Archive
Ephemeris: 06/12/2025 – Another look at the star Spica
This is Ephemeris for Thursday, June 12th. Today the Sun will be up for 15 hours and 32 minutes, setting at 9:29, and it will rise tomorrow at 5:56. The Moon, 1 day past full, will rise at 11:20 this evening.
In the south-southwest at 11 PM is the bright star Spica in Virgo the virgin. Arcturus, high in the south, is much brighter than Spica and has an orange tint to Spica’s bluish hue. In fact, Spica is the 15th brightest and the bluest of the 21 first magnitude stars. That means that it has a really hot surface temperature. Spica is actually two stars in a tight 4-day orbit of each other. They are both reasonably matched in mass and brightness. I found that out once photographing a lunar eclipse near Spica, The star came out very blue. The twin stars of Spica are 250 light years away. I’m glad the stars are young now. They will have a very interesting future as they age and interact in the next few million years.
The astronomical event times given in this blog are for the Traverse City/Interlochen area of Michigan (Lat 44.7° N, Long 85.7° W; EDT, UT – 4 hours) unless stated otherwise. Times will be different for other locations.
Addendum
Ephemeris: 06/11/2025 – Checking on the naked-eye planets for this week
This is Ephemeris for Wednesday, June 11th. Today the Sun will be up for 15 hours and 31 minutes, setting at 9:28, and it will rise tomorrow at 5:56. The Moon, at full today, will rise at 10:31 this evening.
Let’s take our weekly look at the whereabouts of the naked-eye planets. Only one naked eye planet will be visible in the evening sky. That is reddish Mars, now approaching the bright star Regulus in the constellation Leo the lion, which it will pass just north of next Monday evening, June 16th. Both are seen in the western sky. They are currently about the same brightness, but Mars has an orange-reddish hue, while Regulus, to the left, is white. By 5 AM Venus will be seen very low in the east, as the Morning Star, with Saturn to the right and above it in the east-southeast. Venus will be visible until close to 5:40. For those with telescopes, Saturn’s rings are now slowly opening up again, and will for the next 7 years.
The astronomical event times given in this blog are for the Traverse City/Interlochen area of Michigan (Lat 44.7° N, Long 85.7° W; EDT, UT – 4 hours) unless stated otherwise. Times will be different for other locations.
Addendum
Venus and Saturn at 5 AM tomorrow morning, June 12th, 2025, low in the east. Created using Stellarium.
The naked-eye planets and the Moon at sunset and sunrise on a single night, starting with sunset on the right on June 11, 2025. The night ends on the left with sunrise on the 12th. Click or tap on the image to enlarge it. Created using my LookingUp app and GIMP.
Ephemeris: 06/10/2025 – Tonight’s Strawberry Moon
This is Ephemeris for Tuesday, June 10th. Today the Sun will be up for 15 hours and 30 minutes, setting at 9:27, and it will rise tomorrow at 5:56. The Moon, 1 day before full, will set at 5:36 tomorrow morning.
The actual instant that the Moon will be full, that is opposite the Sun in the sky, will be 3:44 tomorrow morning. So tonight’s full moon will be fuller than tomorrow night’s Moon. This month’s full moon is also called the Strawberry Moon by Native Americans, because this is the month that strawberries ripen. Also, the term honeymoon comes from the fact that many weddings are in June, when the full moon is low in the sky in the south and has a yellowish or honey color due to haze and atmospheric preferential scattering of blue light. The darker areas of the Moon give the effect of a face called the Man in the Moon. There is also a rabbit in the Moon, curled around the upper edge, with head and ears to the right and body to the left.
The astronomical event times given in this blog are for the Traverse City/Interlochen area of Michigan (Lat 44.7° N, Long 85.7° W; EDT, UT – 4 hours) unless stated otherwise. Times will be different for other locations.
