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Ephemeris: 02/05/2026 – The celestial unicorn

February 5, 2026 Comments off

Feb 5. This is Ephemeris for Thursday, February 5th. Today the Sun will be up for 10 hours even, setting at 5:57, and it will rise tomorrow at 7:55. The Moon, halfway from full to last quarter, will rise at 10:34 this evening.

Among all the constellations in the sky of animals real and mythical, there is also a unicorn. It’s called Monoceros, and inhabits the southeastern sky at 8 p.m. mostly bounded by Orion on the right, Canis Major, the great dog below and Canis Minor, the little dog to the left and above. Unfortunately for observers without a telescope Monoceros, is devoid of any but the faintest stars. Maybe that’s why no one sees unicorns anymore. Though it lacks bright stars Monoceros is full of wonders revealed by telescopes and photography. A feast of faint nebulae or clouds of gas and dust, the birthplace of stars, including the red rose of the Rosette Nebula, and the more recently named Hagrid’s Dragon Cluster (NGC 2301).

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; EST, UT – 5 hours) unless stated otherwise. Times will be different for other locations.

Addendum

Monoceros
Monoceros finder chart animation. Created using Stellarium and GIMP.
The Rosette Nebula,
The Rosette Nebula, NGC 2244, is an accurate description of this nebula. The stars in the center cause the hydrogen gases to glow red. The hottest and brightest young stars give off ultraviolet light which causes the gases to fluoresce. Also, the stellar winds from these stars blows away gases from the center, so star formation stops. Leaving a beautiful rosette in the sky. Unfortunately it’s too faint to see with the telescope visually, however it is a wonderful target for astrophotographers. Click or tap on the image to enlarge it. Credit: Dan Dall’Olmo, a member of the Grand Traverse Astronomical Society.
The brighter stars of NGC 2301, Hagrid's Dragon Cluster,
The brighter stars of NGC 2301 (Hagrid’s Dragon Cluster, AKA Great Bird Cluster and Copeland’s Golden Worm). It’s also in two other catalogs: Cr 119 and Mel 54. Created using Stellarium and GIMP. Dragon from “Dragon Flying Cycle” on YouTube by Simon Hussey.
Deep Sky Objects around Monoceros
Deep Sky Objects in and around Monoceros. Click on the image to enlarge. Created using Stellarium.
Categories: Constellations, Deep Sky Object, Ephemeris Program, Observing Tags: , ,

Ephemeris: 02/04/2026 – Taking our weekly look at the whereabouts of the naked-eye planets

February 4, 2026 Comments off

This is Ephemeris for Wednesday, February 4th. Today the Sun will be up for 9 hours and 57 minutes, setting at 5:55, and it will rise tomorrow at 7:56. The Moon, 3 days past full, will rise at 9:25 this evening.

Let’s take our weekly look at the whereabouts of the naked-eye planets. Saturn is the brightest star-like object low in the west southwestern sky as soon as it gets dark. In a telescope Saturn sports a very thin ring, 2.4 degrees from being edge on and is slowly opening. Jupiter is the brilliant star-like object in the eastern sky, to the right of Pollux in the pair Castor and Pollux, the bright stars of Gemini. It is still moving slowly to the west, and will, until it stops and reverses its track on March 10th. Jupiter’s four brightest moons can be seen even in binoculars, if held steadily enough. They shift position night to night. At 8 PM tonight, all four Galilean moons can be seen, though two may too close together to be picked out separately in binoculars.

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; EST, UT – 5 hours) unless stated otherwise. Times will be different for other locations.

