Archive
03/10/2020 – Ephemeris – A Closeup look at Gemini’s namesake stars
Ephemeris for Tuesday, March 10th. Today the Sun will be up for 11 hours and 39 minutes, setting at 7:43, and it will rise tomorrow at 8:01. The Moon, 1 day past full, will rise at 9:07 this evening.
At 9 p.m. the constellation of Gemini the twins will be seen high in the south-southeast. The namesake stars of the two lads are the two bright stars at the upper left of the constellation. Pollux the pugilist, or boxer, is the lower of the two, while Castor, the horseman, is the other star, or rather a six star system. In telescopes two close stars may be seen each is a spectroscopic binary, meaning the two stars can be detected by the rainbow colors of light from the star. A faint nearby spectroscopic binary also belongs. Pollux, though a single star, does have at least one planet, over twice the mass of Jupiter orbiting it at a distance somewhat greater than Mars is from the Sun. Pollux is 34 light years away while Castor is 50 light years away.
The event times given are for the Traverse City/Interlochen area of Michigan. They may be different for your location.
Addendum
Gemini finder looking south-southeast at 9 p.m. March 10th, 2020. Created using Stellarium.
Castor and Pollux namesakes of the twins of Gemini in its position at 9 p.m. EDT March 10th. Created using Stellarium.
The Castor star system exploded in this JPL/NASA infographic.
03/09/2020 – A NASA mission to the Trojans, strange asteroids in Jupiter’s orbit
Ephemeris for Monday, March 9th. Today the Sun will be up for 11 hours and 36 minutes, setting at 7:41, and it will rise tomorrow at 8:03. The Moon, at full today, will rise at 7:46 this evening.
Lucy is a NASA mission (https://www.nasa.gov/content/goddard/lucy-the-first-mission-to-jupiter-s-trojans) whose name is not some tortured acronym. It is named for a Beatles tune and a hominid fossil found in Africa. It will set off in October next year to study two groups of strange asteroids, Jupiter’s Trojan asteroids. These asteroids lie in two swarms in Jupiter’s orbit averaging 60 degrees ahead and 60 degrees behind Jupiter. They congregate around two gravitational points in the Jupiter-Sun system called Lagrangian points, specifically L4 ahead of Jupiter and L5 behind. The Lucy spacecraft will put itself in such an orbit that it can loop between the Earth’s orbit and each of the two Trojan swarms passing by several of the asteroids. In general the names given to the asteroids are for the characters from Homer’s Iliad. The L4 group named or the Greeks and the L5 group named for the Trojans. I’ll be visiting this mission and that of Trojan asteroids in the future. The Earth actually has one known Trojan asteroid.
The times given are for the Traverse City/Interlochen area of Michigan. They may be different for your location.
Addendum:
The inner solar system with Jupiter’s Trojan asteroids. The Hilda asteroids have orbital periods of 2/3rds Jupiter’s period. Their elliptical orbits rise from the asteroid belt (white dots) to the L3, L4 and L5 points respectively. Credit: Mdf at English Wikipedia.
The 5 Lagrange points about two bodies orbiting each other. The Lagrange or Lagrangian points of gravitational equilibrium were discovered by Joseph-Louis Lagrange (1736-1813). Credit Georgia State University.
03/06/2020 – Ephemeris – Tonight Becky Shaw presents one of the first women in STEM: Hypatia of Alexandria
Ephemeris for Friday, March 6th. Today the Sun will be up for 11 hours and 27 minutes, setting at 6:37, and it will rise tomorrow at 7:08. The Moon, 3 days before full, will set at 6:15 tomorrow morning.
This evening the Grand Traverse Astronomical Society will meet the Northwestern Michigan College’s Rogers Observatory on Birmley Road between Garfield and Keystone roads at 8 p.m. The presentation will be by Becky Shaw on one of the first female astronomers Hypatia of Alexandria. Besides excelling in astronomy Hypatia was one of the greatest philosophers of her day in the 4th and 5th centuries CE. She had an unfortunate end being murdered by a mob in 415. After the meeting, at about 9 p.m. there will be observing, weather permitting, of the Moon and the planet Venus, and maybe the Great Orion Nebula. The Pleiades star cluster will also look great in binoculars, so bring ‘em if you’ve got ‘em.
The times given are for the Traverse City/Interlochen area of Michigan. They may be different for your location.