Addendum
Ephemeris: 06/09/2025 – Ephemeris illustrated
This is Bob Moler with Ephemeris for Monday, June 9th. Today the Sun will be up for 15 hours and 30 minutes, setting at 9:27, and it will rise tomorrow at 5:57. The Moon, 2 days before full, will set at 4:53 tomorrow morning.
Did you know that the Ephemeris program has a blog where the scripts of these programs are posted daily along with illustrations? It’s located at bobmoler.wordpress.com. (If you are reading this, you’re already here!) I may end up with a shorter address, but this address will always work. I post the scripts of the program, unedited for time, along with illustrations where appropriate. For instance, in talking about constellations, I will illustrate how to find it, how it looks in the sky, and perhaps even with the mythical figures that it’s supposed to represent. I also post Ephemeris Extras, articles which I’ve written for other publications. Just about all the Ephemeris programs since September 13, 2010, are posted here.
The astronomical event times given in this blog are for the Traverse City/Interlochen area of Michigan (Lat 44.7° N, Long 85.7° W; EDT, UT – 4 hours) unless stated otherwise. Times will be different for other locations.
Addendum
Ephemeris: 06/06/2025 – GTAS meeting tonight
This is Bob Moler with Ephemeris for Friday, June 6th. Today the Sun will be up for 15 hours and 27 minutes, setting at 9:25, and it will rise tomorrow at 5:57. The Moon, 4 days past first quarter, will set at 3:32 tomorrow morning. | The Grand Traverse Astronomical Society will host its May meeting tonight at 9 PM at Northwestern Michigan College’s Joseph H Rogers Observatory. The talk for the evening is a mystery to me, and I’m the Newsletter Editor. However, since I’ve given more programs than any other to the group, I will have a presentation old or new, if the need arises. After the meeting, around 10 PM, weather permitting, there will be viewing of the Moon and whatever we can find in the twilight. The observatory is located south of Traverse City on Birmley Rd. The meeting will also be available via Zoom. Instructions will be on the society’s website, gtastro.org.
The astronomical event times given in this blog are for the Traverse City/Interlochen area of Michigan (Lat 44.7° N, Long 85.7° W; EDT, UT – 4 hours) unless stated otherwise. Times will be different for other locations.
Addendum
Ephemeris: 06/05/2025 – The free planetarium program I use
This is Ephemeris for Thursday, June 5th. Today the Sun will be up for 15 hours and 26 minutes, setting at 9:24, and it will rise tomorrow at 5:58. The Moon, 3 days past first quarter, will set at 3:14 tomorrow morning.
Due to my physical shortcomings, which started about five years ago, I’m not able to get out under the stars as much as I used to. My observing is basically confined to star parties that the Grand Traverse Astronomical Society hosts. Most of my “observing” is done using a planetarium program called Stellarium. It is, to my mind, the best and most accurate portrayal of the heavens of the planetarium programs that I’ve seen, and it’s free and open source! It can be downloaded from the Internet for computers: Windows, Macs, and Linux from stellarium.org. A web based version, which you don’t even have to download, is stellarium-web.org. There’s also versions for Android smartphones, iPhones and tablets.
Addendum
Ephemeris: 06/04/2025 – Taking our weekly look at where the naked-eye planets have wondered off to
This is Ephemeris for Wednesday, June 4th. Today the Sun will be up for 15 hours and 25 minutes, setting at 9:23, and it will rise tomorrow at 5:58. The Moon, 2 days past first quarter, will set at 2:57 tomorrow morning.
Let’s take our weekly look at the whereabouts of the naked-eye planets. At 10 PM this evening two naked eye planets will be out. Jupiter, is then very low on the west-northwestern horizon, difficult or impossible to find. Fading Mars, with its distinctive reddish hue, is in the west-southwest, at that time, though better seen when the skies are darker. It’s slowly approaching the bright star Regulus in Leo the lion, which it will pass on June 16th. By 5 AM Venus will be seen very low in the east, as the Morning Star, with Saturn to the right in the east-southeast and above it. Venus will be visible until close to 5:40. For those with telescopes, Saturn’s rings are now slowly opening up again, and will for the next 7 years.