Addendum

Saturn appears lonely in the west-southwestern sky at 8 PM
Saturn appears lonely in the west-southwestern sky at 8 PM. Created using Stellarium.
Jupiter as it appears tonight, February 4, 2026, in its orientation at 8:00 PM moving against the stars of Gemini.
Jupiter as it appears tonight, February 4, 2026, in its orientation at 8:00 PM moving against the stars of Gemini. Also shown is its track from last July to next July, and the retrograde loop that is currently making, slowly moving to the West which you will do for the next 34 days until it stops in March. Then it will resume its eastward motion. Created using Stellarium, LibreOffice Draw and GIMP.
The Moon halfway from full to last quarter, as seen tomorrow morning, February 5, 2026. A view visible in small telescopes showing an image with and without selected features labeled. Created using Stellarium, LibreOffice Draw, and GIMP.
Telescopic Saturn, and Jupiter (north up) as they would be seen in a small telescope.
Telescopic Saturn, and Jupiter (north up) as they would be seen in a small telescope with the same magnification at 8 PM tonight, February 4, 2026. Saturn will be 16.3″ in diameter, but its rings, being nearly edge on, may show up brighter than seen here, and extend to 37.9″. They are tilted 2.4° from being edge on. Jupiter will be 45.4″ in diameter. The (”) symbol means seconds of arc, or 1/3600th of a degree. Created using Cartes du Ciel (Sky Charts), LibreOffice Draw and GIMP.
The naked-eye planets and the Moon at sunset and sunrise on a single night, starting with sunset on the right on February 4th, 2026. The night ends on the left with sunrise on the 5th.
The naked-eye planets and the Moon at sunset and sunrise on a single night, starting with sunset on the right on February 4th, 2026. The night ends on the left with sunrise on the 5th. The Venus and Mercury labels overlap near the sunset sun. Click or tap on the image to enlarge it. Created using my LookingUp app and GIMP.
A low precision ephemeris of the Sun Moon and naked eye planet positions for today and tomorrow, February 4th and 5th, 2026.
This is a low precision ephemeris of the Sun Moon and naked eye planet positions for today and tomorrow, February 4th and 5th, 2026. Some of the columns are self-explanatory, others are not. The transit column is the time that the body crosses the meridian and is due south. Elong, for elongation, is the angle between the Sun and that body. RA is right ascension, which is the object’s east-west position on the celestial sphere in hours and minutes. Dec is declination which is the north-south position of the object on the celestial sphere in degrees and minutes. R is the distance of that object from the Sun in astronomical units. An astronomical unit is about 93 million miles or 150 million kilometers. And Delta is the distance of that object from the Earth, also in astronomical units. I omit the ‘m’ in am and pm for compactness. The data was generated using my LookingUp for DOS app and displayed as a table by my Ephemeris Helper app.

Categories: Ephemeris Program, Naked-eye planets, Observing Tags: , , , , ,

Ephemeris: 02/03/2026 – Canis Major, Orion’s greater hunting dog

February 3, 2026 Comments off

This is Ephemeris for Tuesday, February 3rd. Today the Sun will be up for 9 hours and 55 minutes, setting at 5:54, and it will rise tomorrow at 7:58. The Moon, 2 days past full, will rise at 8:14 this evening.

What kind of hunter would the constellation Orion be without his trusty hunting dogs.  The larger of his two dogs is Canis Major which can be found if you extend Orion’s belt stars down to the left.  There in the southeast by 8 PM, will appear the brightest nighttime star Sirius the Dog Star.  It is in the heart of the dog, which appears to be begging.  Well it’s tilted funny.  Other than that it’s a pretty good representation of a dog as a stick figure.  The name Sirius doesn’t mean Dog Star, but means Dazzling One due to its great brightness.  It outshines all other nighttime stars, only to be out shown by the planets Venus, Jupiter and occasionally, Mars.  Binoculars will show a nice little star cluster a short ways below Sirius known as M41.

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; EST, UT – 5 hours) unless stated otherwise. Times will be different for other locations.

