Archive
07/12/2013 – Ephemeris – Star party at Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore tomorrow night
Ephemeris for Friday, July 12th. Today the sun will be up for 15 hours and 17 minutes, setting at 9:26. The moon, 3 days before first quarter, will set at 11:22 this evening. Tomorrow the sun will rise at 6:09.
Tomorrow night there will be a star party at the Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore starting at 9 p.m. It will be hosted by the park rangers and the Grand Traverse Astronomical Society. The location this time will be at Platte River Point at the end of Lake Michigan Road off M22, at the end of the road where the Platte River Camp Ground is.. The celestial objects featured will be Venus, Saturn and the crescent moon. Also some of the brighter deep sky wonders will be visible later in the evening. This will be the first use of the society’s new CCD camera to display celestial wonders to those who can’t view due to handicap. We still have some bugs to work out. The star party will be canceled if cloudy. Call 326-5135 extension 331 for the status.
Times are for the Traverse City/Interlochen area of Michigan. They may be different for your location.
07/11/2013 – Ephemeris – Ophiuchus the serpent bearer
Ephemeris for Thursday, July 11th. Today the sun will be up for 15 hours and 19 minutes, setting at 9:27. The moon, 3 days past new, will set at 10:56 this evening. Tomorrow the sun will rise at 6:09.
The crescent moon will appear to the right of the planet Venus before 10:45 p.m. Tonight. The red star Antares shines in the south at 11 p.m. In the area of sky above it lies a large constellation of faint stars called Ophiuchus, the serpent bearer. Ophiuchus represent the legendary physician Aesculapius. The constellation shape is like a large bell, which reminds me of the head, shoulders and arms of a fellow that’s holding the snake like a weight lifter struggling to pull up a heavy barbell. Serpens, the constellation of the serpent is in the sky in two sections. The front end lies to the right as Serpens Caput, and wends its way up the right side of Ophiuchus. Serpens Cauda, the tail rises to the left of Ophiuchus. It’s a rewarding sight, and not that hard to spot.
Times are for the Traverse City/Interlochen area of Michigan. They may be different for your location.
Addendum
Ophiuchus and Serpens at 11 p.m.. Created using Stellarium.
07/10/2013 – Ephemeris – Where are the bright planets this week?
Ephemeris for Wednesday, July 10th. Today the sun will be up for 15 hours and 20 minutes, setting at 9:27. The moon, 2 days past new, will set at 10:28 this evening. Tomorrow the sun will rise at 6:08.
Lets check out the planets visible now. Venus is now low in the west northwestern sky in evening twilight, Venus will set at 10:59 p.m. Holding forth in the south southwest will be Saturn this evening, the brightest star-like object in the constellation Virgo appearing yellowish to the left of the extremely blue-white star Spica. Saturn is a wonderful sight in a telescope of 20 power or more. Small telescopes can also spot Saturn’s moon Titan as a dim star off a ways along the extent of the rings. Saturn will set at 1:59 tomorrow morning. Jupiter, Mars and Mercury are too close to the direction of the sun to be seen. I’ll check out Jupiter and Mars when they emerge later this month.
Times are for the Traverse City/Interlochen area of Michigan. They may be different for your location.
Addendum
Venus, Saturn and the bright stars at 10:30 p.m. on July 10, 2013. Created using Stellarium.
07/09/2013 – Ephemeris – Thank goodness this is as close as scorpions get to northern Michigan
Ephemeris for Tuesday, July 9th. Today the sun will be up for 15 hours and 21 minutes, setting at 9:28. The moon, 1 day past new, will set at 9:58 this evening. Tomorrow the sun will rise at 6:07.
Crawling just above the southern horizon at 11 p.m. is the zodiacal constellation of Scorpius the scorpion. His heart is the red giant star Antares. Its facing the west or right with a short arc of three stars as its head. His body and tail drop to the left and scrape the horizon before curving up to the critter’s poisonous stinger of two stars. It really makes a great scorpion. One story of the scorpion concerns Orion the hunter the great winter constellation. In that story Orion was killed by the sting of a scorpion. Therefore Orion and Scorpius are never seen in the sky at the same time. That is certainly true around here and for the Greeks, whose legend it is. However if one travels far enough south that is no longer true.