The astronomical event times given in this blog are for the Traverse City/Interlochen area of Michigan (Lat 44.7° N, Long 85.7° W; EDT, UT – 4 hours) unless stated otherwise. Times will be different for other locations.
Addendum
Ephemeris: 06/03/2025 – Looking at the Moon tonight
This is Bob Moler with Ephemeris for Tuesday, June 3rd. Today the Sun will be up for 15 hours and 23 minutes, setting at 9:23, and it will rise tomorrow at 5:58. The Moon, 1 day past first quarter, will set at 2:41 tomorrow morning.
For me, the best time to view the Moon with binoculars or a telescope is around first quarter and tonight’s Moon is just a day past first quarter. At this time we see the maximum amount of shadowing of the craters because the sunrise line which we call the terminator is cutting across, pretty much, the center of the Moon. Since the Moon is a pretty uniformly dark gray with light gray areas, shadows make all the difference in seeing detail. One thing to notice on tonight’s Moon is that the southern or bottom part of the Moon has a lot of craters and is bright gray. This is called the lunar highlands and is brighter than the darker areas to the north and on the western side of the Moon, which are covered by the maria or seas, plains of solidified lava flows.
The astronomical event times given in this blog are for the Traverse City/Interlochen area of Michigan (Lat 44.7° N, Long 85.7° W; EDT, UT – 4 hours) unless stated otherwise. Times will be different for other locations.
Addendum
Translations of some lunar feature names according to Virtual Moon Atlas
Lacus Mortis – Lake of Death
Lacus Somniorum – Lake of Dreams
Mare Crisium – Sea of Crises
Mare Fecunditatis – Sea of Fruitfulness
Mare Frigoris – Sea of Cold
Mare Imbrium – Sea of Showers
Mare Nectaris – Sea of Nectar
Mare Serenitatis – Sea of Serenity
Mare Tranquillitatis – Sea of Tranquility
Mare Vaporum – Sea of Vapors
Montes Alpes – Alps Mountains
Montes Apenninus – Apennines Mountains
Sinus Asperitatis – Bay of Roughness
Sinus Medii – Central Bay
Note: Mare is pronounced Mar-e, and Maria is pronounced Mar-e-a.
These features, for the most part, were named by Giovanni Battista Riccioli in 1651, when he produced the first accurate map of the Moon. Craters are named for persons, real or otherwise. Features like Seas, Lakes and Bays were given fanciful names. Labels are centered on their feature where possible.
Ephemeris: 06/02/2025 – 50th anniversary: What’s an ephemeris anyway?
This is Ephemeris for Monday, June 2nd. Today the Sun will be up for 15 hours and 22 minutes, setting at 9:22, and it will rise tomorrow at 5:59. The Moon, at first quarter today, will set at 2:25 tomorrow morning.
Today I embark on the Ephemeris program’s 51st trip around the Sun. The purpose of this program is more than giving the sunrise and sunset times, which was the station’s original request. Nowadays, one can get that from the weather app on a smartphone much more accurately than I can. From the beginning I’ve included some fact of astronomy or something visible in the sky with the naked eye or at least find to it using the naked eye stars as a guide, and visible in binoculars. That is the essence of this program. The title Ephemeris comes from the Greek and Latin meaning diary or journal. In astronomy, it is a tabular list of planet, asteroid or comet positions, as they change with time.
The astronomical event times given in this blog are for the Traverse City/Interlochen area of Michigan (Lat 44.7° N, Long 85.7° W; EDT, UT – 4 hours) unless stated otherwise. Times will be different for other locations.
Addendum
Ephemeris: 05/30/2025 – Ending orbit 50, looking ahead to the 1st month of orbit 51
This is Bob Moler with Ephemeris for Friday, May 30th, the last program of Ephemeris’ 50th orbit of the Sun. Today the Sun will be up for 15 hours and 18 minutes, setting at 9:19, and it will rise tomorrow at 6:00. The Moon, 3 days before first quarter, will set at 1:17 tomorrow morning.
