Archive
05/09/11 – Ephemeris – The Rabbit in the Moon
Monday, May 9th. The sun rises at 6:22. It’ll be up for 14 hours and 34 minutes, setting at 8:56. The moon, 1 day before first quarter, will set at 2:18 tomorrow morning.
Lets look at the moon for this evening. There’s several ways one can see a rabbit in the moon. The head and ears can be seen in the dark seas on the moon upside down. The Sea of Serenity has just emerged into light and is the shoulders of this rabbit. In binoculars or a telescope The Sea of Serenity or Mare Serenitatis looks to me a bit like a scallop shell in shape. Below that is the Sea of Tranquility, the rabbit’s head. Finishing the rabbit off are its ears, the Sea of Fertility, the fat ear and the Sea of Nectar the skinny ear. Cultures over the earth see different things in the dark seas of the moon. Most familiar to us in the Man in the Moon. In Australia, it is the rabbit. The rest of him is on the night side of the moon now.
* Times are for the Traverse City/Interlochen area of Michigan. They may be different for your location.
Addendum
Rabbit in the Moon animation - Lunar image from Virtual Moon Atlas.
05/06/11 – Ephemeris – Saturns rings and Astronomy Day
Friday, May 6th. The sun rises at 6:26. It’ll be up for 14 hours and 26 minutes, setting at 8:52. The moon, 3 days past new, will set at 12:25 tomorrow morning.
This evening Northwestern Michigan College’s professor emeritus “Doc” H.G. Smith will present a program on Saturn’s rings at this evening’s meeting of the Grand Traverse Astronomical Society starting at 8 p.m. at the college’s Rogers Observatory. The Cassini spacecraft has given us some amazing images of those rings. Tomorrow evening starting at 9 p.m. the Society along with the NMC Astronomy Association will host a public viewing night at the observatory. On tap, if it’s clear, will be the planet Saturn and the crescent moon. Tomorrow is also Astronomy Day, and we’ll have some special exhibits and programs related to that. The observatory is located south of Traverse City on Birmley road between Garfield and Keystone roads.
* Times are for the Traverse City/Interlochen area of Michigan. They may be different for your location.
05/05/11 – Ephmeris – The Eta Aquarid meteor shower
Thursday, May 5th. The sun rises at 6:27. It’ll be up for 14 hours and 24 minutes, setting at 8:51. The moon, 2 days past new, will set at 11:35 this evening.
The Eta Aquarid meteor shower is ramping up. The Eta Aquarids are caused by bits of Halley’s Comet, passing the earth’s orbit heading out from the sun. The Orionids of late October are debris of Halley’s comet passing the earth’s orbit heading in toward the sun. It’s the only comet I recollect caused two meteor showers. The Eta Aquarids are named for the star nearest the radiant of the meteor shower. The constellation of Aquarius has many shower radiants, which is why the shower is named for a star in Aquarius. The radiant rises shortly before 3:30 and astronomical twilight begins an hour later. There’s perhaps another half hour of visibility after that. The peak will occur tomorrow morning where up to 20 meteors per hour might be seen.
* Times are for the Traverse City/Interlochen area of Michigan. They may be different for your location.
Addendum
Eta Aquarid radiant
05/04/11 – Ephemeris – The bright planets this week
Wednesday, May 4th. The sun rises at 6:28. It’ll be up for 14 hours and 21 minutes, setting at 8:50. The moon, 1 day past new, will set at 10:39 this evening.
It’s Wednesday and time again to take a look at the whereabouts of the bright planets. The ringed planet Saturn will be visible in the southeast as it gets dark. It’s near the bright star Spica to its lower left. Spica has a blue tinge, while Saturn is yellowish. It will cross the meridian due south at 11:40 p.m. and will set at 5:33 a.m. Our only other planet really visible is Venus which will rise at 5:34 a.m. in the east. Rising at 5:42 will be Mercury, followed a minute later by Jupiter. Dimmest is Mars, rising at 5:46. This is what I call a Planet Jam. If you can find Venus in the twilight and follow it until 7 a.m., you just might be able to spot Jupiter and Mercury. Mars will be problematic because it’s so dim.
* Times are for the Traverse City/Interlochen area of Michigan. They may be different for your location.
05/03/11 – Ephemeris – The constellation Virgo
Tuesday, May 3rd. The sun rises at 6:30. It’ll be up for 14 hours and 19 minutes, setting at 8:49. The moon is new today, and won’t be visible.
Tonight in the sky: to the left of the constellation of Leo the lion, which lies in the south southwest at 10 p.m. is the next constellation of the zodiac: Virgo the maiden, seen in the south southeast. Virgo is a large constellation of a reclining woman holding a stalk of wheat. The bright star in the center of the constellation, Spica, is the head of that spike of wheat; and as such ruled over the harvest in two of Virgo’s guises as the goddesses Persephone and Ceres. The planet Saturn is also in Virgo this year to the right of Spica. Virgo is also identified as Astraea the goddess of justice. The constellation of Libra, the scales, is found just east of her an hour later, only being half risen at 10 p.m. Early Christians saw Virgo as the Virgin Mary.