Addendum

Finding Orion's greater hunting dog, Canis Major.
Finding Orion’s greater hunting dog, Canis Major for approximately 8 PM, February 3, 2025. Bonus: also includes Canis Minor. Jupiter won’t be where it is next year. Created using Stellarium, LibreOffice Draw and GIMP.
Categories: Constellations, Ephemeris Program, Observing Tags: ,

Ephemeris: 02/02/2026 – Groundhog Day’s significance

February 2, 2026 Comments off

This is Ephemeris for Ground Hog Day, Monday, February 2nd. Today the Sun will be up for 9 hours and 52 minutes, setting at 5:53, and it will rise tomorrow at 7:59. The Moon, 1 day past full, will rise at 7:00 this evening.

I don’t know if Punxsutawney Phil will see his shadow this morning or not, but February 2nd was a special day to the ancients. It is also Candlemas day for the Catholic Church, and celebrated as a cross-quarter day, the middle of the season of Winter. Though the exact date of the middle of winter is the 4th. And if Phil sees his shadow, and we do get 6 more weeks of winters, that’s OK too. By the calendar it’s actually more like 7 weeks to the vernal or spring equinox and the official end of winter. Of the other cross-quarter days, two stand out today. They’re May 1st, May Day, and Halloween, October 31st. As far as winter goes, we’ve had lots of snow, and some extremely cold temperatures a couple of weeks ago.

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; EST, UT – 5 hours) unless stated otherwise. Times will be different for other locations.

Addendum

I'm no artist, so I asked AI to draw my Groundhog Day cartoon.
I’m no artist, so I asked AI to draw a Groundhog Day cartoon. Last year I had Microsoft’s Copilot do it, this year I asked Google’s Gemini. While I asked for a whimsical cartoon, I didn’t really mean that the shadow that the Groundhog cast was the direction of the sun and not away from it, among other things. Gemini got the nightcap I asked for correct. Copilot gave me a knit winter cap instead. The nightshirt is a nice touch. Next year I will enlist one of the other AI’s artistic skill.

Categories: Ephemeris Program, Folklore, Seasons Tags: ,

Ephemeris: 01/30/2026 – Previewing February skies

January 30, 2026 Comments off

This is Ephemeris for Friday, January 30th. Today the Sun will be up for 9 hours and 44 minutes, setting at 5:48, and it will rise tomorrow at 8:02. The Moon, 2 days before full, will set at 7:31 tomorrow morning.

February is the shortest month, even so the daylight hours throughout the month will be getting longer. Daylight hours will increase from 9 hours and 49 minutes Sunday to 11 hours and 7 minutes on the 28th. The sunrise time will decrease from 8:01 Sunday to 7:21 at month’s end. The sunset times will increase from 5:51 today to 6:29 on the 28th. Along with that the altitude of the Sun at noon will increase from 28.4 degrees today to 37.6 degrees at month’s end. It will be a degree lower, and daylight a few minutes shorter, for folks in the Straits area because they are a degree of latitude farther north. Local noon, by the way for Interlochen and Traverse City will be about 12:56 PM at mid month.

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; EST, UT – 5 hours) unless stated otherwise. Times will be different for other locations.

Addendum

February Evening Star Chart

Star Chart for February 2026.
Star Chart for February 2026, (9 p.m. EST February 14, 2026). Created using my LookingUp program. Click on image to enlarge.

The planets and stars are plotted for the 14th at 9 PM EST in the evening and 6 AM for the morning chart. These are the chart times. Note that Traverse City is located approximately 45 minutes behind our time meridian. (An hour 45 minutes behind our daylight saving time meridian during EDT). To duplicate the star positions on a planisphere (rotating star finder) you may have to set it to 45 minutes or one hour 45 minutes (Daylight Time) earlier than the current time.

Note the chart times of 9 p.m. and 6 a.m. are for the 14th and 15th. For each week before these dates, add ½ hour (28 minutes if you’re picky). For each week after, subtract ½ hour. Planet positions on dates other than the 15th can be found in the Wednesday planet posts on this blog.

