Archive
02/02/2016 – Ephemeris – Hard luck Orion
Ephemeris for Ground Hog Day, Tuesday, February 2nd. The Sun will rise at 8:01. It’ll be up for 9 hours and 50 minutes, setting at 5:52. The Moon, 2 days past last quarter, will rise at 3:31 tomorrow morning.
The large and bright constellation of Orion is now in the south at 9 p.m. It is seen as an upright rectangle of bright stars, with a belt of three stars in the center. Orion is a minor character in Greek mythology. Orion was the son of Neptune, and was a hunter. He had an ill-fated romance with Merope whose father King Oenopion had him blinded. After having his sight restored, Orion became a companion of Diana goddess of the hunt and they wanted to marry. In one story Apollo, Diana’s brother disapproved of Orion also and was able to trick Diana into accidentally killing Orion with her bow. The heart-broken Diana then placed Orion in the sky with his hunting dogs, were we see him to this day.
Times are for the Traverse City/Interlochen area of Michigan. They may be different for your location.
Addendum
Actually this isn’t the only story of Orion’s death. The other was that he was stung by a scorpion, also by the urging of Apollo. This is the explanation as to why Orion and Scorpius the scorpion are never in the sky at the same time. However south of the equator that is no longer true, but the Greeks and Romans never ventured that far south enough to see it.
Orion from mid latitudes north of the equator. Orion would be upside down if viewed south of the equator. Created using Stellarium.
02/01/2016 – Ephemeris – Previewing February
Ephemeris for Monday, February 1st. The Sun will rise at 8:02. It’ll be up for 9 hours and 48 minutes, setting at 5:50. The Moon, 1 day past last quarter, will rise at 2:34 tomorrow morning.
Let’s preview the month of February. It will be a day longer this year because it’s a leap year, the adjustment to keep the calendar in sync with the seasons. The daylight hours throughout February will be getting longer. Daylight hours will increase from 9 hours and 48 minutes today to 11 hours and 8 minutes on the 29th. The altitude of the sun at noon will increase from 28 degrees tomorrow to nearly 38 degrees at month’s end. The straits area will see the sun a degree lower. Local noon, by the way for Interlochen and Traverse City is about 12:56 p.m, which is mainly due to the fact that our standard time meridian happens to run through Philadelphia and the Sun is currently running 13 minutes slow.
Times are for the Traverse City/Interlochen area of Michigan. They may be different for your location.
Addenda
February Star Chart
Star Chart for February 2016. Created using my LookingUp program. To enlarge in Firefox Right-click on image then click View image.
The planets and stars are plotted for the 15th at 9 p.m. EST. That is chart time. Note, Traverse City is located 45 minutes behind our time meridian. To duplicate the star positions on a planisphere you may have to set it to 45 minutes earlier than the current time.
Evening astronomical twilight ends at 6:56 p.m. EST on January 1st, increasing to 7:33 p.m. EST on the 29th.
Morning astronomical twilight starts at 6:56 a.m. EST on January 1st, and decreasing to 6:18 a.m. EST on the 29th.
Add a half hour to the chart time every week before the 15th and subtract and hour for every week after the 15th.
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
- A leaky Big Dipper drips on Leo
Calendar of Planetary Events
Credit: Sky Events Calendar by Fred Espenak and Sumit Dutta (NASA’s GSFC)
To generate your own calendar go to http://eclipse.gsfc.nasa.gov/SKYCAL/SKYCAL.html
Times are Eastern Time. Some additions made to aid clarity.
Date Local Event Time EST Feb 01 Mo 3:48 am Moon-Mars: 3° S 01 Mo Venus: 31.4° W 03 We 2:05 pm Moon-Saturn: 3.8° S 04 Th 11:34 pm Moon South Dec.: 18.3° S 06 Sa 2:32 am Moon-Venus: 4.5° S 06 Sa 11:47 am Moon-Mercury: 3.9° S 06 Sa 7:59 pm Mercury Greatest Elongation: 25.6° West 08 Mo 9:39 am New Moon 10 We 3:46 pm Moon Descending Node 10 We 9:42 pm Moon Perigee: 364400 km 12 Fr 9:32 pm Mercury-Venus: 4° N 15 Mo 2:46 am First Quarter 16 Tu 2:41 am Moon-Aldebaran: 0.4° S 17 We 6:18 pm Moon North Dec.: 18.3° N 22 Mo 7:48 am Moon-Regulus: 2.7° N 22 Mo 1:20 pm Full Moon 23 Tu 10:58 pm Moon-Jupiter: 1.9° N 24 We 1:10 am Moon Ascending Node 26 Fr 10:28 pm Moon Apogee: 405400 km 28 Su 10:17 am Neptune Solar Conjunction 29 Mo 1:16 pm Moon-Mars: 3.9° S Mar 01 Tu Venus: 24.9° W
Comet C/2013 US10 (Catalina)
The track of Comet C/2013 US10 (Catalina) for February 2016. Created using Cartes du Ciel (Sky Charts).
