Archive
03/12/2018 – Ephemeris – The Fisher is rising as spring approaches
Ephemeris for Monday, March 12th. The Sun will rise at 8:00. It’ll be up for 11 hours and 44 minutes, setting at 7:45. The Moon, 4 days past last quarter, will rise at 6:05 tomorrow morning.
Now in the evening the Big Dipper has moved up in the northeast. The Anishinaabek peoples around the Great Lakes, like the Ottawa and Chippewa saw instead of a dipper or a bear: Ojiig the Fisher. It’s a magical weasel-like creature who, with some animal friends, brought summer to the Earth. The story is too long to relay here, but my telling of it is here. For his trouble he was slain, and was placed among the stars of the sky by the Great Spirit Manitou where we see him today. His blood is said to paint the trees with the fall colors. However as the Fisher rises in the northeast in late winter and early spring it is a signal for the maple trees to bring forth their sweet sap.
The times given are for the Traverse City/Interlochen area of Michigan. They may be different for your location.
Addendum
Finding the Big Dipper and the Fisher at 9 p.m., March 12, 2018. Click on the image to enlarge. Created using Stellarium and GIMP.
The Anishinaabek constellation drawings are from Ojibwe Sky Star Map Constellation Guide by Annette S. Lee, William Wilson, Jeffrey Tibbets and Carl Gawboy available locally and online. They are part of the latest editions of Stellarium, a free planetarium program. Links to it are on the left. Other information and links are available within the Sky Lore tab.
Here’s one of the links: http://www.nativeskywatchers.com/. It also contains links to Lakota star maps and lore.
03/09/2018 – Ephemeris – The good ship Argo
Ephemeris for Friday, March 9th. The Sun will rise at 7:06. It’ll be up for 11 hours and 35 minutes, setting at 6:41. The Moon, at last quarter today, will rise at 2:50 tomorrow morning.
Located south and east of Canis Major, the great hunting dog of Orion and it brilliant star Sirius in the south is a dim constellation of Puppis, the poop deck of the old constellation Argo Navis, the constellation that depicts the ship Jason and the Argonauts used in their search for the Golden Fleece. This huge constellation has been subdivided. Only Puppis and Pyxis the ship’s compass are visible from Michigan. The other parts of the ship are Carina the keel, and Vela the sails require traveling south at least to the southern most of the United States. Three other constellations also related to this expedition are Gemini with Castor, who died on the expedition and Pollux. Hercules was also aboard as was the physician of the constellation Ophiuchus.
The times given are for the Traverse City/Interlochen area of Michigan. They may be different for your location.
Addendum
Puppis ans Pyxis; what we can see from Michigan, plus the rest of Argo Navis at 9 p.m., March 9, 2018. The Stellarium artist has the ship reversed. Puppis is the rear end, not the bow. Note that the Crux, the Southern Cross is below the ship. Click on the image to enlarge. Created using Stellarium and GIMP.
03/07/2018 – Ephemeris – All 5 naked eye planets are now visible
Ephemeris for Wednesday, March 7th. The Sun will rise at 7:09. It’ll be up for 11 hours and 28 minutes, setting at 6:38. The Moon, 2 days before last quarter, will rise at 12:58 tomorrow morning.
Let’s take our weekly look at the bright planets. All 5 of the naked eye planets are visible now. Two of them are in the evening sky, but very close to the Sun. Venus will be visible low in the Western twilight from about 7 p.m. until before it sets at 7:47. Mercury is much dimmer but above and a bit right of Venus, tonight about 5 Moon widths at 1 o’clock from Venus. It will set at 7:59. Mercury will appear higher than Venus in the sky until about March 20th. In the morning Jupiter will rise at 12:12 tomorrow morning. Mars will rise at 2:51. Saturn will end the procession, rising at 3:45 a.m. At 6 tomorrow morning bright Jupiter will be in the south to the left of it is dimmer Mars. Saturn is low in the southeast.
The times given are for the Traverse City/Interlochen area of Michigan. They may be different for your location.
Addendum
Venus and Mercury, low in the west at 7 p.m., March 7, 2018. Created using Stellarium.
The morning planets of Jupiter, Mars and Saturn plus the Moon. Seen at 6 a.m. tomorrow morning March 8, 2018. Click on image to enlarge. Created using Stellarium.
The waning gibbous Moon as it might be seen in binoculars at 6 a.m. tomorrow morning, March 8, 2018. Created using Stellarium.
Jupiter and Saturn with their brighter satellites tomorrow morning at 6 a.m. March 8, 2018. They are displayed at the same scale. Saturn in about twice as far as Jupiter. Its disk is a bit smaller than Jupiter’s so it appears about half as large. The extent of the rings appear to be about the same as Jupiter’s diameter. Created using Cartes du Ciel (Sky Charts).