February Morning Star Chart

Star Chart for February mornings, 2026 (6 a.m. EST February 15, 2026).
Star Chart for February mornings, 2026 (6 a.m. EST February 15, 2026). No naked-eye planets are visible at chart time. Created using my LookingUp program. Click on image to enlarge.

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.
  • Follow the arc of the handle of the Big Dipper to the star Arcturus, and
  • Extend like a spike to Spica,
  • The Summer Triangle is in red.

Twilight Limits, Nautical and Astronomical

      EST        
  Morning Twilight Evening Twilight Dark Night Moon
Date Astro. Nautical Nautical Astro. Start End Illum.
2026-02-01 6h22m 6h56m 19h00m 19h34m – – 100%
2026-02-02 6h21m 6h55m 19h01m 19h35m – – 98%
2026-02-03 6h20m 6h54m 19h03m 19h37m 19h37m 20h14m 94%
2026-02-04 6h19m 6h53m 19h04m 19h38m 19h38m 21h25m 88%
2026-02-05 6h18m 6h52m 19h05m 19h39m 19h39m 22h34m 80%
2026-02-06 6h17m 6h51m 19h06m 19h40m 19h40m 23h41m 72%
2026-02-07 6h16m 6h50m 19h08m 19h42m 19h42m – 63%
2026-02-08 6h15m 6h49m 19h09m 19h43m 19h43m 0h48m 53%
2026-02-09 6h13m 6h47m 19h10m 19h44m 19h44m 1h55m 44%
2026-02-10 6h12m 6h46m 19h12m 19h45m 19h45m 3h01m 35%
2026-02-11 6h11m 6h45m 19h13m 19h47m 19h47m 4h04m 26%
2026-02-12 6h10m 6h43m 19h14m 19h48m 19h48m 5h01m 18%
2026-02-13 6h08m 6h42m 19h15m 19h49m 19h49m 5h50m 11%
2026-02-14 6h07m 6h41m 19h17m 19h50m 19h50m 6h07m 6%
2026-02-15 6h06m 6h39m 19h18m 19h52m 19h52m 6h06m 2%
2026-02-16 6h04m 6h38m 19h19m 19h53m 19h53m 6h04m 0%
2026-02-17 6h03m 6h37m 19h21m 19h54m 19h54m 6h03m 1%
2026-02-18 6h01m 6h35m 19h22m 19h56m 19h56m 6h01m 3%
2026-02-19 6h00m 6h34m 19h23m 19h57m 21h06m 6h00m 9%
2026-02-20 5h58m 6h32m 19h24m 19h58m 22h21m 5h58m 16%
2026-02-21 5h57m 6h31m 19h26m 19h59m 23h39m 5h57m 25%
2026-02-22 5h55m 6h29m 19h27m 20h01m – 5h55m 35%
2026-02-23 5h54m 6h27m 19h28m 20h02m 0h59m 5h54m 47%
2026-02-24 5h52m 6h26m 19h30m 20h03m 2h19m 5h52m 58%
2026-02-25 5h51m 6h24m 19h31m 20h05m 3h33m 5h51m 69%
2026-02-26 5h49m 6h23m 19h32m 20h06m 4h37m 5h49m 79%
2026-02-27 5h47m 6h21m 19h34m 20h07m 5h28m 5h47m 87%
2026-02-28 5h46m 6h19m 19h35m 20h09m – – 94%

Twilight calendar was generated using Cartes du Ciel (Sky Charts).