The comet magnitudes, given after the date, are now pretty much on track. Comet is plotted every day at 10 p.m. EST (3 hr UT the next day). To monitor the brightness reports from observers go to http://www.aerith.net/comet/catalog/2013US10/2013US10.html.
01/29/2016 – Ephemeris – The rabbit that got away
Ephemeris for Friday, January 29th. The Sun will rise at 8:05. It’ll be up for 9 hours and 40 minutes, setting at 5:46. The Moon, 2 days before last quarter, will rise at 11:40 this evening.
Orion, the central winter constellation is seen in the south at 9 p.m. He is a hunter, but he’s preoccupied with the charge of Taurus the bull from the upper right. At Orion’s feet, and unnoticed by him is the small constellation of Lepus the hare. It’s very hard to see a rabbit in its eight dim stars: however, I do see a rabbit’s head ears and shoulders. A misshapen box is the head and face of this critter facing to the left. His ears extend upwards from the upper right star of the box, and the bend forward a bit. Two stars to the right of the box and a bit farther apart hint at the front part of the body. In Lepus telescopes can find M79, a distant globular star cluster, one of the few of these compact clusters visible in the winter sky.
Times are for the Traverse City/Interlochen area of Michigan. They may be different for your location.
Addendum
An animation showing the stars, constellations and artwork of Lepus, Orion and Taurus. Created using Stellarium and GIMP.
As you can see, the image above of Lepus isn’t how I imagine the hare as I mentioned in the text.
01/28/2016 – Ephemeris – This post has gone to the dogs
Ephemeris for Thursday, January 28th. The Sun will rise at 8:06. It’ll be up for 9 hours and 38 minutes, setting at 5:45. The Moon, 3 days before last quarter, will rise at 10:42 this evening.
The great winter constellation or star group Orion the Hunter, is located in the southern sky at 9:30 p.m. His elongated rectangle of a torso is vertical. In the center of the rectangle are three stars in a line that make his belt. As a hunter, especially one of old, he has two hunting dogs. The larger, Canis Major can be found by following the three belt stars of Orion down and to the left. There lies the brilliant star called Sirius, also known as the Dog Star. It’s in the heart of a stick figure dog facing Orion that appears to be begging. The smaller dog can be found by extending a line through Orion’s shoulder stars to the left. We find a bright star called Procyon. It and one other star make up the hot-dog shaped constellation of Canis Minor, the little dog.
Times are for the Traverse City/Interlochen area of Michigan. They may be different for your location.
Addendum
Orion and his hunting dogs revealed in animation. Created with Stellarium and GIMP.
01/27/2016 – Ephemeris – The Moon rises near Jupiter tonight
Ephemeris for Wednesday, January 27th. The Sun will rise at 8:07. It’ll be up for 9 hours and 36 minutes, setting at 5:43. The Moon, half way from full to last quarter, will rise at 9:43 this evening.
Let’s check out the whereabouts of the bright naked eye planets. All the classical planets visible from antiquity are officially now in the morning sky. However Jupiter actually will rise at 9:30 p.m., in the east. The Moon will be right below it tonight. Jupiter’s still a morning planet since it’s not up at sunset. Mars will rise next at 1:54 a.m. in the east-southeast. It’s below and left of the bright star Spica. Saturn will rise at 4:30 a.m. in the east-southeast. Venus will rise at 6:11 a.m. again in the east-southeast. Mercury is not favorably placed for northern hemispheric observers now. Comet Catalina is up all night and is a binocular object crossing the line from the pointer stars in the Big Dipper and the North Star Polaris tonight.