The Great Red Spot should be visible on Jupiter.
Europa is labeled but unseen at 6 a.m. EST
Here is what’s happening
Moon Event Date UT Local time Europa: Eclipse start: 8 Mar 2018 7:12 UT 2:12 a.m. EST Europa: Eclipse end: 8 Mar 2018 9:28 UT 4:28 a.m. EST Europa: Occultation start: 8 Mar 2018 9:34 UT 4:34 a.m. EST Europa: Occultation end: 8 Mar 2018 11:43 UT 6:43 a.m. EST
An eclipse is when the moon passes through Jupiter’s shadow. An occultation is when the moon is hidden behind the planet.
Note the 6 minutes between the end of the eclipse and the start of the occultation.
Timings are from https://www.projectpluto.com.
Planets at sunset and sunrise of a single night starting with sunset on the right on March 7, 2018. The night ends on the left with sunrise on the 8th. Click on the image to enlarge. Created using my LookingUp program.
03/06/2018 – Ephemeris – The Moon will pass the morning planets for the rest of the week
Ephemeris for Tuesday, March 6th. The Sun will rise at 7:11. It’ll be up for 11 hours and 25 minutes, setting at 6:37. The Moon, 3 days before last quarter, will rise at 11:57 this evening.
From tomorrow morning through the rest of the week the Moon will be passing above the morning planets one by one. Tomorrow morning the waning gibbous Moon will appear above and left of Jupiter the brightest of the morning planets in the south at 6 a.m. By Friday morning the then last quarter Moon will be approaching Mars and will be to the right and above the red planet. Saturday morning the then waning crescent Moon will appear above and right between Mars and Saturn. Sunday morning the waning crescent Moon will be left of Saturn. I love waning crescent Moons in morning twilight. In a couple of weeks, on the evening of the 19th to be exact the waxing crescent moon will pass Venus and Mercury.
The times given are for the Traverse City/Interlochen area of Michigan. They may be different for your location.
Addendum
The Moon and morning planets at 6 a.m. each morning Wednesday through Sunday March 7-11, 2018. The Moon’s size has been doubled to show its phase. Note that due to Earth’s revolution of the Sun, that the sky will rotate about one degree westward per day. Click on the image to enlarge. Created using Stellarium and GIMP.
03/05/2018 – Ephemeris – Spring is coming: Leo is rising
Ephemeris for Monday, March 5th. The Sun will rise at 7:13. It’ll be up for 11 hours and 22 minutes, setting at 6:35. The Moon, half way from full to last quarter, will rise at 10:53 this evening.
The constellation Leo the lion is now rising in the east at 9 pm. It’s below and left of the Big Dipper higher up in the east-northeast. Leo is marked by two sets of easily recognizable stars. The front of him is a backward question mark of stars, also known as the Sickle that mark his head and mane, along with the front part of his body. Regulus is the star at the bottom of that backwards question mark. It’s the Little King Star. The hind end of him is a triangle of stars ending with another bright star, but not as bright as Regulus. It’s Denebola which means Lion’s tail. It is thought when the Sun was in this constellation long ago that the lions were driven by the heat to quench their thirst in the Nile river. Ancients physicians thought medicines were poison when the Sun was here also.
The times given are for the Traverse City/Interlochen area of Michigan. They may be different for your location.
Addendum
The constellation Leo animation. Created using Stellarium and GIMP.
Algieba is a binary star, which should be able to be split with any good telescope. The magnitude 2.4 and 3.6 components are separated by 4.6 arc seconds. Binary stars are one type of object that benefit from using high power to resolve. The stars are very close in temperature, so each appears a yellow-orange color offering no color contrast.
03/02/2018 – Ephemeris – Jeopardy type quiz at the GTAS meeting tonight
Ephemeris for Friday, March 2nd. The Sun will rise at 7:18. It’ll be up for 11 hours and 13 minutes, setting at 6:31. The Moon, 1 day past full, will rise at 7:29 this evening.
A Starpardy quiz will be held this evening between the NMC Astronomy Club and the Grand Traverse Astronomical Society at this evening’s meeting of the society at 8 p.m. at Northwestern Michigan College’s Rogers Observatory. I’ll be Alex Trebek for this Jeopardy style quiz. The society will accept anyone to help either side. These NMC students are smart.
After the Starpardy quiz there will be a star party starting at 9 p.m. On tap if its clear will be the Moon plus Orion and its great nebula, a star nursery only 1400 light years away will be a wonderful sight with its clouds and wisps of gas and dust illuminated by a clutch of hot baby stars. The Observatory is located south of Traverse City on Birmley Road off either Garfield or Keystone roads.