03/05/2020 – Ephemeris – Apparently Betelgeuse, though dimming wasn’t cooling as expected
Ephemeris for Thursday, March 5th. Today the Sun will be up for 11 hours and 24 minutes, setting at 6:36, and it will rise tomorrow at 7:10. The Moon, 3 days past first quarter, will set at 5:31 tomorrow morning.
Betelgeuse, the red star in the constellation Orion’s shoulder has apparently stopped dimming and has begun to brighten. The guesses as to the cause of the dimming are many. One suggested by a photograph taken of the star in December shows the southern half dimmed like it was covered by something. Betelgeuse out gasses lots of material, some of which condenses into dust. Could some of this dust mask the star and make it dimmer? I suspect that we’ll find out before too long. Many astronomers are wishing Betelgeuse would explode in a core collapse or type 2 supernova. At its approximate 700 light year distance we’d be safe, though a bazillion neutrinos would pass harmlessly through each one of us just before the light would get here.
The times given are for the Traverse City/Interlochen area of Michigan. They may be different for your location.
Addendum
An image of the star Betelgeuse taken in infrared shows it’s surrounded by a vast cloud of dust that erupted from the surface (the bright star itself is masked out, though an image of it has been superposed there for scale — it’s about the size of the orbit of Jupiter, over a billion km wide). Credit: ESO/P. Kervella/M. Montargès et al., Acknowledgement: Eric Pantin via Phil Plait’s Bad Astronomy blog on syfy.com.
This comparison image shows the star Betelgeuse before and after its unprecedented dimming. The observations, taken with the SPHERE instrument on ESO’s Very Large Telescope in January and December 2019, show how much the star has faded and how its apparent shape has changed. Credit: ESO/M. Montargès et al.
More on this from Dr. Phil Plait’s Bad Astronomy blog on syfy.com: https://www.syfy.com/syfywire/mea-culpa-betelgeuse-and-its-dusty-convective-pulsations
03/04/2020 – Ephemeris – Let’s look at the naked-eye planets for this week
Ephemeris for Wednesday, March 4th. Today the Sun will be up for 11 hours and 21 minutes, setting at 6:35, and it will rise tomorrow at 7:12. The Moon, 2 days past first quarter, will set at 4:39 tomorrow morning.
Let’s look at the naked-eye planets for this week. Venus is our evening star shining brightly in the west for most of the evening. It will set at 10:34 p.m. The rest of the planet action is in the morning. Mars will rise in the southeast at 4:19 a.m. It’s getting as bright as a first magnitude star because it’s 157 million (253 million km) miles away, and it’s getting slowly closer to the Earth at the rate of about 6 million miles (9 million km) a week. However it’s brighter than Betelgeuse. Jupiter will rise at 4:46 a.m. Lastly, Saturn will rise at 5:14 tomorrow morning. Mars is catching up to Jupiter and Saturn. It will pass south of Jupiter on the 20th, and Saturn on the 31st. It might be worth getting up for before 6 a.m. to spot.
The times given are for the Traverse City/Interlochen area of Michigan. They may be different for your location.
Addendum
Venus, the bright winter stars and the Moon tonight, 8 p.m. March 4, 2020. Click on the image to enlarge. Created using Stellarium.
The gibbous Moon as it might appear in binoculars at 8 p.m. March 4, 2020. Created using Stellarium.
The naked-eye planets visible in the morning at 6:30 a.m. tomorrow, March 5, 2020. Created using Stellarium.
Planets and the Moon at sunset and sunrise of a single night starting with sunset on the right on March 4, 2020. The night ends on the left with sunrise on the 5th. Click on the image to enlarge. Created using my LookingUp program.
03/03/2020 – Ephemeris – Betelgeuse, apparently, has stopped dimming and may be brightening
Ephemeris for Tuesday, March 3rd. Today the Sun will be up for 11 hours and 18 minutes, setting at 6:33, and it will rise tomorrow at 7:14. The Moon, 1 day past first quarter, will set at 3:41 tomorrow morning.
Betelgeuse the red giant star in the constellation Orion’s shoulder has apparently stopped dimming and may be brightening again. The process of recovery is slow. It may recover its former brightness. We’ll know this later in summer when Betelgeuse and the rest of Orion moves from behind the Sun and enters the morning sky. Betelgeuse is known to be irregular in brightness, but has never been recorded as being this dim, dropping it from being a first magnitude star. Betelgeuse is no longer dimming. There is lots of speculation as to why it’s now brightening. One is the thought that there are several periodic cycles that govern Betelgeuse’s variability. That the troughs of these cycles happen to coincide is one explanation.
The times given are for the Traverse City/Interlochen area of Michigan. They may be different for your location.