See my blog post: Twilight Zone for the definitions of the different periods of twilight here: https://bobmoler.wordpress.com/2019/09/27/

NASA Calendar of Planetary Events

Feb  1  Su            Venus: 6.3° E
     1  Su   6:41 AM  Moon-Beehive: 1.3° S
     1  Su   5:09 PM  Full Moon
     2  Mo   9:48 PM  Moon-Regulus: 0.4° S
     3  Tu   2:18 PM  Moon Descending Node
     7  Sa   3:26 AM  Moon-Spica: 2° N
     9  Mo   7:43 AM  Last Quarter
    10  Tu  11:52 AM  Moon Apogee: 404600 km
    10  Tu  10:19 PM  Moon-Antares: 0.8° N
    12  Th   7:56 AM  Moon South Dec.: 28.4° S
    17  Tu   7:01 AM  New Moon
    17  Tu   7:13 AM  Annular Solar Eclipse
                      Southern Ocean and Antarctica
    18  We   1:19 AM  Moon Ascending Node
    19  Th  12:59 PM  Mercury Elongation: 18.1° E
    19  Th   6:54 PM  Moon-Saturn: 4.8° S
    23  Mo   9:43 PM  Moon-Pleiades: 1.2° S
    24  Tu   7:28 AM  First Quarter
    24  Tu   6:18 PM  Moon Perigee: 370100 km
    25  We   6:23 PM  Moon North Dec.: 28.4° N
    27  Fr   1:26 AM  Moon-Jupiter: 4° S
    28  Sa   3:07 PM  Moon-Beehive: 1.3° S
Mar  1  Su            Venus: 13° E

Sky Events Calendar by Fred Espenak and Sumit Dutta (NASA’s GSFC),
http://eclipse.gsfc.nasa.gov/SKYCAL/SKYCAL.html
If you go to the above site you can print out a list like the above for the entire year or calendar pages for your time zone.

Sun and Moon Rising and Setting Events

LU             Ephemeris of Sky Events for Interlochen/TC
February, 2026    Local time zone: EST
+-----------------------------------------------------------------------+
| DATE |  SUN     SUN  DAYLIGHT|   TWILIGHT*    |MOON  RISE OR    ILLUM |
|      |  RISE    SET    HOURS |  END    START  |PHASE SET** TIME FRACTN|
+=======================================================================+
|Sun  1| 08:01a  05:51p  09:49 | 06:57p  06:55a |Full  Rise 05:41p  100%|
|Mon  2| 08:00a  05:53p  09:52 | 06:58p  06:54a |      Rise 07:00p   99%|
|Tue  3| 07:59a  05:54p  09:55 | 07:00p  06:53a |      Rise 08:14p   95%|
|Wed  4| 07:58a  05:55p  09:57 | 07:01p  06:52a |      Rise 09:25p   89%|
|Thu  5| 07:56a  05:57p  10:00 | 07:02p  06:51a |      Rise 10:34p   82%|
|Fri  6| 07:55a  05:58p  10:03 | 07:04p  06:50a |      Rise 11:41p   73%|
|Sat  7| 07:54a  06:00p  10:05 | 07:05p  06:49a |      Rise 12:48a   64%|
+------+-----------------------+----------------+-----------------------+
|Sun  8| 07:52a  06:01p  10:08 | 07:06p  06:47a |      Rise 01:55a   55%|
|Mon  9| 07:51a  06:02p  10:11 | 07:07p  06:46a |L Qtr Rise 03:01a   46%|
|Tue 10| 07:50a  06:04p  10:14 | 07:09p  06:45a |      Rise 04:03a   36%|
|Wed 11| 07:48a  06:05p  10:16 | 07:10p  06:44a |      Rise 05:00a   28%|
|Thu 12| 07:47a  06:07p  10:19 | 07:11p  06:42a |      Rise 05:49a   19%|
|Fri 13| 07:45a  06:08p  10:22 | 07:13p  06:41a |      Rise 06:30a   12%|
|Sat 14| 07:44a  06:10p  10:25 | 07:14p  06:40a |      Rise 07:02a    7%|
+------+-----------------------+----------------+-----------------------+
|Sun 15| 07:43a  06:11p  10:28 | 07:15p  06:38a |      Rise 07:29a    2%|
|Mon 16| 07:41a  06:12p  10:31 | 07:16p  06:37a |      Rise 07:51a    0%|
|Tue 17| 07:39a  06:14p  10:34 | 07:18p  06:36a |New   Set  06:39p    0%|
|Wed 18| 07:38a  06:15p  10:37 | 07:19p  06:34a |      Set  07:52p    3%|
|Thu 19| 07:36a  06:17p  10:40 | 07:20p  06:33a |      Set  09:05p    7%|
|Fri 20| 07:35a  06:18p  10:43 | 07:22p  06:31a |      Set  10:21p   14%|
|Sat 21| 07:33a  06:19p  10:46 | 07:23p  06:30a |      Set  11:38p   23%|
+------+-----------------------+----------------+-----------------------+
|Sun 22| 07:31a  06:21p  10:49 | 07:24p  06:28a |      Set  12:58a   33%|
|Mon 23| 07:30a  06:22p  10:52 | 07:26p  06:26a |      Set  02:18a   44%|
|Tue 24| 07:28a  06:23p  10:55 | 07:27p  06:25a |F Qtr Set  03:33a   56%|
|Wed 25| 07:27a  06:25p  10:58 | 07:28p  06:23a |      Set  04:37a   67%|
|Thu 26| 07:25a  06:26p  11:01 | 07:29p  06:22a |      Set  05:27a   77%|
|Fri 27| 07:23a  06:28p  11:04 | 07:31p  06:20a |      Set  06:06a   86%|
|Sat 28| 07:21a  06:29p  11:07 | 07:32p  06:18a |      Set  06:35a   93%|
+-----------------------------------------------------------------------+
* Nautical Twilight
** Moonrise or moonset, whichever occurs between sunset and sunrise