The times given are for the Traverse City/Interlochen area of Michigan. They may be different for your location.
03/01/2018 – Ephemeris – Previewing March skies
Ephemeris for Thursday, March 1st. The Sun will rise at 7:20. It’ll be up for 11 hours and 10 minutes, setting at 6:30. The Moon, at full today, will rise at 6:16 this evening.
Let’s look at the skies for the month of March. The Sun will pass the celestial equator in March as the promising season of spring will begin. Daylight hours in the Interlochen/Traverse City area and will increase from 11 hours and 10 minutes today to 12 hours 43 minutes on the 31st. The altitude, or angle, of the Sun above the southern horizon at local noon will be just under 38 degrees today and will ascend to nearly 50 degrees on the 31st. The altitude of the Sun in the Straits area will be a degree lower. Local apparent noon this month, when the Sun passes due south, will be about 12:49 p.m. and an hour later when daylight time starts. Spring will begin on the 20th at 12:15 p.m. Daylight Time, which now rules most of the year will start on the 11th.
The times given are for the Traverse City/Interlochen area of Michigan. They may be different for your location.
Addendum
March Evening Sky Chart
Star Chart for March 2018 (10 p.m. EDT March 15, 2018). Created using my LookingUp program. Click on image to enlarge.
The planets and stars are plotted for the 15th at 9 p.m. EDT in the evening and 6 a.m. for the morning chart. These are the chart times. Note that Traverse City is located approximately 45 minutes behind our time meridian. (An hour 45 minutes behind our daylight saving time meridian. during EDT and 45 minutes behind our daylight standard time meridian. during EST). To duplicate the star positions on a planisphere you may have to set it to 1 hour 45 minutes (Daylight Time) or 45 minutes (Standard Time) earlier than the current time if you are near your time meridian. Note that Daylight time starts at 2 a.m. Sunday March 11th for most US states.
Note the chart times of 10 p.m. and 6 a.m. are for the 15th. For each week before the 15th add ½ hour (28 minutes if you’re picky). Watch out for the time change. For each week after the 15th subtract ½ hour. The planet positions are updated each Wednesday on this blog. For planet positions on dates other than the 15th, check the Wednesday planet posts on this blog.
March Morning Star Chart
Star Chart for March 2018 mornings based on 6 a.m. March 15th. Created using my LookingUp program. Click on image to enlarge.
For a list of constellation names to go with the abbreviations click here.
Star chart annotations
- Pointer stars at the front of the bowl of the Big Dipper point to Polaris the North Star.
- Leaky Big Dipper drips on Leo.
- Follow the arc of the handle of the Big Dipper to the star Arcturus and
- Continue with a spike to Spica.
- The Summer Triangle is in red.
Twilight
Evening nautical twilight ends at 7:32 p.m. EST on the 1st, increasing to 9:16 p.m. EDT on the 31st.
Evening astronomical twilight ends at 8:06 p.m. EST on the 1st, increasing to 9:52 p.m. EDT on the 31st.
Morning astronomical twilight starts at 5:44 a.m. EST on the 1st, and decreasing to 5:49 a.m. EDT on the 31st.
Morning nautical twilight starts at 6:17 a.m. EST on the 1st, and decreasing to 6:25 a.m. EDT on the 31st.