Addendum
Betelgeuse in Orion (the bright star on the left) at 7:07 p.m. January 6, 2020. Taken with my Samsung Galaxy S10+ in the moonlight. Compare the brightness of Betelgeuse with Rigel, Bellatrix and the belt stars.
The brightness of Betelgeuse from late November 2019 to 23 Feb. 2020 shows it dimming dramatically (the y-axis is in magnitudes, where a bigger number is fainter). A close-up on just the past 20 days (right) shows it starting to rise again around 18 Feb. Blue dots are estimates by eye, black using digital cameras, and the red line is a smooth fit to the data. Credit: Betelbot on Twitter, run by Michael Hipke via Dr. Phil Plait’s Bad Astronomy post https://www.syfy.com/syfywire/no-supernova-for-you-betelgeuse-is-brightening-again-right-on-schedule
03/02/2020 – Ephemeris – Greek use of the first quarter Moon
Ephemeris for Monday, March 2nd. Today the Sun will be up for 11 hours and 14 minutes, setting at 6:32, and it will rise tomorrow at 7:15. The Moon, at first quarter today, will set at 2:39 tomorrow morning.
The Moon is at first quarter at 2:57 this afternoon. The ancient Greek philosopher/astronomer Aristarchus* tried to determine the distance to the Sun by observing the Moon at exactly first quarter and measuring the angle between it and the Sun. If we see the Moon at exactly first quarter when the sunrise line called the terminator cuts the Moon exactly in half then the angle at the Moon between the Sun and the Earth is a right or 90 degree angle. If we, on the Earth at that same instant were able to measure the angular distance between the Moon and the Sun. we could theoretically calculate the distance to the Sun. He was correct about the Moon’s distance, but calculated the Sun was at only about 10% of its actual distance.
The times given are for the Traverse City/Interlochen area of Michigan. They may be different for your location.
* In the actual broadcast program I erroneously credited the later Greek astronomer Hipparchus.
Addendum
Quarter Moon method of determining the Sun’s distance by Aristarchus. Credit: andonee
02/28/2020 – Ephemeris – Previewing March Skies
Ephemeris for Friday, February 28th. Today the Sun will be up for 11 hours and 5 minutes, setting at 6:28, and it will rise tomorrow at 7:21. The Moon, 3 days before first quarter, will set at 11:30 this evening.
Let’s look at the skies for the month of March. The Sun will pass the celestial equator as the promising season of spring will begin. Daylight hours in the Interlochen/Traverse City area and will increase from 11 hours and 11 minutes Sunday to 12 hours 45 minutes on the 31st. The altitude, or angle, of the Sun above the southern horizon at local noon will be 38 degrees Sunday and will ascend to nearly 50 degrees on the 31st. Spring will start on the 19th at 11:50 p.m. Part of the fault for that early date is the switch to daylight saving time this early in the year a while back. The Gregorian calendar reform of 1582 will keep the vernal equinox from falling much further back. So spring will come a bit early this year, calendar-wise.
The times given are for the Traverse City/Interlochen area of Michigan. They may be different for your location.
Addendum
March Evening Star Chart
Star Chart for March 2020 (10 p.m. EDT March 15, 2020). Click on image to enlarge. Created using my LookingUp program. Click on image to enlarge. Created using my LookingUp program.
The planets and stars are plotted for the 15th at 10 p.m. EDT in the evening and 6 a.m. for the morning chart. These are the chart times. The brilliant planet Venus is our Evening Star in the West at chart time. Note that Traverse City is located approximately 45 minutes behind our time meridian, West 75° longitude. (An hour 45 minutes behind our daylight saving time meridian during EDT).
March Morning Star Chart
Star Chart for March mornings 2020 (6 a.m. EST March 15, 2020). Click on image to enlarge. Created using my LookingUp program.
For a list of constellation names to go with the abbreviations click here.
- Pointer stars at the front of the bowl of the Big Dipper point to Polaris the North Star.
- The leaky bowl of the Big Dipper drips on Leo.
- Follow the arc of the handle of the Big Dipper to the star Arcturus.
- The Summer Triangle appears in red.
