Archive
12/20/10 – Ephemeris – Total lunar eclipse tomorrow morning
Monday, December 20th. The sun will rise at 8:15. It’ll be up for 8 hours and 48 minutes, setting at 5:04. The moon, 1 day before full, will set at 8:33 tomorrow morning.
The winter solstice occurs tomorrow, coincidentally there will be a total lunar eclipse after midnight tonight. The eclipse will start at 1:32 a.m. when the moon will begin to slip into the earth’s inner shadow. The moon will be completely inside the shadow at 2:40 a.m. beginning totality. The moon should still be visible but be a dim red color. The color and brightness of the eclipsed moon depends on the transparency of the earth’s atmosphere because it is illuminated by light being bent into the earth’s shadow by the earth’s atmosphere. Mid eclipse occurs at 3:17 a.m.. Totality will end at 3:53 a.m. when the moon peeks into sunlight again. The partial phase will end at 5:01 a.m. Our next lunar eclipse won’t be until December next year.
* Times are for the Traverse City/Interlochen area of Michigan. They may be different for your location.
12/17/10 – Ephemeris – My favorite explanation for the Star of Bethlehem
Friday, December 17th. The sun will rise at 8:13. It’ll be up for 8 hours and 49 minutes, setting at 5:03. The moon, half way from first quarter to full, will set at 5:34 tomorrow morning.
For over 400 years astronomers have wondered and looked through ancient Chinese records, ran the positions of planets back 2000 years, and still no one knows for sure what the Star of Bethlehem really was, but here’s my favorite scenario. On August 13th of 3 BC Jupiter and Venus briefly merged in the pre-dawn skies against the constellation of Leo the lion. A month later Jupiter was in conjunction with Regulus the bright star in Leo, the little king star. Then 9 months later, after sunset on June 16th of 2 BC the two planets again joined as one in Leo. The king of the planets twice mating with Venus as Ishtar the Babylonian goddess of fertility against the constellation of the lion signifying Judah in Genesis? The Magi not being Jewish might have found meaning in all that.
* Times are for the Traverse City/Interlochen area of Michigan. They may be different for your location.
12/16/10 – Ephemeris – Who were the Magi?
Thursday, December 16th. The sun will rise at 8:13. It’ll be up for 8 hours and 49 minutes, setting at 5:03. The moon, 3 days past first quarter, will set at 4:28 tomorrow morning.
The Star of Bethlehem is one of the great mysteries of Christmas. The Chinese of that time were the only ones that recorded the happenings in the heavens and there were no bright stars that appeared near the time of Christ’s birth. That leads us to the Magi themselves, if that’s who they were. Magi were astrologer priests of the Zoroastrian religion in Persia. They could see signs in the positions of the planets that would go unnoticed to the Jews to which astrology was forbidden. Conjunctions where to or more planets gathered together were the most powerful of these configurations. There was a triple conjunction of Jupiter and Saturn in seven BC that’s the most famous, but I have another set of conjunctions in mind to tell you about tomorrow.
* Times are for the Traverse City/Interlochen area of Michigan. They may be different for your location.
12/15/10 – Ephemeris – The bright planets for this week
Wednesday, December 15th. The sun will rise at 8:12. It’ll be up for 8 hours and 50 minutes, setting at 5:02. The moon, 2 days past first quarter, will set at 3:23 tomorrow morning.
Lets take a look at the bright planets for this week. Mars is very low and lost in the evening twilight. The planet Jupiter is up in the southern sky in the early evening. It is a spectacular sight in a telescope with its four satellites, shifting their positions from night to night, and the cloud bands running in the directions of the satellites. Jupiter will pass due south at 6:47 p.m.. It is the brightest starlight object in the evening. It’s located below the Circlet in Pisces now and will set at 12:36 a.m. The ringed planet Saturn will rise at 2:18 a.m. in the east southeast. It’s located in the constellation Virgo this year. It’s rings are opening nicely for telescopic observers. Venus is brilliant in the morning sky and will rise at 4:22 a.m. in the east southeast.
* Times are for the Traverse City/Interlochen area of Michigan. They may be different for your location.
12/14/10 – Ephemeris – The bright star Aldebaran
Tuesday, December 14th. The sun will rise at 8:11. It’ll be up for 8 hours and 50 minutes, setting at 5:02. The moon, 1 day past first quarter, will set at 2:20 tomorrow morning.
The central constellation of winter, Orion, is in the southeast at 9 p.m. Above right of it, high in the south is Taurus the bull. The bright orange star in Taurus is Aldebaran. Aldebaran appears at the upper left tip of a letter V group of stars that is the face of the bull. Aldebaran isn’t actually part of the group, called the Hyades star cluster. The cluster is about 151 light years away, while Aldebaran is 65. Aldebaran is heading southward while the Hyades is heading to the northeast. The star has an orange hue because its surface is cooler than the sun’s. However Aldebaran is 44 times larger in diameter, and shines 150 times brighter than the sun. The name Aldebaran means “Follower” because it follows the Pleiades star cluster to its right through the skies.