Let’s take a look at June skies. There will be a lot of sunshine this month. The daylight hours will increase a bit from 15 hours and 21 minutes today to 15 hours and 34 minutes on the 21st, retreating back to 15 hours 31 minutes at month’s end. At this time of the year the sunset times for Ludington, Interlochen, Petoskey and Mackinaw City are very nearly the same. However, the sunrise times are at their most divergent. With Ludington’s sunrise being 14 minutes later than Mackinaw City’s. The altitude of the Sun above the southern horizon at local noon (1:44 pm in Interlochen) on the solstice, June 20th will be 68 and three-quarters degrees. Summer will start at 10:42 PM that night.
The astronomical event times given in this blog are for the Traverse City/Interlochen area of Michigan (Lat 44.7° N, Long 85.7° W; EDT, UT – 4 hours) unless stated otherwise. Times will be different for other locations.
Addendum
June Evening Star Chart
The planets and stars are plotted for the 15th at 11 p.m. EDT in the evening and 4 a.m. for the morning chart. These are the chart times. Note that Interlochen/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). To duplicate the star positions on a planisphere you may have to set it to 1 hour 45 minutes earlier than the current time.
Note, the chart times of 11 p.m. and 4 a.m. are for the 15th. For each week before the 15th, add ½ hour (28 minutes if you’re picky). For each week after the 15th, subtract ½ hour, or 28 minutes. 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 for weekly positions.
June Morning Star Chart
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.
- Leaky dipper drips on Leo
- Follow the arc of the handle of the Big Dipper to the star Arcturus, and
- Extend like a spike to Spica,
Twilight Limits, Nautical and Astronomical
| EDT | |||||||
| Morning | Twilight | Evening | Twilight | Dark | Night | Moon | |
| Date | Astro. | Nautical | Nautical | Astro. | Start | End | Illum. |
| 2025-06-01 | 3h39m | 4h38m | 22h47m | 23h46m | 1h45m | 3h39m | 0.41 |
| 2025-06-02 | 3h38m | 4h37m | 22h48m | 23h48m | 2h07m | 3h38m | 0.51 |
| 2025-06-03 | 3h37m | 4h37m | 22h49m | 23h49m | 2h26m | 3h37m | 0.60 |
| 2025-06-04 | 3h36m | 4h36m | 22h50m | 23h51m | 2h42m | 3h36m | 0.70 |
| 2025-06-05 | 3h35m | 4h35m | 22h51m | 23h52m | 2h58m | 3h35m | 0.78 |
| 2025-06-06 | 3h34m | 4h35m | 22h52m | 23h53m | 3h14m | 3h34m | 0.85 |
| 2025-06-07 | 3h33m | 4h34m | 22h53m | 23h55m | 3h33m | 3h33m | 0.91 |
| 2025-06-08 | 3h32m | 4h34m | 22h54m | 23h56m | – | – | 0.96 |
| 2025-06-09 | 3h31m | 4h33m | 22h55m | 23h57m | – | – | 0.99 |