NASA Calendar of Planetary Events
Date Time Event
Mar 01 Th Venus: 12.4° E
01 Th 12:09 am Moon-Regulus: 0.9° S
01 Th 7:51 pm Full Moon (Worm Moon)
04 Su 8:32 am Neptune Solar Conjunction
07 We 1:57 am Moon-Jupiter: 4.4° S
09 Fr 6:20 am Last Quarter
09 Fr 7:37 pm Moon-Mars: 4.2° S
10 Sa 9:37 pm Moon-Saturn: 2.5° S
11 Su 1:39 am Moon South Dec.: 20.1° S
11 Su 2:00 am Daylight Saving Time begins
11 Su 4:13 am Moon Apogee: 404700 km
13 Tu 11:48 pm Moon Descending Node
15 Th 10:59 am Mercury Greatest Eastern Elongation: 18.4°
17 Sa 9:12 am New Moon
18 Su 3:07 pm Moon-Venus: 3.9° N
19 Mo 3:51 am Mercury-Venus: 3.8° N
20 Tu 12:15 pm Vernal Equinox
22 Th 6:33 pm Moon-Aldebaran: 0.9° S
24 Sa 11:35 am First Quarter
24 Sa 10:04 pm Moon North Dec.: 20.2° N
26 Mo 1:17 pm Moon Perigee: 369100 km
26 Mo 8:52 pm Moon-Beehive: 2.2° N
27 Tu 6:56 am Moon Ascending Node
28 We 9:38 am Moon-Regulus: 1° S
31 Sa 8:37 am Full Moon (Blue Moon)
Apr 01 Su Venus: 19.9° E
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, 2018 Local time zone: EST
+-----------------------------------------------------------------------+
| DATE | SUN SUN DAYLIGHT| TWILIGHT* |MOON RISE OR ILLUM |
| | RISE SET HOURS | END START |PHASE SET** TIME FRACTN|
+=======================================================================+
|Thu 1| 07:20a 06:30p 11:10 | 07:33p 06:17a |Full Rise 06:16p 100%|
|Fri 2| 07:18a 06:31p 11:13 | 07:35p 06:15a | Rise 07:29p 99%|
|Sat 3| 07:16a 06:33p 11:16 | 07:36p 06:13a | Rise 08:40p 95%|
+------+-----------------------+----------------+-----------------------+
|Sun 4| 07:15a 06:34p 11:19 | 07:37p 06:12a | Rise 09:48p 89%|
|Mon 5| 07:13a 06:35p 11:22 | 07:38p 06:10a | Rise 10:53p 82%|
|Tue 6| 07:11a 06:37p 11:25 | 07:40p 06:08a | Rise 11:57p 73%|
|Wed 7| 07:09a 06:38p 11:28 | 07:41p 06:06a | Rise 12:58a 64%|
|Thu 8| 07:07a 06:39p 11:31 | 07:42p 06:05a | Rise 01:56a 55%|
|Fri 9| 07:06a 06:41p 11:35 | 07:44p 06:03a |L Qtr Rise 02:50a 45%|
|Sat 10| 07:04a 06:42p 11:38 | 07:45p 06:01a | Rise 03:40a 36%|
+------+-----------------------+----------------+-----------------------+
| EDT | Time Change | | |
|Sun 11| 08:02a 07:43p 11:41 | 08:46p 06:59a | Rise 05:25a 27%|
|Mon 12| 08:00a 07:45p 11:44 | 08:48p 06:57a | Rise 06:05a 19%|
|Tue 13| 07:58a 07:46p 11:47 | 08:49p 06:55a | Rise 06:42a 12%|
|Wed 14| 07:57a 07:47p 11:50 | 08:50p 06:54a | Rise 07:15a 7%|
|Thu 15| 07:55a 07:48p 11:53 | 08:52p 06:52a | Rise 07:45a 3%|
|Fri 16| 07:53a 07:50p 11:56 | 08:53p 06:50a | Rise 08:13a 0%|
|Sat 17| 07:51a 07:51p 12:00 | 08:54p 06:48a |New Set 08:06p 0%|
+------+-----------------------+----------------+-----------------------+
|Sun 18| 07:49a 07:52p 12:03 | 08:56p 06:46a | Set 09:13p 2%|
|Mon 19| 07:47a 07:54p 12:06 | 08:57p 06:44a | Set 10:21p 7%|
|Tue 20| 07:45a 07:55p 12:09 | 08:58p 06:42a | Set 11:30p 13%|
|Wed 21| 07:44a 07:56p 12:12 | 09:00p 06:40a | Set 12:39a 22%|
|Thu 22| 07:42a 07:57p 12:15 | 09:01p 06:38a | Set 01:48a 32%|
|Fri 23| 07:40a 07:59p 12:18 | 09:02p 06:36a | Set 02:53a 43%|
|Sat 24| 07:38a 08:00p 12:21 | 09:04p 06:34a |F Qtr Set 03:54a 54%|
+------+-----------------------+----------------+-----------------------+
|Sun 25| 07:36a 08:01p 12:25 | 09:05p 06:32a | Set 04:47a 65%|
|Mon 26| 07:34a 08:02p 12:28 | 09:06p 06:30a | Set 05:34a 76%|
|Tue 27| 07:32a 08:04p 12:31 | 09:08p 06:28a | Set 06:14a 85%|
|Wed 28| 07:31a 08:05p 12:34 | 09:09p 06:26a | Set 06:49a 92%|
|Thu 29| 07:29a 08:06p 12:37 | 09:11p 06:25a | Set 07:21a 97%|
|Fri 30| 07:27a 08:07p 12:40 | 09:12p 06:23a | Set 07:50a 100%|
|Sat 31| 07:25a 08:09p 12:43 | 09:13p 06:21a |Full Rise 08:27p 100%|
+-----------------------------------------------------------------------+
* Nautical Twilight
** Moonrise or moonset, whichever occurs between sunset and sunrise
02/28/2018 – Ephemeris – Let’s take our weekly look at the bright planets
Ephemeris for Wednesday, February 28th. The Sun will rise at 7:22. It’ll be up for 11 hours and 7 minutes, setting at 6:29. The Moon, 1 day before full, will set at 7:17 tomorrow morning.