Times are for the Traverse City/Interlochen area of Michigan. They may be different for your location.
Addendum
Jupiter and the Moon at 10 p.m. January 27, 2016. Created using Stellarium.
Jupiter and moons as they would appear in a telescope at 10 p.m. January 27, 2016. Created using Stellarium.
The Moon rising. Note the distortion of the atmospheric refraction squishes the Moon vertically being only a quarter-hour after it rose. 10 p.m., January 27, 2016. Created using Stellarium.
The morning planets and the Moon at 6:45 a.m., January 28, 2016. Created using Stellarium.
Saturn and its moons in a telescope on the morning of January 28, 2016. Created using Stellarium.
Comet Catalina’s path for the next week. Note the magnitudes for the comet are about correct. It will take binoculars or a small telescope to spot the comet which will not show a tail visually. Created using Stellarium.
This is a chart showing the sunrise and sunset skies for January 27, 2016 showing the location of the planets, the Moon and Comet Catalina at that time. Created using my LookingUp program.
Some of these images above are shown smaller than actual size. Image expansion lately hasn’t worked. If you are using Firefox, right-click on the image, and then click on View Image.
01/26/2016 – Ephemeris – Planet X
Ephemeris for Tuesday, January 26th. The Sun will rise at 8:08. It’ll be up for 9 hours and 33 minutes, setting at 5:42. The Moon, 3 days past full, will rise at 8:44 this evening.
Last week Dr. Mike Brown and Konstantin Batygin announced that they have good cause to suspect that there is a Neptune sized planet lurking in the outer Kuiper Belt, perhaps 1,000 AU or a 1,000 times the Earth’s distance from the sun. In miles that comes to a possible distance of 100 billion miles from the sun. The evidence is the odd similarity of the orbits of six Kuiper belt objects, including the best known Sedna, whose closest points of their orbits to the Sun, called perihelia are remarkably close together. Planet X is not a name, but a placeholder for something unknown, like X in an equation, which will be replaced by a real designation if found and confirmed. So no, Planet X has not been found, but as Sherlock Holmes would say: the game is afoot.
Times are for the Traverse City/Interlochen area of Michigan. They may be different for your location.
Addendum
The obit off to the right is the suspected orbit of the unknown body dubbed Planet X or Planet 9. Credit: Mike Brown and Konstantin Batygin.
Links to explore this further from reliable sources are: Universe Today, The Planetary Society, and Phil Plait’s Bad Astronomy.
01/25/2016 – Ephemeris – Sirius the Dog Star
Ephemeris for Monday, January 25th. The Sun will rise at 8:09. It’ll be up for 9 hours and 31 minutes, setting at 5:41. The Moon, 2 days past full, will rise at 7:43 this evening.
While we’re waiting for the bright Moon to leave the evening sky, let’s look at another bright star. This one is the brightest of all, Sirius the Dog Star. The Dog Star name comes from its position at the heart of the constellation Canis Major, the great dog of Orion the hunter. The three stars of Orion’s belt tilt to the southeast and point to Sirius. The name Sirius means ‘Dazzling One’, a reference to its great brilliance and twinkling. The Romans thought Sirius added its heat to that of the Sun in summer to bring on the scorching Dog Days of July and August. Its ancient Egyptian name was Sothis, and its first appearance in the morning twilight in late June signaled the flooding of the Nile, and the beginning of the Egyptian agricultural year.
Times are for the Traverse City/Interlochen area of Michigan. They may be different for your location.
Addendum
Orion’s Belt points to Sirius. Created using Stellarium.
01/22/2016 – Ephemeris – Getting sunrise and sunset times for your location
Ephemeris for Friday, January 22nd. The Sun will rise at 8:12. It’ll be up for 9 hours and 24 minutes, setting at 5:36. The Moon, 1 day before full, will set at 7:31 tomorrow morning.
With the bright moon, blocking all but the brightest stars, it’s a good time to do some housekeeping. When I started this program 40 ½ years ago Interlochen Public Radio (IPR) had only one transmitter and a single antenna pattern. It was simply WIAA then. The sunrise and sunset times worked well for that. However since then with transmitters from Manistee to the Straits I cannot hope to cover it all with a single set of times. The differences in the times also vary with the seasons. To get help on the Internet go to my monthly site ephemeris.bjmoler.org and click on Calendars. There are calendars for Ludington, Cadillac, Interlochen/Traverse City, Petoskey and Mackinaw City. Select a month to view or printout a whole year, or use the email link to request a sunrise, sunset, and Moon calendar for your town. There’s also a link to get sunrise and sunset times for anywhere in the world
Times are for the Traverse City/Interlochen area of Michigan. They may be different for your location.