| 2025-06-10 | 3h30m | 4h33m | 22h55m | 23h58m | – | – | 1.00 |
| 2025-06-11 | 3h30m | 4h33m | 22h56m | 23h59m | – | – | 0.99 |
| 2025-06-12 | 3h29m | 4h32m | 22h57m | 0h00m | – | – | 0.96 |
| 2025-06-13 | 3h29m | 4h32m | 22h58m | 0h01m | – | – | 0.92 |
| 2025-06-14 | 3h28m | 4h32m | 22h58m | 0h02m | – | – | 0.85 |
| 2025-06-15 | 3h28m | 4h32m | 22h59m | 0h03m | 0h03m | 0h30m | 0.77 |
| 2025-06-16 | 3h28m | 4h32m | 22h59m | 0h03m | 0h03m | 0h55m | 0.68 |
| 2025-06-17 | 3h28m | 4h32m | 23h00m | 0h04m | 0h04m | 1h17m | 0.57 |
| 2025-06-18 | 3h28m | 4h32m | 23h00m | 0h04m | 0h04m | 1h36m | 0.46 |
| 2025-06-19 | 3h28m | 4h32m | 23h00m | 0h05m | 0h05m | 1h56m | 0.34 |
| 2025-06-20 | 3h28m | 4h32m | 23h00m | 0h05m | 0h05m | 2h16m | 0.24 |
| 2025-06-21 | 3h28m | 4h32m | 23h01m | 0h05m | 0h05m | 2h39m | 0.14 |
| 2025-06-22 | 3h28m | 4h33m | 23h01m | 0h05m | 0h05m | 3h07m | 0.07 |
| 2025-06-23 | 3h29m | 4h33m | 23h01m | 0h05m | 0h05m | 3h29m | 0.02 |
| 2025-06-24 | 3h29m | 4h33m | 23h01m | 0h05m | 0h05m | 3h29m | 0.00 |
| 2025-06-25 | 3h30m | 4h34m | 23h01m | 0h05m | 0h05m | 3h30m | 0.01 |
| 2025-06-26 | 3h30m | 4h34m | 23h01m | 0h05m | 0h05m | 3h30m | 0.04 |
| 2025-06-27 | 3h31m | 4h35m | 23h01m | 0h05m | 0h05m | 3h31m | 0.10 |
| 2025-06-28 | 3h32m | 4h35m | 23h01m | 0h04m | 0h04m | 3h32m | 0.17 |
| 2025-06-29 | 3h33m | 4h36m | 23h00m | 0h04m | 0h09m | 3h33m | 0.26 |
| 2025-06-30 | 3h34m | 4h37m | 23h00m | 0h03m | 0h29m | 3h34m | 0.35 |
The twilight calendar was generated using Cartes du Ciel (Sky Charts), with some modifications. 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
Jun 1 Su Venus: 45.9° W
1 Su 5:49 AM Moon-Mars: 1.5° S
1 Su 9:30 PM Moon-Regulus: 1.9° S
2 Mo 11:41 PM First Quarter
3 Tu 9:33 PM Moon Descending Node
6 Fr 10:15 AM Moon-Spica: 0.6° N
7 Sa 6:42 AM Moon Apogee: 405600 km
10 Tu 6:25 AM Moon-Antares: 0.3° N
11 We 3:44 AM Full Moon
11 We 7:54 PM Moon South Dec.: 28.4° S
16 Mo 10:05 PM Mars-Regulus: 0.7° N
18 We 5:41 AM Moon Ascending Node
18 We 3:19 PM Last Quarter
18 We 11:47 PM Moon-Saturn: 3.4° S
20 Fr 10:42 PM Summer Solstice
21 Sa 3:51 PM Mercury-Pollux: 5° S
22 Su 10:59 PM Moon-Pleiades: 0.6° S
23 Mo 12:43 AM Moon Perigee: 363200 km
24 Tu 11:06 AM Jupiter Conjunction
24 Tu 9:43 PM Moon North Dec.: 28.4° N
25 We 6:31 AM New Moon
27 Fr 2:02 AM Moon-Mercury: 2.9° S
27 Fr 1:42 PM Moon-Beehive: 2.1° S
29 Su 6:26 AM Moon-Regulus: 1.6° S
29 Su 9:05 PM Moon-Mars: 0.2° S
30 Mo 11:46 PM Moon Descending Node
Sky Events Calendar by Fred Espenak and Sumit Dutta (NASA’s GSFC),
http://eclipse.gsfc.nasa.gov/SKYCAL/SKYCAL.html.