* Times are for the Traverse City/Interlochen area of Michigan. They may be different for your location.
12/13/10 – Ephemeris – Geminid meteors peak tomorrow morning
Monday, December 13th. The sun will rise at 8:10. It’ll be up for 8 hours and 51 minutes, setting at 5:02. The moon, at first quarter today, will set at 1:19 tomorrow morning.
Tomorrow morning will see the peak of the Geminid meteor shower. This is one of the most active showers of the year. Some say it’s even more active than the Perseid meteor shower of August with up to 100 meteors or shooting stars visible an hour. They will seem to come from near the star Castor in the constellation Gemini which is rising high towards midnight. The moon will interfere until it sets at 1:19 a.m. After that until dawn is the best time to view them. All you’ll need then is clear skies. If it does clear up, make sure you dress warmly. It will take up to 10 minutes or even more for your eyes to get accustomed to the darkness to be able to see the meteors. This is Michigan, you never know when it will clear up.
* Times are for the Traverse City/Interlochen area of Michigan. They may be different for your location.
12/10/10 – Ephemeris – Viewing night at the NMC Observatory
Friday, December 10th. The sun will rise at 8:08. It’ll be up for 8 hours and 53 minutes, setting at 5:02. The moon, 3 days before first quarter, will set at 10:15 this evening.
Tomorrow night the Grand Traverse Astronomical Society and NMC Astronomy Club will host a public viewing night at Northwestern Michigan College’s Rogers Observatory starting at 8 p.m. On tap, if it’s clear, will be the moon, and the planet Jupiter. There are also the Great Orion Nebula, The closest star nursery, a cloud of gas and dust where stars form. Also on tap can be the famous Double Cluster, and using binoculars or telescope finder scopes, the even more famous Pleiades or Seven Sisters may be seen. The NMC Astronomy Club has hands on activities for visitors, especially the kids, in case of cloudy skies. 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.
12/09/10 – Ephemeris – Geminid meteor preview
Thursday, December 9th. The sun will rise at 8:07. It’ll be up for 8 hours and 54 minutes, setting at 5:02, the earliest sunset of the year. The moon, half way from new to first quarter, will set at 9:11 this evening.
On Tuesday morning we will have the chance to see the peak of the Geminid meteor shower. Some of its members can be seen tonight, but the meteors will be most numerous on the morning of Tuesday the 14th. This shower rivals the Perseid meteor shower of August. The problem for us in viewing this fabulous shower is the cold temperatures and usually cloudy skies. Another problem this year is the moon which will be at first quarter and will set at 1:19 a.m. Tuesday morning. I’ll have more on Monday. The source of the Geminids was discovered in 1983. It is a burnt out comet with the asteroid designation 3200 and given the name Phaethon which swoops down to only 13 million miles of the sun.
* Times are for the Traverse City/Interlochen area of Michigan. They may be different for your location.
12/08/10 – Ephemeris – This weeks bright planets
Wednesday, December 8th. The sun will rise at 8:06. It’ll be up for 8 hours and 55 minutes, setting at 5:02. The moon, 3 days past new, will set at 8:06 this evening.
Lets take a look at the bright planets for this week. Mars is very low and lost in the evening twilight as is Mercury. The planet Jupiter is up in the southern sky in the early evening. It is a spectacular sight in a telescope with its four satellites, shifting their positions, and the cloud bands running in the directions of the satellites. Jupiter will pass due south at 7:13 p.m.. It is the brightest starlight object in the evening. It’s located below the Circlet in Pisces now and will set at 1:01 a.m. The ringed planet Saturn will rise at 2:43 a.m. in the east southeast. It’s located in the constellation Virgo this year. It’s rings are opening nicely for telescopic observers. Venus is brilliant in the morning sky and will rise at 4:25 a.m. in the east southeast.
* Times are for the Traverse City/Interlochen area of Michigan. They may be different for your location.
12/07/10 – Ephemeris – The Hyades star cluster
Tuesday, December 7th. The sun will rise at 8:05. It’ll be up for 8 hours and 56 minutes, setting at 5:02. The moon, 2 days past new, will set at 7:00 this evening.
The bright orange star Aldebaran is the most westerly bright star of winter Aldebaran appears at the upper left tip of a letter V group of stars that is the face of the bull. It appears above the constellation of Orion low in the east. Aldebaran isn’t actually part of the group, called the Hyades star cluster. The cluster is about 151 light years away, while Aldebaran is 65. The Hyades is the closest star cluster to us, and allows astronomers to measure the distance of even more distant star clusters. It has been determined to be moving in space relative to the sun to the northeast in our sky, and away from us. It will lose its V shape in time. It shares this motion with another star cluster the Praecepe cluster in Cancer which is just rising at 9 p.m.
* Times are for the Traverse City/Interlochen area of Michigan. They may be different for your location.