Twilight Limits, Nautical and Astronomical
| EST/EDT | |||||||
| Morning twilight | Evening twilight | Dark night | Moon | ||||
| Date | Astro. | Nautical | Nautical | Astro. | Start | End | Illum. |
| 2020-03-01 | 5h43m | 6h17m | 19h33m | 20h06m | 0h33m | 5h43m | 0.41 |
| 2020-03-02 | 5h41m | 6h15m | 19h34m | 20h08m | 1h36m | 5h41m | 0.52 |
| 2020-03-03 | 5h39m | 6h13m | 19h35m | 20h09m | 2h40m | 5h39m | 0.62 |
| 2020-03-04 | 5h37m | 6h11m | 19h36m | 20h10m | 3h42m | 5h37m | 0.73 |
| 2020-03-05 | 5h36m | 6h10m | 19h38m | 20h12m | 4h40m | 5h36m | 0.82 |
| 2020-03-06 | 5h34m | 6h08m | 19h39m | 20h13m | 5h31m | 5h34m | 0.91 |
| 2020-03-07 | 5h32m | 6h06m | 19h40m | 20h14m | – | – | 0.97 |
| 2020-03-08 | 6h30m | 7h04m | 20h42m | 21h16m | – | – | 0.97 |
| 2020-03-09 | 6h28m | 7h02m | 20h43m | 21h17m | – | – | 1 |
| 2020-03-10 | 6h26m | 7h01m | 20h44m | 21h18m | – | – | 1 |
| 2020-03-11 | 6h25m | 6h59m | 20h46m | 21h20m | 21h20m | 22h26m | 0.96 |
| 2020-03-12 | 6h23m | 6h57m | 20h47m | 21h21m | 21h21m | 23h45m | 0.9 |
| 2020-03-13 | 6h21m | 6h55m | 20h48m | 21h23m | 21h23m | – | 0.81 |
| 2020-03-14 | 6h19m | 6h53m | 20h50m | 21h24m | 21h24m | 1h01m | 0.71 |
| 2020-03-15 | 6h17m | 6h51m | 20h51m | 21h25m | 21h25m | 2h14m | 0.6 |
| 2020-03-16 | 6h15m | 6h49m | 20h52m | 21h27m | 21h27m | 3h21m | 0.49 |
| 2020-03-17 | 6h13m | 6h48m | 20h53m | 21h28m | 21h28m | 4h21m | 0.38 |
| 2020-03-18 | 6h11m | 6h46m | 20h55m | 21h30m | 21h30m | 5h13m | 0.29 |
| 2020-03-19 | 6h09m | 6h44m | 20h56m | 21h31m | 21h31m | 5h55m | 0.2 |
| 2020-03-20 | 6h11m | 6h46m | 21h01m | 21h36m | 21h36m | 6h11m | 0.12 |
| 2020-03-21 | 6h09m | 6h44m | 21h03m | 21h38m | 21h38m | 6h09m | 0.07 |
| 2020-03-22 | 6h07m | 6h42m | 21h04m | 21h39m | 21h39m | 6h07m | 0.03 |
| 2020-03-23 | 6h04m | 6h40m | 21h05m | 21h41m | 21h41m | 6h04m | 0 |
| 2020-03-24 | 6h02m | 6h38m | 21h07m | 21h42m | 21h42m | 6h02m | 0 |
| 2020-03-25 | 6h00m | 6h36m | 21h08m | 21h44m | 21h44m | 6h00m | 0.02 |
| 2020-03-26 | 5h58m | 6h34m | 21h10m | 21h45m | 22h23m | 5h58m | 0.05 |
| 2020-03-27 | 5h56m | 6h32m | 21h11m | 21h47m | 23h25m | 5h56m | 0.1 |
| 2020-03-28 | 5h54m | 6h30m | 21h12m | 21h48m | – | 5h54m | 0.17 |
| 2020-03-29 | 5h52m | 6h28m | 21h14m | 21h50m | 0h28m | 5h52m | 0.25 |
| 2020-03-30 | 5h50m | 6h26m | 21h15m | 21h51m | 1h31m | 5h50m | 0.35 |
| 2020-03-31 | 5h48m | 6h24m | 21h16m | 21h53m | 2h33m | 5h48m | 0.45 |
Twilight calendar was generated using Cartes du Ciel (Sky Charts).
See my blog post: Twilight Zone for the definitions of the different periods of twilight here: https://bobmoler.wordpress.com/2018/09/27/.