Times are for the Traverse City/Interlochen area of Michigan. They may be different for your location.
Addendum
Scorpius at 11 p.m. on July 9, 2013. Credit Stellarium. I don’t agree with the artist’s drawing of the scorpion. To me it’s larger. The arc of three stars in the drawing’s right claw to me is its head and start of the claw appendages. I’ve added two star names from the constellation of Libra to the right. The Arabic translation of Zubeneschamali and Zubenelgenubi is North Claw and South Claw respectively. At one time Scorpius was larger than it is depicted today. Click on the image to enlarge.
07/08/2012 – Ephemeris – How to find the Ring Nebula (M57)
Ephemeris for Monday, July 8th. Today the sun will be up for 15 hours and 22 minutes, setting at 9:28. The moon is new today, and won’t be visible. | Tomorrow the sun will rise at 6:06.
The constellation of Lyra is high in the east when it gets dark tonight. Its bright star Vega and the thin parallelogram of stars depict the harp it represents. Between the two stars at the bottom of the parallelogram opposite Vega hides a celestial wonder that can be seen in a small telescope, though the larger the telescope the better. It is the Ring Nebula, a smoke ring blown by a dying star. The telescope’s finder cannot show the ring. Center the finder between those two stars. The nebula will appear as a small dim gray spot in the telescope. Closer inspection may reveal that the center of the nebula is darker than the edges. It is about 2,300 light years away, but that’s a very approximate distance, which could be a thousand light years off.
Times are for the Traverse City/Interlochen area of Michigan. They may be different for your location.
Addendum
The constellation Lyra with the location of the Ring Nebula shown. Created using Stellarium.
A closer look at the location of the Ring Nebula. Created using Stellarium.
07/05/2013 – Ephemeris – Earth at aphelion and astronomy tonight
Ephemeris for Friday, July 5th. Today the sun will be up for 15 hours and 26 minutes, setting at 9:30. The moon, 3 days before new, will rise at 4:52 tomorrow morning. Tomorrow the sun will rise at 6:04.
The earth is as far as it will get from the sun for the year today at 94.5 million miles. Speaking of the sun, the monthly meeting of the Grand Traverse Astronomical Society at 8 p.m. at Northwestern Michigan College’s Rogers Observatory tonight will host local landscape architect Dean Conners an expert on sundials. He created the sundial in the Children’s Garden behind the District Library. who will talk about some interesting sundials. After the meeting at 9 p.m. there will be a star party at the observatory with the planets Venus and Saturn plus some of the bright wonders of the summer sky, like the Ring Nebula, The Great Hercules Globular Star Cluster if it’s clear. There’s other activities if it’s cloudy.
Times are for the Traverse City/Interlochen area of Michigan. They may be different for your location.
07/04/2013 – Ephemeris – Patriotic Stars: Red, White and Blue
Ephemeris for Independence Day in the United States, Thursday, July 4th. Today the sun will be up for 15 hours and 27 minutes, setting at 9:30. The moon, half way from last quarter to new, will rise at 4:05 tomorrow morning. Tomorrow the sun will rise at 6:03.
Today is Independence Day so let’s look for some red, white, and blue stars. Red is easy, the red star Antares is seen in the south at 11 p.m. White is easy too, the official white calibration star Vega high in the east at 11 p.m. The blue star is really blue-white. The brightest of these out at 11 p.m. is Spica, low in the southwest to the right of the brighter Saturn. The color is best seen in binoculars. Star colors are quite subtle, and are an indicator of the temperature of their outer gaseous layers. The temperature of a stars outer layers, in order of their increasing temperatures are red, white and blue. Of these three the coolest on the outside, Antares is really the hottest inside, using helium as fuel.