Created using my LookingUp for MS-DOS app.

Categories: Ephemeris Program, Month preview, Observing Tags:

Ephemeris: 01/29/2026 – After Artemis 2 comes Artemis 3 and the landing

January 29, 2026 Comments off

This is Ephemeris for Thursday, January 29th. Today the Sun will be up for 9 hours and 42 minutes, setting at 5:47, and it will rise tomorrow at 8:04. The Moon, 3 days before full, will set at 6:44 tomorrow morning.

If Artemis 2 is successful in the late winter and early spring of this year, the next mission will be Artemis 3, a mission to land near the South Pole of the Moon. In order for that to happen a lunar Lander will have to be ready and tested. The Starship HLS or human landing system is currently being built by SpaceX. It’s delivery to the Moon, via Superheavy, Starship’s big booster, will require multiple launches and refueling in orbit, which has yet to be tested. There has been some question as to how many refueling trips will be necessary. NASA and SpaceX seem to differ. However, an uncrewed successful landing will have to be made to prove out the system before the Artemis 3 landing will be attempted.

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; EST, UT – 5 hours) unless stated otherwise. Times will be different for other locations.

Addendum

Artist's visualization of a Starship HLS on the Moon,near the Moon's South Pole.
Artist’s visualization of a Starship HLS on the Moon,near the Moon’s South Pole, where both the Earth and the Sun are low to the horizon. Credit: SpaceX.
Categories: Artemis Program, Ephemeris Program, Space Flight Tags: , ,

Ephemeris: 01/28/2026 – Taking our weekly look at the whereabouts of the naked-eye planets

January 28, 2026 Comments off

This is Ephemeris for Wednesday, January 28th. Today the Sun will be up for 9 hours and 39 minutes, setting at 5:45, and it will rise tomorrow at 8:05. The Moon, 3 days past first quarter, will set at 5:43 tomorrow morning.