NASA Calendar of Planetary Events
Date Time Event
Mar 1 Su Venus: 44.6° E
2 Mo 02:57 pm First Quarter
4 We 09:58 am Moon Ascending Node
4 We 08:34 pm Moon North Dec.: 23.4° N
6 Fr 04:08 pm Moon-Beehive: 1.1° S
8 Su 08:09 am Neptune Conjunction
9 Mo 01:48 pm Full Moon
10 Tu 02:33 am Moon Perigee: 357100 km
16 Mo 05:34 am Last Quarter
16 Mo 09:00 pm Moon Descending Node
17 Tu 10:07 am Moon South Dec.: 23.5° S
18 We 04:19 am Moon-Mars: 0.8° N
18 We 06:18 am Moon-Jupiter: 1.6° N
18 We 08:04 pm Moon-Saturn: 2.3° N
19 Th 11:50 pm Vernal Equinox
20 Fr 06:24 am Mars-Jupiter: 0.7° N
21 Sa 01:48 pm Moon-Mercury: 4° N
23 Mo 09:59 pm Mercury Greatest Elongation: 27.8° W
24 Tu 05:28 am New Moon
24 Tu 11:23 am Moon Apogee: 406700 km
24 Tu 05:59 pm Venus Greatest Elongation: 46.1° E
31 Tu 12:51 pm Moon Ascending Node
31 Tu 04:00 pm Mars-Saturn: 0.9° N
Apr 1 We Venus: 45.9° E
All event times prior to 2 a.m. March 8 are given for UTC-5 Eastern Standard Time, after that time are given for UTC-4 Eastern Daylight Time
Sky Events Calendar by Fred Espenak and Sumit Dutta (NASA’s GSFC),
http://eclipse.gsfc.nasa.gov/SKYCAL/SKYCAL.html.
If you go to the above site you can print out a list like the above for the entire year or calendar pages for your time zone.
Sun and Moon Rising and Setting Events
LU Ephemeris of Sky Events for Interlochen/TC March, 2020 Local time zone: EST +-----------------------------------------------------------------------+ | DATE | SUN SUN DAYLIGHT| TWILIGHT* |MOON RISE OR ILLUM | | | RISE SET HOURS | END START |PHASE SET** TIME FRACTN| +=======================================================================+ |Sun 1| 07:19a 06:31p 11:11 | 07:34p 06:16a | Set 01:36a 42%| |Mon 2| 07:17a 06:32p 11:14 | 07:35p 06:14a |F Qtr Set 02:39a 52%| |Tue 3| 07:15a 06:33p 11:18 | 07:37p 06:12a | Set 03:41a 62%| |Wed 4| 07:14a 06:35p 11:21 | 07:38p 06:11a | Set 04:39a 72%| |Thu 5| 07:12a 06:36p 11:24 | 07:39p 06:09a | Set 05:31a 81%| |Fri 6| 07:10a 06:37p 11:27 | 07:40p 06:07a | Set 06:15a 89%| |Sat 7| 07:08a 06:39p 11:30 | 07:42p 06:05a | Set 06:54a 95%| +------+-----------------------+----------------+-----------------------+ | EDT | Time Change | | | |Sun 8| 08:07a 07:40p 11:33 | 08:43p 07:04a | Set 08:27a 99%| |Mon 9| 08:05a 07:41p 11:36 | 08:44p 07:02a |Full Rise 07:46p 100%| |Tue 10| 08:03a 07:43p 11:39 | 08:46p 07:00a | Rise 09:07p 97%| |Wed 11| 08:01a 07:44p 11:42 | 08:47p 06:58a | Rise 10:26p 92%| |Thu 12| 07:59a 07:45p 11:46 | 08:48p 06:56a | Rise 11:45p 85%| |Fri 13| 07:57a 07:47p 11:49 | 08:50p 06:54a | Rise 01:01a 75%| |Sat 14| 07:56a 07:48p 11:52 | 08:51p 06:53a | Rise 02:14a 65%| +------+-----------------------+----------------+-----------------------+ |Sun 15| 07:54a 07:49p 11:55 | 08:52p 06:51a | Rise 03:21a 54%| |Mon 16| 07:52a 07:50p 11:58 | 08:54p 06:49a |L Qtr Rise 04:21a 44%| |Tue 17| 07:50a 07:52p 12:01 | 08:55p 06:47a | Rise 05:12a 34%| |Wed 18| 07:48a 07:53p 12:04 | 08:56p 06:45a | Rise 05:55a 25%| |Thu 19| 07:46a 07:54p 12:07 | 08:58p 06:43a | Rise 06:31a 17%| |Fri 20| 07:44a 07:55p 12:11 | 08:59p 06:41a | Rise 07:00a 10%| |Sat 21| 07:43a 07:57p 12:14 | 09:00p 06:39a | Rise 07:26a 5%| +------+-----------------------+----------------+-----------------------+ |Sun 22| 07:41a 07:58p 12:17 | 09:02p 06:37a | Rise 07:49a 2%| |Mon 23| 07:39a 07:59p 12:20 | 09:03p 06:35a | Rise 08:11a 0%| |Tue 24| 07:37a 08:01p 12:23 | 09:04p 06:33a |New Set 08:21p 1%| |Wed 25| 07:35a 08:02p 12:26 | 09:06p 06:31a | Set 09:21p 2%| |Thu 26| 07:33a 08:03p 12:29 | 09:07p 06:29a | Set 10:22p 6%| |Fri 27| 07:31a 08:04p 12:32 | 09:09p 06:27a | Set 11:25p 11%| |Sat 28| 07:30a 08:06p 12:36 | 09:10p 06:25a | Set 12:28a 18%| +------+-----------------------+----------------+-----------------------+ |Sun 29| 07:28a 08:07p 12:39 | 09:11p 06:23a | Set 01:31a 26%| |Mon 30| 07:26a 08:08p 12:42 | 09:13p 06:21a | Set 02:32a 35%| |Tue 31| 07:24a 08:09p 12:45 | 09:14p 06:20a | Set 03:30a 45%| +-----------------------------------------------------------------------+ * Nautical Twilight ** Moonrise or moonset, whichever occurs between sunrise and sunset
