIMP.
11/13/2017 – Ephemeris – Close conjunction of Venus and Jupiter is visible this morning
Ephemeris for Monday, November 13th. The Sun will rise at 7:36. It’ll be up for 9 hours and 39 minutes, setting at 5:16. The Moon, 3 days past last quarter, will rise at 3:26 tomorrow morning.
This morning the planets Venus and Jupiter will appear a bit less than the moon apart after rising at 6:22 a.m. Venus is heading back to the Sun, actually around the back of the Sun. Jupiter is separating itself from the Sun. The velocity of a planet in its orbit decreases the farther from the Sun it is. This was discovered by Johannes Kepler back in he 17th century. Venus is closer to the Sun than the Earth, so after it passed the Earth back on March 25th passing between us and the Sun. It moved ahead of us reaching its greatest western separation from the Sun on June 3rd, is now heading around the bend, so to speak, behind the Sun, on January 9th. The Earth moves faster than Jupiter, so it is appearing to move away from the Sun.
The times given are for the Traverse City/Interlochen area of Michigan. They may be different for your location.
Addendum
Venus and Jupiter in conjunction at 7 a.m. November 13, 2017. Venus will be 6 times brighter than Jupiter. They will appear half the width of the Moon apart. Created using Stellarium
11/12/2017 – Ephemeris Extra – Venus and Jupiter will appear together tomorrow morning
Just a quick note. I’ll talk about it in more detail tomorrow on the program, but this post will get you a full day heads up. Venus and Jupiter have been approaching one another, at least from the Earth’s point of view for some time. Monday morning their path’s will seem to cross, with Jupiter heading away from the Sun and Venus heading toward the Sun.
Venus and Jupiter in conjunction at 7 a.m. November 13, 2017. Venus will be 6 times brighter than Jupiter. They will appear half the width of the Moon apart. Created using Stellarium.
These planets will rise at 6:22 a.m., a bit more than an hour before sunrise, at 7:36 a.m.
The times given are for the Traverse City/Interlochen area of Michigan. They may be different for your location.
10/26/2017 – Ephemeris – Jupiter at perihelion and 96P/Comet Machholz 1 rounds the Sun
Ephemeris for Thursday, October 26th. The Sun will rise at 8:12. It’ll be up for 10 hours and 27 minutes, setting at 6:39. The Moon, 1 day before first quarter, will set at 11:48 this evening. | Today at 2:02 in the afternoon the planet Jupiter will be in conjunction with the Sun, moving from east to west with respect to the Sun. Leaving the evening sky to enter the morning sky. While invisible from the Earth’s surface. There are cameras recording the Sun at all times that will also pick up Jupiter. Two on the Solar and Heliospheric Observatory perched a million miles sunward of the Earth. are chronagraphs, and contain disks that block out the light of the Sun creating total eclipses. The planet will pass above or north of the Sun. The easiest way to find these images is to go to spaceweather.com, go down to the link section and select Solar and Heliospheric Observatory and click on The Sun Now. The images to check out at the two LASCO images.
The times given are for the Traverse City/Interlochen area of Michigan. They may be different for your location.
Addendum
The current LASCO C3 image at this blog’s posting time Credit: ESA/NASA/SOHO.
Jupiter is about to be covered by the LASCO C3 coronagraph’s occulting disk. It will still be visible in the C2 field. As an extra bonus Comet 96P/Machholz entered the LASCO C3 field of view on the 25th and will exit on the 30th.
To follow Jupiter’s progress check out these animated GIFs: https://sohowww.nascom.nasa.gov/data/LATEST/current_c3.gif and https://sohowww.nascom.nasa.gov/data/LATEST/current_c2.gif.
Note that these animations will be current as of the date you click on them.
09/26/2017 – Ephemeris – Saturn appears near the Moon tonight
Ephemeris for Tuesday, September 26th. The Sun will rise at 7:34. It’ll be up for 11 hours and 57 minutes, setting at 7:31. The Moon, 1 day before first quarter, will set at 11:32 this evening.
Tonight the Moon will to be near the planet Saturn. At 9 p.m. the ringed planet will be seen below the crescent Moon. It’s a good way to spot Saturn if you’ve never be able to figure out which of those “stars” in the sky is Saturn. It’s easy to confirm with a small telescope. Even in binoculars Saturn is not quite a star-like point. Saturn’s rings begin to show distinctly with 20 power magnification. The Moon too is great to view at low power, even binoculars. A new sea has appeared since last night. It is the Sea of Serenity above the center of the Moon. The lunar seas are really large nearly circular lava filled craters that appear to have been the result of asteroid impacts about 3.8 or so billion years ago.
The times given are for the Traverse City/Interlochen area of Michigan. They may be different for your location.
Addendum
Saturn and the Moon tonight, 9 p.m. September 26, 2017. Created using Stellarium.
The Moon as it might be seen in binoculars, 9 p.m. September 26, 2017. Created using Stellarium.
Compare with last night’s Moon.
The annotated crescent moon tonight, September 25, 2017. Created using Virtual Moon Atlas.
01/24/2017 – Ephemeris – The Moon is near Saturn this morning
Ephemeris for Tuesday, January 24th. The Sun will rise at 8:09. It’ll be up for 9 hours and 31 minutes, setting at 5:40. The Moon, 3 days before new, will rise at 6:08 tomorrow morning.