Let’s take our weekly look at the bright planets. Two of the bright naked eye planets are in the evening sky, but very close to the Sun. Venus will be visible low in the Western twilight from about 6:50 until before it sets at 7:29. Mercury is creeping up on Venus from below, tonight about 5 Moon widths at 5 o’clock down from Venus. It will set at 7:18. Mercury will appear to pass Venus Sunday night and will become higher than Venus in the sky until about March 20th. In the morning Jupiter will rise at 12:39 tomorrow morning, with Mars rising at 2:59. Saturn will end the procession, rising at 4:10 a.m. At 6 tomorrow morning bright Jupiter will be in the south to the left of it is dimmer Mars. Saturn is low in the southeast.
The times given are for the Traverse City/Interlochen area of Michigan. They may be different for your location.
Addendum
Moon rise at around 5:10 p.m. tonight February 28 2018 with daylight washing it out. Note the squished Moon due to atmospheric refraction which bends the light up. The lower in the sky it is the greater the bending of the light. This also happens to the Sun. Created using Stellarium as a built in effect.
Venus and Mercury, low in the west at 6:45 p.m., February 28, 2018. Created using Stellarium.
The morning planets of Jupiter, Mars and Saturn. Seen at 6 a.m. tomorrow morning March 1, 2018. Click on image to enlarge. Created using Stellarium.
Jupiter and Saturn with heir brighter satellites tomorrow morning at 6 a.m. March 1, 2018. They are displayed at the same scale. Saturn in about twice as far as Jupiter. Its disk is a bit smaller than Jupiter’s so it appears about half as large. The extent of the rings appear to be about the same as Jupiter’s diameter. Created using Cartes du Ciel (Sky Charts). Oops, left in Mimas, which is much smaller and dimmer than the other satellites.
Planets at sunset and sunrise of a single night starting with sunset on the right on February 28, 2018. The night ends on the left with sunrise on March 1st. Click on the image to enlarge. Created using my LookingUp program.
02/27/2018 – Ephemeris – The bright spot on the Moon tonight
Ephemeris for Tuesday, February 27th. The Sun will rise at 7:23. It’ll be up for 11 hours and 4 minutes, setting at 6:27. The Moon, 2 days before full, will set at 6:38 tomorrow morning.
The moon tonight is bright. The sunrise line or terminator on the moon is crossing the large gray plain called Oceanus Procellarum, the largest of the moon’s seas. These seas were figments of the first telescopic observers imagination. They are really huge impact basins into which interior lava flowed. On the upper left edge of the moon near the terminator is a bright spot on the moon visible in binoculars. In a telescope it is a crater called Aristarchus. It is a fairly new crater, probably less than a billion years old. As a rule the brighter the crater the newer it is. Aristarchus is the brightest spot on the moon. Over the years visual astronomers have seen hazes and bright spots from time to time in and near Aristarchus.
The times given are for the Traverse City/Interlochen area of Michigan. They may be different for your location.
Addendum
The Moon tonight at 9 p.m. February 27, 2018. Created using Virtual Moon Atlas.
The crater Aristarchus. Credit: Lunar and Planetary Institute.
02/23/2018 – Ephemeris – Meet the stars Castor and Pollux
Ephemeris for Friday, February 23rd. The Sun will rise at 7:30. It’ll be up for 10 hours and 52 minutes, setting at 6:22. The Moon, at first quarter today, will set at 2:54 tomorrow morning.
The star Pollux is at the head of the same named brother of Gemini the twins. Castor is the slightly dimmer star right above it. Pollux is about 34 light years away. It’s twice as massive as the Sun, and has run out of hydrogen in its core and is in the process of evolving into a red giant star. One planet, recently given the name Thestias, has been detected around it. Castor is at 51 light years away. There are 6 stars in its system. The brightest three are visible in telescopes. Each is a spectroscopic binary, meaning that the companion stars are detected by the Doppler shifts of the lines in their spectra as the stars orbit each other. The Doppler shift is just one of the many pieces of information revealed by the spectroscope.
The times given are for the Traverse City/Interlochen area of Michigan. They may be different for your location.
Addendum
Gemini with the stars Castor and Pollux. Created using Stellarium.
The Castor star system exploded in this JPL/NASA infographic.