* Times are for the Traverse City/Interlochen area of Michigan. They may be different for your location.
Addendum
Virgo at 10;30 p.m. May 3, 2011
05/02/11 – Ephemeris – The “Planet Jam”
Monday, May 2nd. The sun rises at 6:31. It’ll be up for 14 hours and 16 minutes, setting at 8:48. The moon, 1 day before new, will rise at 6:21 tomorrow morning.
This month there will be a great gathering of planets in the morning sky, I call it a planet jam, kind of like a traffic jam. But these four planets are nowhere near each other, but just lined up to our sight. Unfortunately the group is too close to the sun and in the bright twilight to easily spot. The farther south you are the better the view. By south I mean south of the equator. Venus and Jupiter will be the easiest to spot, and by the end of the month Jupiter will break out of the group to become easily visible. Yesterday Jupiter passed Mars and within one day during the night of May 10th and 11th Venus will be in a tight group with Jupiter and Mercury. That morning might be the best time to spot Mercury. That’s half an hour before sunrise.
* Times are for the Traverse City/Interlochen area of Michigan. They may be different for your location.
Addendum
Planet Jam May 2011 animation
30 minutes before sunrise Eastern time is U.T. minus 4 hours. It’s perhaps a good thing I can’t ass the twilight glow. It’d drown out the planets.
04/29/11 – Ephemeris – May preview
Arbor Day, Friday, April 29th. The sun rises at 6:36. It’ll be up for 14 hours and 8 minutes, setting at 8:44. The moon, 4 days before new, will rise at 5:00 tomorrow morning.
Let’s look ahead at the month of May, the month when the promise of spring is finally fulfilled. Daylight hours in the Interlochen/Traverse City area will increase from 14 hours and 13 minutes Sunday to 15 hours 18 minutes on the 31st. The altitude, or angle, of the sun above the southern horizon at local noon will ascend from 60 degrees tomorrow to 67 degrees at month’s end. The altitude of the sun in the Straits area will be a degree lower than that. Local apparent noon this month, when the sun passes due south, will be about 1:38 p.m. This is the month of the Eta Aquarid meteor shower which will reach its peak next week. We’ll have dark skies for this very early morning meteor shower that’s related to Halley’s Comet.
* Times are for the Traverse City/Interlochen area of Michigan. They may be different for your location.
04/28/11 – Ephemeris – Some ancient ideas about Leo the lion
Thursday, April 28th. The sun rises at 6:37. It’ll be up for 14 hours and 5 minutes, setting at 8:43. The moon, 4 days past last quarter, will rise at 4:38 tomorrow morning.
The constellation Leo the lion is now high in the south at 10 pm. It’s directly below the Big Dipper at the zenith. 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 too.
* Times are for the Traverse City/Interlochen area of Michigan. They may be different for your location.
Addendum
Leo, April 28 2011, 10 p.m. Created using Stellarium.
04/27/11 – Ephemeris – The bright planets for this week
Wednesday, April 27th. The sun rises at 6:39. It’ll be up for 14 hours and 2 minutes, setting at 8:41. The moon, 3 days past last quarter, will rise at 4:17 tomorrow morning.
It’s Wednesday and time again to take our weekly look at the whereabouts of the bright planets. The ringed planet Saturn will be visible in the southeast as it gets dark. It’s near the bright star Spica to its lower left. Spica has a blue tinge, while Saturn is yellowish. It will cross the meridian due south at 12:09 a.m. and will set at 6:01 a.m. In telescopes Saturn shows its rings which are slowly opening up along with at least one satellite, the large moon Titan. Our only other planet visible is Venus which is brilliant in the morning sky and will rise at 5:42 a.m. in the east.. It is really a beautiful sight in the morning twilight, though disappointingly small in a telescope. Jupiter, Mars and Mercury are all too close to the direction of the sun to be visible.
* Times are for the Traverse City/Interlochen area of Michigan. They may be different for your location.
04/26/11 – Ephemeris – Last chance to spot the winter constellations
Tuesday, April 26th. The sun rises at 6:40. It’ll be up for 13 hours and 59 minutes, setting at 8:40. The moon, 2 days past last quarter, will rise at 3:56 tomorrow morning
Lets face it we’re pretty sick of winter, what with all the relapses this month. But I’m never sick of the winter stars and constellations. With Leo and the other spring constellations taking over the skies from overhead to the south, the winter constellations are about to set in the west at 10 p.m. Orion’s rectangular torso is tipped to the right, his belt stars horizontal, 90 degrees from their rising orientation. The same is true of Castor and Pollux higher up which rose vertically and will set horizontally. The brightness and closeness of the stars here are a great contrast with the sparse numbers of stars visible overhead and to the south. That’s because the Milky Way runs through the winter stars and crosses to the north part of the sky.
* Times are for the Traverse City/Interlochen area of Michigan. They may be different for your location.
Addendum
Winter Stars Setting in Late April. Created using Stellarium.
