Archive
05/01/2012 – Ephemeris – The May 20th Eclipse
Ephemeris for Tuesday, May 1st. The sun rises at 6:32. It’ll be up for 14 hours and 15 minutes, setting at 8:47. The moon, 2 days past first quarter, will set at 4:09 tomorrow morning.
(Note: The eclipse visible from most of the United States will be interrupted by sunset. See the Addendum for a link to NASA’s page on the eclipse.)
Let’s give you a heads up on the solar eclipse that will occur on the evening of May 20th. In northern lower Michigan we will see the tail end of the eclipse as the moon’s shadow leaves the face of the earth. The shadow will touch the earth in eastern Asia, cross the Pacific and into North America. This is an annular eclipse, meaning that the moon is too far away to completely cover the face of the sun, leaving a ring (or annulus) of bright sun around the moon at the very center of the eclipse. Some residents of northern California and southern Oregon to west Texas will be able to see this annulus. Your visual safety is paramount when viewing an eclipse and over the next two weeks I’ll be giving you tips on how to view the eclipse safely.
Times are for the Traverse City/Interlochen area of Michigan. They may be different for your location.
Addendum
Here’s a NASA Acrobat file detailing the eclipse. http://eclipse.gsfc.nasa.gov/OH/OHfigures/OH2012-Fig01.pdf
Here’s the Eclipses of 2012 NASA page that links to the above page. It has useful links for those, unlike us are located in the southwestern United States.
04/30/2012 – Ephemeris – Preview May Skies
Ephemeris for Monday, April 30th. The sun rises at 6:33. It’ll be up for 14 hours and 13 minutes, setting at 8:46. The moon, 1 day past first quarter, will set at 3:41 tomorrow morning.
Tomorrow we’ll start the month when the promise of spring is finally fulfilled. Daylight hours in the Interlochen/Traverse City area will increase from 14 hours and 15 minutes tomorrow to 15 hours 19 minutes on the 31st. The altitude, or angle, of the sun above the southern horizon at local noon will ascend from 60 degrees today to 67 degrees at month’s end. The altitude of the sun in the Straits area will be a degree lower than that but your daylight will be a few minutes longer. Local apparent noon this month, when the sun passes due south, will be about 1:38 p.m. The big event of this month will be a partial eclipse of the sun on Sunday May 20th, where we’ll see about 45 minutes of the eclipse as the sun sets.
Times are for the Traverse City/Interlochen area of Michigan. They may be different for your location.
04/27/2012 – Ephemeris – Astronomy Day and other viewing opportunities this weekend
Ephemeris for Arbor Day, Friday, April 27th. The sun rises at 6:37. It’ll be up for 14 hours and 4 minutes, setting at 8:42. The moon, 2 days before first quarter, will set at 2:10 tomorrow morning.
The moon’s crescent is getting fatter each day as it moves eastward. There are two events scheduled to take with the moon and the bright spring planets, and one to show the sun this weekend. Tonight the Grand Traverse Astronomical Society will hold a star party at the Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore. It will be held at Platte River Point, west of Honor starting at about 8:30 p.m. Saturday is International Astronomy Day. Some of us will take our telescopes to the Open Space in Traverse City to view the sun with our new solar telescope and other scopes. That’s from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. That evening starting at nine with be a star party at the Northwestern Michigan College’s Rogers Observatory.
Times are for the Traverse City/Interlochen area of Michigan. They may be different for your location.
04/26/2012 – Ephemeris – Three astronomical viewing opportunities this weekend
Ephemeris for Thursday, April 26th. The sun rises at 6:39. It’ll be up for 14 hours and 2 minutes, setting at 8:41. The moon, 3 days before first quarter, will set at 1:33 tomorrow morning.
The moon is getting ready to take over the night sky. It’s crescent is getting fatter each day as it moves eastward. There are two events scheduled to take with the moon and the bright spring planets, and one to show the sun this weekend. Tomorrow the Grand Traverse Astronomical Society will hold a star party at the Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore. It will be held at Platte River Point, west of Honor starting at about 8:30 p.m. Saturday is International Astronomy Day. Some of us will take our telescopes to the Open Space in Traverse City to view the sun with our new solar telescope and other scopes. That’s from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. That evening starting at nine with be a star party at the Rogers Observatory.
Times are for the Traverse City/Interlochen area of Michigan. They may be different for your location.
04/25/2012 – Ephemeris – Where are the bright planets this week?
Ephemeris for Wednesday, April 25th. The sun rises at 6:41. It’ll be up for 13 hours and 59 minutes, setting at 8:40. The moon, half way from new to first quarter, will set at 12:52 tomorrow morning.
Let’s see what’s happening with the bright planets for this week. Jupiter is very low in the twilight in the west and may be visible by 9:15 p.m. It will set at 9:44 p.m. Venus is high in the west as it gets dark. Enjoy it now, because it will be gone in 6 weeks. Venus will set at 12:37 a.m. in the west northwest. Venus is 44.8 million miles away and closing. Mars is high in the south in the evening with its unmistakable bright reddish color. It’s in the constellation Leo the lion now. It is 84 million miles from us and moving away. Mars will pass due south at 9:53 p.m. and will be setting in the west at 4:44 a.m. Saturn will be rising in the east southeast as twilight fades tonight just to the left of the bright star Spica. It will pass due south at 1:03 a.m.
Times are for the Traverse City/Interlochen area of Michigan. They may be different for your location.
Addendum
Looking west at Jupiter, Venus and the moon at 9 p.m. on April 25, 2012. Created with Stellarium.
Planets and stars at 10 p.m. on April 25, 2012. Created with Stellarium.