Addendum
As an aside. I wrote the program to compute the calendars back in the ’80s. It produces calendars in three formats, of which I still use two: comma separated values, and HTML. The HTML output is what is used for the calendar pages. The comma separated value files are input into a database which is used to create for me the first paragraph of the transcript. For the blog posting I omit “This is Bob Moler with…” as redundant. The program also produces database tables of the planets from which I base the Wednesday planet program rise, set and sometimes transit times.
The actual Ephemeris audio programs are also found on the ephemeris.bjmoler.org under the audio link. A whole week of programs are available.
01/21/2016 – Ephemeris – Rigel, Orion’s other bright star
Ephemeris for Thursday, January 21st. The Sun will rise at 8:12. It’ll be up for 9 hours and 22 minutes, setting at 5:35. The Moon, 2 days before full, will set at 6:44 tomorrow morning.
The bright star at the bottom right corner of the big upright rectangle that is the giant hunter Orion’s body in the south-southeast is Rigel. It is a white star with a bluish tinge. It compares in brightness with Betelgeuse at the opposite end of Orion’s rectangle, though it’s usually a bit brighter. The mismatch in color makes brightness comparisons difficult. Rigel is about 860 light years away, It’s 20 times the mass of the Sun, 120 thousand the times brighter than the Sun, and a diameter about the size of the orbit of Mercury. It’s age is thought to be about 8 million years. It has a visual companion star that can be seen in amateur telescopes. It’s not that dim, but suffers by being close to the arc light brightness of Rigel.
Times are for the Traverse City/Interlochen area of Michigan. They may be different for your location.
Addendum
Torso of Orion centered on his belt. Created using Stellarium.
Orion and the head of Taurus photograph by myself January 4, 2016 at 11:30 p.m. It’s a stack of untracked 20 exposures.
Rigel with its companion star as photographed through a telescope. No attribution. Source: http://washedoutastronomy.com/content/urban-orion?page=1
01/20/2016 – Ephemeris – The planet action is in the morning sky
Update: This is the proper text for today
Ephemeris for Wednesday, January 20th. The Sun will rise at 8:13. It’ll be up for 9 hours and 20 minutes, setting at 5:34. The Moon, 3 days before full, will set at 5:51 tomorrow morning.
Let’s check out the whereabouts of the bright naked eye planets. All the classical planets visible from antiquity are now in the morning sky. However Mercury is too close to the Sun, and may remain too low in the sky to spot when it’s farther from the Sun. Jupiter will be the first to rise, actually at 10 p.m., in the east. It’s still a morning planet since it’s not up at sunset. Mars will rise next at 2:03 a.m. in the east-southeast. It’s below and left of the bright star Spica. Saturn will rise at 4:55 a.m. in the east-southeast. Venus will rise at 6 a.m. again in the east-southeast. Comet Catalina is a binocular object between the bowls of the Big and Little Dippers. It’s heading across the tail of Draco the dragon.
Times are for the Traverse City/Interlochen area of Michigan. They may be different for your location.
Here of the morning planets. From right to left, Jupiter, Mars, Saturn and Venus. Time: 6:30 a.m., January 21, 2016. Created using Stellarium.
Jupiter and its 4 Galilean moons at 6:30 a.m., January 21, 2016. Created using Stellarium.
Saturn and its moons at a greater magnification as for Jupiter above at 6:30 a.m., January 21, 2016. Small telescopes will show only the moon Titan. Created using Stellarium.
Comet Catalina’s path for the next week. Note the magnitudes for the comet are about correct. It will take binoculars or a small telescope to spot the comet which will not show a tail visually. Created using Stellarium.
This is a chart showing the sunrise and sunset skies for January 20, 2016 showing the location of the planets, the Moon and Comet Catalina at that time. Created using my LookingUp program.
The top and bottom images above are shown smaller than actual size. Image expansion lately hasn’t worked. If you are using Firefox, right-click on the image, and then click on View Image.