This morning look low in the southeast to see the thin crescent Moon with the planet Saturn below and to the right. The Moon passed Saturn a little after they rose. Saturn is quite far south in our skies, almost as far south as the Sun was on the winter solstice on December 21st. It will take a while to rise high enough in deep twilight or darkness for good views with a telescope. When Saturn or any planet is low on the horizon we are looking at it through a lot of our atmosphere. Beside draining about half its brightness that atmospheric motions make the planet fuzzy in telescopes. Yes, you can still see the rings, but the gaps on each end between the rings and the planet may not be distinct, and its large moon Titan may not be visible at all.
Times are for the Traverse City/Interlochen area of Michigan. They may be different for your location.
Addendum
The morning planets and the Moon at 7 a.m. this morning, January 24th. Because planetarium programs don’t show a thin crescent very well, I’ve enlarged the Moon by a factor of 4 times to make the Moon show up at all. Click on the image to enlarge. Created using Stellarium.
12/23/2016 – Ephemeris – Another possible set of events that could have been the Star of Bethlehem
Ephemeris for Friday, December 23rd. The Sun will rise at 8:18. It’ll be up for 8 hours and 48 minutes, setting at 5:06. The Moon, 3 days past last quarter, will rise at 3:43 tomorrow morning.
The brilliant planet Venus is out evening star now, and one could say that’s its our Christmas Star. And perhaps it was, or was part of the Star of Bethlehem. Back in August of 3 BC the planet Jupiter and Venus appeared to come very close to one another. The term for such an apparent close approach is called a conjunction. Astrologers make a big deal out of such a chance alignment. It’s like a trick photo of someone in the foreground appearing to hold up or leaning on a more distant object. Anyway, 10 months later in June of 2 BC Jupiter again appeared to join Venus, this time so close they could not be separated by the human eye. This all occurred against the constellation of Leo the lion which in Genesis is the symbol of Judah.
Times are for the Traverse City/Interlochen area of Michigan. They may be different for your location.
Addendum
Venus and Mars in the twilight last night at 6 p.m., December 22, 2016. Photograph by Bob Moler. Click on the image to enlarge.
I have more information on this set of conjunctions in my December 2 post announcing my program on the Star of Bethlehem: https://bobmoler.wordpress.com/2016/12/02/12022016-ephemeris-my-talk-about-the-star-of-bethlehem-is-tonight/
08/26/2016 – Ephemeris – Friday Night Live tonight, Star Party tomorrow
Ephemeris for Friday, August 26th. The Sun rises at 6:58. It’ll be up for 13 hours and 30 minutes, setting at 8:29. The Moon, 2 days past last quarter, will rise at 2:10 tomorrow morning.
The Grand Traverse Astronomical Society finishes off August with another busy weekend. Tonight the society members will bring their telescopes to downtown Traverse City and Friday Night Live, staying after to view the planets Saturn and Mars if it’s clear. Saturn’s rings are, of course, spectacular. Tomorrow night society members will be at Northwestern Michigan College’s Rogers Observatory beginning at 9 p.m. for a star party viewing of the planets, especially Saturn. That later as it gets really dark, the summer Milky Way will appear with its great telescopic treasures. Tomorrow, right after sunset the planets Venus and Jupiter will appear very close together. Observers far south of us will have a better shot at it than we do.
Times are for the Traverse City/Interlochen area of Michigan. They may be different for your location.
Addendum
Venus near Jupiter at 9 p.m., or a half hour after sunset, August 27, 2016. I doubt if you could see the Jovian satellites against the bright twilight. It all but requires a big lake or ocean horizon, or a location far south of northern Michigan to raise these planets higher in the sky. Created using Stellarium.
08/23/2016 – Ephemeris – Mars, Antares and Saturn line up
Ephemeris for Tuesday, August 23rd. The Sun rises at 6:55. It’ll be up for 13 hours and 39 minutes, setting at 8:34. The Moon, 1 day before last quarter, will rise at 11:49 this evening.
Tonight if you look out to the southwest, you will see a nearly perfect, nearly vertical line of bright stars. But two of these are planets. The brightest is the red planet Mars. Below is it’s rival, the red giant star Antares. Above is the ringed planet Saturn. Tonight Mars will be just to the right of the Saturn Antares line. After they set tonight and before we see them tomorrow night Mars will have moves to be just out of the line to the left. I hope it’s clear tonight so I can get a picture of them. A digital camera on a tripod with a low f-stop, and a high ISO speed with a shutter open for maybe 15 seconds ought to do it. Manually focus on infinity. Dark skies confuse auto focusers. And turn the flash off. Try it again tomorrow night.
Times are for the Traverse City/Interlochen area of Michigan. They may be different for your location.
Addendum
Animation of Mars approaching Antares from August 4 to the 24th, 2016 at 10 p.m. Created using Stellarium and GIMP.
The lineup is forming. Saturn, Mars and Antares at 10:20 p.m., August 22, 2016. The globular cluster M 4 is also barely visible. Credit: Bob Moler.
75 mm focal length, 5 Seconds, F/4, ISO 6400
Bob Moler's Ephemeris Blog 