04/24/2012 – Ephemeris – The moon appears near Venus tonight
Ephemeris for Tuesday, April 24th. The sun rises at 6:42. It’ll be up for 13 hours and 56 minutes, setting at 8:39. The moon, 3 days past new, will set at 12:05 tomorrow morning.
This evening the moon will appear near Venus with the brilliant planet above and right of the moon. The moon should still exhibit earthshine. On the 30th Venus will attain its greatest brightness of -4.6 magnitude. Only the moon and sun are brighter. In a telescope Venus has a crescent phase and as you view Venus for the next month its phase will get thinner and its size gets larger. This is as it approaches us as it moved more closely between us and the sun. It’s quite a show to watch for. Folks with a low western horizon and clear skies should be able to follow Venus to within a few days of its transit across the face of the sun. Then in bright twilight Venus will have the thinnest of crescents, and appear larger than Jupiter.
Times are for the Traverse City/Interlochen area of Michigan. They may be different for your location.
Addendum
Venus and the moon at 9 p.m. April 24, 2012. Created using Stellarium.
04/23/2012 – Ephemeris – The moon will appear near the Pleiades tonight
Ephemeris for Monday, April 23rd. The sun rises at 6:44. It’ll be up for 13 hours and 53 minutes, setting at 8:37. The moon, 2 days past new, will set at 11:13 this evening.
This evening the thin crescent moon will appear near the Pleiades, or Seven Sisters. They will appear just to the right of the thin sliver of the moon. If you look closely at the moon the entire Moon will be visible. That’s because the nearly full Earth is shining on it. The phase of the earth in the moon’s sky is exactly the opposite of the moon’s phase in the earth’s sky. The effect is called earth shine and was first explained by Leonardo DaVinci. For future astronauts spending a two week night on the moon’s near side, the full earth in its skies will be much brighter than the full moon looks in our skies. The earth covers 16 times the sky as the moon and is more than twice as reflective as the moon. The moon will continue to move eastward and will be near Venus tomorrow.
Times are for the Traverse City/Interlochen area of Michigan. They may be different for your location.
Addendum
The moon and the Pleiades on April 23rd at 10 p.m. Created using Stellarium.
Note that Stellarium shows a photograph for the Pleiades. The blue reflection nebula is not visible to the eye, and the stars of the Pleiades aren’t that bright in comparison to the moon.
04/20/2012 – Ephemeris – The Lyrid meteor shower peaks this weekend.
Ephemeris for Friday, April 20th. The sun rises at 6:49. It’ll be up for 13 hours and 45 minutes, setting at 8:34. The moon, 1 day before new, will rise at 6:41 tomorrow morning.
The Lyrid meteor shower is reaching a peak soon. With the nearly new moon, the moon will not interfere with the display. While this a major annual shower, it usually produces only 15 meteors an hour at peak, although in some years as many as 90 an hour have been spotted. The Lyrids are so named because the seem to come from the direction of the constellation Lyra the harp, one of the more famous summer constellations. Well, they seen to come from between Lyra and Hercules to the west. The peak of the shower occurs just after midnight on Sunday morning the 22nd. The radiant point is up all night. In the evening the meteors will come from the northeast from near the bright star Vega. The numbers of meteors will increase through the night until dawn.
* Times are for the Traverse City/Interlochen area of Michigan. They may be different for your location.
Addendum
Lyrid meteor radiant. The bright star is Vega
04/18/2012 – Ephemeris – Where are the bright planets tonight?
Ephemeris for Wednesday, April 18th. The sun rises at 6:52. It’ll be up for 13 hours and 39 minutes, setting at 8:31. The moon, 3 days before new, will rise at 5:47 tomorrow morning.
Let’s see what’s happening with the bright planets for this week. Jupiter has dropped far below brilliant Venus in the west, since their apparent paths crossed a month and a half ago. Jupiter will set at 10:03 p.m. followed by Venus at 12:39 a.m. Venus is 49.6 million miles away and closing. Mars is high in the south in the evening with its unmistakable bright reddish color. It’s in the constellation Leo the lion now. It is 79.4 million miles from us and moving away. Mars will pass due south at 10:18 p.m. and will be setting in the west at 5:15 a.m. Saturn will be rising in the east southeast as twilight fades tonight just to the left of the bright star Spica. It will pass due south at 1:32 a.m. All the bright planets except Mercury are now visible in the evening.
* Times are for the Traverse City/Interlochen area of Michigan. They may be different for your location.
Addendum
The sky and the evening planets at 9:30 p.m. on April 18, 2012. Created using Stellarium.
04/16/2012 – Ephemeris – Saturn a day after opposition
Ephemeris for Monday, April 16th. The sun rises- at 6:55. It’ll be up for 13 hours and 33 minutes, setting at 8:29. The moon, 3 days past last quarter, will rise at 4:59 tomorrow morning.
Saturn was in opposition from the sun yesterday. That means that Saturn was opposite the sun in the sky. That means that Saturn was closest to the earth at 811 million miles. The difference from today’s distance isn’t worth mentioning. Saturn, being 9 and a half times the earth’s distance from the sun doesn’t make much difference in Saturn’s apparent size, whether we view it from the nearest point in our orbit of the farthest. Saturn, which is just left of the bright bluish star Spica in the southeast in the evening, is definitely not star-like in binoculars, but a 20 power spotting scope will just bring out Saturn’s rings elliptical nature. Those rings will open up for the next four years, so the rings at their narrowest part will be as wide as the planet.
* Times are for the Traverse City/Interlochen area of Michigan. They may be different for your location.
Addendum
Image of Saturn created with Cartes du Ciel showing current ring tilt.