Times are for the Traverse City/Interlochen area of Michigan. They may be different for your location.
Addendum
Red Antares, white Vega and blue Spica. Patriotic Stars this evening. Created using Stellarium.
07/03/2013 – Ephemeris – Where are the bright planets this week?
Ephemeris for Wednesday, July 3rd. Today the sun will be up for 15 hours and 28 minutes, setting at 9:30. The moon, 3 days past last quarter, will rise at 3:22 tomorrow morning. Tomorrow the sun will rise at 6:03.
Lets check out the planets visible now. Venus is now low in the west northwestern sky in evening twilight, Venus will set at 11:03 p.m. Holding forth in the south southwest will be Saturn this evening, the brightest star-like object in the constellation Virgo appearing yellowish to the left of the extremely blue-white star Spica. Saturn is a wonderful sight in a telescope of 20 power or more. Small telescopes can also spot Saturn’s moon Titan as a dim star off a ways along the extent of the rings. Saturn will set at 2:27 tomorrow morning. Jupiter, Mars and Mercury are too close to the direction of the sun to be seen. I’ll cover Jupiter and Mars when they emerge later this month.
Times are for the Traverse City/Interlochen area of Michigan. They may be different for your location.
Ephemeris
- Looking from west to south at Venus, Saturn and some constellations low in the sky at 10:45 p.m. on July 3, 2013. Created using Stellarium. Click on the image to enlarge.
07/02/2013 – Ephemeris – Lyra the harp in Greek mythology
Ephemeris for Tuesday, July 2nd. Today the sun will be up for 15 hours and 29 minutes, setting at 9:31. The moon, 2 days past last quarter, will rise at 2:45 tomorrow morning. Tomorrow the sun will rise at 6:02.
High in the east at 11 p.m. can be found a bright star just above a small, narrow, but very distinctive parallelogram of stars. They are the stars of the constellation Lyra the harp. The bright star is Vega the 5th brightest night-time star. To the Romans the star Vega represented a falling eagle or vulture. Apparently they never made the distinction between the two. It is a pure white star and serves as a calibration star for color and brightness. The harp, according to Greek mythology, was invented by the god Hermes. The form of the harp in the sky, is as he had invented it: by stretching strings across a tortoise-shell. Hermes gave it to his half-brother Apollo, who in turn gave it to the great musician Orpheus.
Times are for the Traverse City/Interlochen area of Michigan. They may be different for your location.
Addendum
Lyra as a tortoise-shell harp. Created using Stellarium and free clip art.
Annotated Lyra:
Magnified view of Lyra. Created using Stellarium.
07/01/2013 – Ephemeris – July preview
Ephemeris for Monday, July 1st. Today the sun will be up for 15 hours and 29 minutes, setting at 9:31. The moon, 1 day past last quarter, will rise at 2:11 tomorrow morning. Tomorrow the sun will rise at 6:01.
Lets preview July’s skies. The sun, having reached its northern solstice, is beginning to slide southward again, at first imperceptibly, then with greater speed. The daylight hours will decrease from 15 hours and 29 minutes today to 14 hours 40 minutes at month’s end. The daylight hours will be slightly shorter south of Interlochen, and slightly longer to the north. The altitude of the sun at local noon, when the sun is due south will decrease from 68 degrees tomorrow to 63 degrees at month’s end. The sun will be a degree lower in the Straits area. Despite the warmth, the earth will reach its greatest distance from the sun on Friday. The planets Venus and Saturn will be our evening planets this month.
Times are for the Traverse City/Interlochen area of Michigan. They may be different for your location.
Addendum
The stars and planets, specifically for July 15, 2013 at 11 p.m.
The constellation abbreviations, names and bright star names are found here.
- The arrow from the pointer stars of the Big Dipper to Polaris the North Star, near the north celestial pole.
- Follow the arc of the handle of the Big Dipper to Arcturus.
- A Leaky Dipper drips on Leo
- Follow the spike to Spica.
- The Summer Triangle (in red)