Generated using my LookingUp for DOS program.
02/27/2020 – Ephemeris – Saturday is the intercalary day
Ephemeris for Thursday, February 27th. Today the Sun will be up for 11 hours and 2 minutes, setting at 6:27, and it will rise tomorrow at 7:22. The Moon, half way from new to first quarter, will set at 10:28 this evening.
Saturday we’re going to have one of those special days that only occur once every 4 years making this a leap year. It’s the intercalary day that compensates for the fact that the earth takes 365 and nearly a quarter day to orbit the Sun. That orbit is a year, and those quarter days are accumulated and added as the last day of February on years divisible by 4. The Gregorian reform makes a slight adjustment on most century years, making century years not divisible by 400 ordinary years to keep the calendar in sync with the seasons. The Romans, from who we’ve gotten our calendar considered the month of February as unlucky, and so they shortened it. Enjoy your extra day on Saturday.
The times given are for the Traverse City/Interlochen area of Michigan. They may be different for your location.
02-26-2020 – Ephemeris – Let’s look at the naked-eye planets for this week
Ephemeris for Ash Wednesday, February 26th. Today the Sun will be up for 10 hours and 59 minutes, setting at 6:25, and it will rise tomorrow at 7:24. The Moon, 3 days past new, will set at 9:28 this evening.
Let’s look at the naked-eye planets for this week. Venus is our evening star shining brightly in the southwest in the early evening. It will set at 10:19 p.m. Mars is visible in the morning sky and will rise in the southeast at 4:27 a.m. It’s not very bright because it’s 161 million (260 million km) miles away, but it’s getting slowly closer to the Earth at the rate of about 6 million miles (9 million km) a week. However it’s brighter than Betelgeuse. Jupiter will rise at 5:06 a.m. Lastly, Saturn will rise at 5:39 tomorrow morning. Jupiter is currently about 9 degrees away from Saturn, a bit less than the width of your fist held at arms length. It will continue to approach Saturn until their paths cross on December 21st.
The times given are for the Traverse City/Interlochen area of Michigan. They may be different for your location.
Addendum
Venus and the Moon in the western sky at 7:30 p.m. or about an hour after sunset. February 26, 2020. Created using Stellarium.
The morning planets and stars visible in the southern sky at 6:30 a.m. tomorrow morning February 37, 2020. The star Antares is in the constellation of Scorpius. Mars sits on top of the lid of the Teapot asterism of the constellation of Sagittarius the archer. Jupiter and Saturn are seen to the lower left. Click on the image to enlarge. Created using Stellarium.
The planets as seen in a telescope with the same magnification. Venus in the evening and Jupiter and Saturn in the morning on the night of February 26/27, 2020. Apparent diameters: Venus, 18.3″; Jupiter, 34.0″; Saturn, 15.4″, rings, 36.0″. Mars at 5.4″ won’t be added until it reaches 10″. The ” symbol means seconds of arc (1/3600th of a degree.) Created using Cartes du Ciel (Sky Charts).
Planets and the Moon at sunset and sunrise of a single night starting with sunset on the right on February 26, 2020. The night ends on the left with sunrise on the 27th. Click on the image to enlarge. Created using my LookingUp program.