Let’s take our weekly look at the whereabouts of the naked-eye planets. Saturn is the brightest star-like object in the southwestern sky as soon as it gets dark. In a telescope Saturn sports a very thin ring, 2 degrees from being edge on and is slowly opening. Jupiter is the brilliant star-like object in the eastern sky, to the right of Pollux in the pair Castor and Pollux, the bright stars of Gemini. It is still moving slowly to the west, and will, until it stops and reverses its track on March 10th. Jupiter’s 4 brightest moons can be seen even in binoculars, if held steadily enough. They shift position night to night. At 8 PM tonight, all four Galilean moons can be seen, though two may too close to the planet to be picked out in binoculars.

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; EST, UT – 5 hours) unless stated otherwise. Times will be different for other locations.

Addendum

Saturn appears lonely in the west- southwestern sky at 8 PM.
Saturn appears lonely in the west- southwestern sky at 8 PM. Created using Stellarium.
Jupiter as it appears tonight, January 28, 2026, in its orientation at 9:00 PM, moving against the stars of Gemini. Also shown is its track from last July to next July, and the retrograde loop that is currently making.
Jupiter as it appears tonight, January 28, 2026, in its orientation at 9:00 PM, moving against the stars of Gemini. Also shown is its track from last July to next July, and the retrograde loop that is currently making, slowly moving to the West which you will do for the next 41 days until it stops in March. Then it will resume its eastward motion. Created using Stellarium, Libreoffice Draw and GIMP.
The Moon three days past first quarter, as seen this evening, January 28, 2026. A view visible in small telescopes showing an image with and without selected features labeled. Created using Stellarium, LibreOffice Draw, and GIMP.
Telescopic Saturn, and Jupiter (north up) as they would be seen in a small telescope with the same magnification at 8 PM tonight.
Telescopic Saturn, and Jupiter (north up) as they would be seen in a small telescope with the same magnification at 8 PM tonight, January 28, 2026. Saturn will be 16.4″ in diameter, but its rings, being nearly edge on, may show up brighter than seen here, and extend to 38.2″. They are tilted 2.0° from being edge on. Jupiter will be 45.9″ in diameter. Io will begin transiting the planet at 8:35 PM EDT (1:35 UT on the 29th). Its shadow will begin crossing the planet at 9:02 PM EDT (2:02 UT). The transit will end at 10:51 PM EDT (3:51 UT), with the shadow leaving the planet at 11:19 PM EDT (4:19 UT). The (”) symbol means seconds of arc, or 1/3600th of a degree. Created using Cartes du Ciel (Sky Charts), LibreOffice Draw and GIMP.
The naked-eye planets and the Moon at sunset and sunrise on a single night.
The naked-eye planets and the Moon at sunset and sunrise on a single night, starting with sunset on the right on January 28th, 2026. The night ends on the left with sunrise on the 29th. Click or tap on the image to enlarge it. Created using my LookingUp app and GIMP.
A low precision ephemeris of the Sun Moon and naked eye planet positions for today and tomorrow.
This is a low precision ephemeris of the Sun Moon and naked eye planet positions for today and tomorrow, January 28th and 29th, 2026. Some of the columns are self-explanatory, others are not. The transit column is the time that the body crosses the meridian and is due south. Elong, for elongation, is the angle between the Sun and that body. RA is right ascension, which is the object’s east-west position on the celestial sphere in hours and minutes. Dec is declination which is the north-south position of the object on the celestial sphere in degrees and minutes. R is the distance of that object from the Sun in astronomical units. An astronomical unit is about 93 million miles or 150 million kilometers. And Delta is the distance of that object from the Earth, also in astronomical units. I omit the ‘m’ in am and pm for compactness. The data was generated using my LookingUp for DOS app and displayed as a table by my Ephemeris Helper app.
Categories: Ephemeris Program, Naked-eye planets, Observing Tags: , , , , ,

Ephemeris: 01/27/2026 – Orion’s heat shield problem

January 27, 2026 Comments off

This is Ephemeris for Tuesday, January 27th. Today the Sun will be up for 9 hours and 37 minutes, setting at 5:44, and it will rise tomorrow at 8:06. The Moon, 2 days past first quarter, will set at 4:29 tomorrow morning.