Sun and Moon Rising and Setting Events
LU Ephemeris of Sky Events for Interlochen/Traverse City, MI
June, 2025 Local time zone: EDT
+-----------------------------------------------------------------------+
| DATE | SUN SUN DAYLIGHT| TWILIGHT* |MOON RISE OR ILLUM |
| | RISE SET HOURS | END START |PHASE SET** TIME FRACTN|
+=======================================================================+
|Sun 1| 06:00a 09:21p 15:21 | 10:45p 04:37a | Set 02:07a 38%|
|Mon 2| 05:59a 09:22p 15:22 | 10:46p 04:36a |F Qtr Set 02:25a 48%|
|Tue 3| 05:59a 09:23p 15:23 | 10:47p 04:35a | Set 02:41a 58%|
|Wed 4| 05:58a 09:23p 15:25 | 10:48p 04:34a | Set 02:57a 68%|
|Thu 5| 05:58a 09:24p 15:26 | 10:49p 04:34a | Set 03:14a 76%|
|Fri 6| 05:58a 09:25p 15:27 | 10:50p 04:33a | Set 03:32a 84%|
|Sat 7| 05:57a 09:26p 15:28 | 10:51p 04:33a | Set 03:53a 90%|
+------+-----------------------+----------------+-----------------------+
|Sun 8| 05:57a 09:26p 15:29 | 10:51p 04:32a | Set 04:20a 95%|
|Mon 9| 05:57a 09:27p 15:30 | 10:52p 04:32a | Set 04:53a 98%|
|Tue 10| 05:57a 09:27p 15:30 | 10:53p 04:31a | Set 05:36a 100%|
|Wed 11| 05:56a 09:28p 15:31 | 10:54p 04:31a |Full Rise 10:31p 99%|
|Thu 12| 05:56a 09:29p 15:32 | 10:54p 04:31a | Rise 11:20p 97%|
|Fri 13| 05:56a 09:29p 15:32 | 10:55p 04:30a | Rise 11:59p 93%|
|Sat 14| 05:56a 09:29p 15:33 | 10:55p 04:30a | Rise 12:30a 87%|
+------+-----------------------+----------------+-----------------------+
|Sun 15| 05:56a 09:30p 15:33 | 10:56p 04:30a | Rise 12:55a 79%|
|Mon 16| 05:56a 09:30p 15:34 | 10:56p 04:30a | Rise 01:17a 69%|
|Tue 17| 05:56a 09:31p 15:34 | 10:57p 04:30a | Rise 01:36a 59%|
|Wed 18| 05:56a 09:31p 15:34 | 10:57p 04:30a |L Qtr Rise 01:55a 48%|
|Thu 19| 05:56a 09:31p 15:34 | 10:58p 04:30a | Rise 02:15a 37%|
|Fri 20| 05:57a 09:31p 15:34 | 10:58p 04:30a | Rise 02:38a 26%|
|Sat 21| 05:57a 09:32p 15:34 | 10:58p 04:30a | Rise 03:07a 16%|
+------+-----------------------+----------------+-----------------------+
|Sun 22| 05:57a 09:32p 15:34 | 10:58p 04:31a | Rise 03:44a 9%|
|Mon 23| 05:57a 09:32p 15:34 | 10:58p 04:31a | Rise 04:33a 3%|
|Tue 24| 05:58a 09:32p 15:34 | 10:58p 04:31a | Rise 05:36a 0%|
|Wed 25| 05:58a 09:32p 15:34 | 10:58p 04:32a |New Set 10:28p 1%|
|Thu 26| 05:58a 09:32p 15:33 | 10:58p 04:32a | Set 11:12p 3%|
|Fri 27| 05:59a 09:32p 15:33 | 10:58p 04:33a | Set 11:44p 8%|
|Sat 28| 05:59a 09:32p 15:32 | 10:58p 04:33a | Set 12:08a 15%|
+------+-----------------------+----------------+-----------------------+
|Sun 29| 06:00a 09:32p 15:32 | 10:57p 04:34a | Set 12:28a 24%|
|Mon 30| 06:00a 09:32p 15:31 | 10:57p 04:35a | Set 12:46a 33%|
+-----------------------------------------------------------------------+
* Nautical Twilight
** Moonrise or moonset, whichever occurs between sunset and sunrise
Generated using my LookingUp for DOS app.