One of the problems that was detected with the reentry of the Artemis 1 mission back in November 2022* was the degradation of the heat shield of the Orion capsule. Chunks of the heat shield actually were breaking off. The technique they use for reentry called the skip reentry was thought to be the culprit. So while they are attempting to redesign the heat shield, Artemis 2 will be using the same type heat shield, but they will not do a skip reentry and come in without a skip off the atmosphere. The reason for using a skip reentry is to lessen the amount of Gs that are pulled by the capsule coming in at 7 miles per second by prolonging the entry and increasing the downrange travel of the capsule. Skip reentry is a proven technique, the Russians have been doing it for decades.

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; EST, UT – 5 hours) unless stated otherwise. Times will be different for other locations.

* For the broadcast, I misremembered the date as December 2024. That’s what happens when you’re old.

Addendum

Heat shield damage from the Artemis 1 reentry. :Credit: NASA.
Heat shield damage from the Artemis 1 reentry. :Credit: NASA.
Lunar entry modes, skip entry vs. direct entry. Credit: NASA.
Lunar entry modes, skip entry vs. direct entry. Credit: NASA.
Categories: Artemis Program, Ephemeris Program, Space Flight, Spacecraft Tags: , ,

Ephemeris: 01/26/2026 – Artemis, not just flags and footprints

January 26, 2026 Comments off

This is Ephemeris for Monday, January 26th. Today the Sun will be up for 9 hours and 35 minutes, setting at 5:43, and it will rise tomorrow at 8:07. The Moon, 1 day past first quarter, will set at 3:10 tomorrow morning.

The current space race or I might say more properly, Moon race, is more than it was in the 1960s this race is not simply what is called a flag and footprints race get there first and go home. We already did that 57 years ago. But to set up permanent settlements on the moon to explore and extract the Moon’s resources like water. Water is not for export. Whatever water we find on the Moon would still be fairly scarce and probably rationed. There’s also an unknown amount of helium 3, which is a useful fuel for fusion reactors. Something we don’t have on the Earth, but would be the Holy Grail for clean energy production. We don’t know the Moon’s mineral potential, but whatever we find won’t have to be hauled up a quarter of a million miles from the Earth.

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; EST, UT – 5 hours) unless stated otherwise. Times will be different for other locations.

Addendum

An artist's impression of what a moon base might look like.
An artist’s impression of what a moon base might look like. Credit: ESA (European Space Agency).

Categories: Artemis Program, Ephemeris Program, Space exploration, The Moon

Ephemeris: 01/23/2026 – The new space race

January 23, 2026 Comments off

This is Ephemeris for Friday, January 23rd. Today the Sun will be up for 9 hours and 28 minutes, setting at 5:39, and it will rise tomorrow at 8:09. The Moon, 2 days before first quarter, will set at 11:17 this evening.

In the 1960s The United States and the Soviet Union engaged into what was called the space race. A race that was essentially to be the first nation to set foot on the Moon. It was a race the United States won when Neil Armstrong set foot on the Moon on July 20th 1969. We are now engaged in another space race, this time with China. It looks like Russia is sitting this one out, or are helping the Chinese, though it looks like the Chinese are out innovating them with their own reusable rockets. The stakes are higher this time. There is a place on the Moon in which everyone is interested. That being the Moon’s South Pole which has water in the form of ice in permanently shadowed craters, which would be worth its weight in gold.

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; EST, UT – 5 hours) unless stated otherwise. Times will be different for other locations.

Addendum

A 1/10th scale model of the China's Long March 10 rocket, purported to be their Moon Rocket.
A 1/10th scale model of the China’s Long March 10 rocket, purported to be their Moon Rocket. It is supposed to be ready for a human landing attempt on the Moon by 2030. Credit: Shujianyan.

Categories: Chinese, Ephemeris Program, Space Race Tags: , ,