Archive
06/09/2022 – Ephemeris – Looking at the gibbous Moon tonight
This is Bob Moler with Ephemeris for Thursday, June 9th. Today the Sun will be up for 15 hours and 29 minutes, setting at 9:27, and it will rise tomorrow at 5:57. The Moon, 2 days past first quarter, will set at 3:29 tomorrow morning.
By tonight, the gibbous moon will be quite bright. At the moon’s left edge, just coming into sunlight, will be what looks like a large half crater at the edge of the lunar sea called Mare Imbrium, the Sea of Showers. That feature is Sinus Iridium, or Bay of Rainbows. The arc of its mountainous edge is rainbow shaped, but it is as colorless as the rest of the Moon. The crater Copernicus sports few shadows and appears mostly as a bright spot surrounded by its ray system of ejecta craters that appear bright when the sun is high in their sky. At the south end of the Moon are the lunar highlands, bright, rugged and covered by large, mostly very old craters. Largest of these craters is Clavius, named for Christophorus Clavius who, working for Pope Gregory XIII, devised the Gregorian Calendar we use today.
The astronomical event times given are for the Traverse City/Interlochen area of Michigan (EDT, UT – 4 hours). They may be different for your location.
Addendum
Binocular Moon as it might appear tonight, June 9, 2022. Below, we’ll look closer to the terminator area of the Moon. Created using Virtual Moon Atlas.
Northern gibbous Moon terminator area with labels for some prominent features. Created using Virtual Moon Atlas, LibreOffice and GIMP.
Southern gibbous Moon terminator area with labels for some prominent features. Created using Virtual Moon Atlas, LibreOffice and GIMP.
Translations
Mare Frigoris – Sea of Cold
Mare Imbrium – Sea of Showers
Mare Nubium – Sea of Clouds
Montes Alpes – Alps Mountains
Montes Appinenninus – Apennines Mountains
Sinus Iridium – Bay of Rainbows
06/08/2022 – Ephemeris – Let’s search for the naked-eye planets for this week
This is Ephemeris for Wednesday, June 8th. Today the Sun will be up for 15 hours and 29 minutes, setting at 9:26, and it will rise tomorrow at 5:57. The Moon, 1 day past first quarter, will set at 3:08 tomorrow morning.
Let’s search for the naked-eye planets for this week. All the naked-eye planets are in the morning sky, although Mercury may be too close to the Sun to be seen. It might just be visible low in the east-northeast after 5 am around mid-month. That’s at least for those as far north as we are. At 5 am tomorrow the planets will be spread out from brilliant Venus low in the east to Saturn higher in the south-southeast. To the right of Venus, tomorrow morning, in the east-southeast are Mars and Jupiter. Mars is quite a bit dimmer than Jupiter. All will be in line sloping to the upper right with Saturn all by its lonesome in the south-southeast. The naked-eye planets are arranged in the morning sky, in the same order as their distances from the Sun.
The astronomical event times given are for the Traverse City/Interlochen area of Michigan (EDT, UT – 4 hours). They may be different for your location.
Addendum
Waning gibbous Moon tonight with prominent features labeled. Created using Stellarium, GIMP and LibreOffice.
Morning planets at 5 am tomorrow morning, June 9, 2022. Click on the image to enlarge it. The span of the planets from Venus to Saturn is 79 degrees. Created using Stellarium.
Views of Venus, Jupiter, and Saturn (north up) as they would be seen in a small telescope, with the same magnification, tomorrow morning at 5:00 am, June 9, 2022. I do not show planets less than 10 seconds of arc in diameter. Apparent diameters: Venus 13.10″, 80.3% illuminated; Saturn 17.60″, its rings 41.01″; Jupiter 38.23″. Mars is not shown, its apparent diameter is 6.63″ and is 86.8% illuminated. The ” symbol means seconds of arc (1/3600th of a degree.) Created using Cartes du Ciel (Sky Charts).
The naked-eye planets and the Moon at sunset and sunrise on a single night, starting with sunset on the right on June 8, 2022. The night ends on the left with sunrise on the 9th. Notice that all the naked-eye planets are in the morning sky now. Click on the image to enlarge it. Created using my LookingUp program.
06/07/2022 – Ephemeris – The Moon’s Straight Wall
This is Ephemeris for Tuesday, June 7th. Today the Sun will be up for 15 hours and 28 minutes, setting at 9:25, and it will rise tomorrow at 5:57. The Moon, at first quarter today, will set at 2:49 tomorrow morning.
Around the first quarter Moon there is, among all the circular formations on the Moon like craters, something that’s straight. Its name is Rupes Recta, better known as the Straight Wall. Tonight it’s a dark line seen near and parallel to the terminator, the sunrise line on the Moon, about a third of the way down from the center of the Moon’s disc to the edge. It looks like a cliff that’s 900 feet (300 meters) high and 67 miles (110 kilometers) long. It’s not. It is apparently a rectilinear fault, and its slope is only 7 degrees. It will disappear as the sun rises higher and illuminates the slope. It can be spotted in a small telescope, though it requires something generally larger and more powerful than a pair of binoculars. Near last quarter, the Straight Wall appears as a bright line.
The astronomical event times given are for the Traverse City/Interlochen area of Michigan (EDT, UT – 4 hours). They may be different for your location.
Addendum
Moon’s Straight Wall locator, though it may not be visible at this magnification. Created using Virtual Moon Atlas.
Enlargement of the area of the Straight Wall with labels blinking on and off. Created using Virtual Moon Atlas, Libreoffice, and GIMP.
Enlargement of the area of the Straight Wall near last quarter. Created using Virtual Moon Atlas.
06/03/2022 – Ephemeris – GTAS Astronomy meeting tonight explores women of science
This is Bob Moler with Ephemeris for Friday, 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, halfway from new to first quarter, will set at 1:11 tomorrow morning.
Tonight at 9 pm, the Grand Traverse Astronomical Society will have an in-person meeting at Northwestern Michigan College’s Rogers Observatory. The meeting will also be available via Zoom. The program will be presented by Becky Shaw. Her presentation will be An Encore to the Women of Science. Becky’s programs have always feature historic women of science, from Hypatia of ancient Alexandria to Cecilia Payne’s historic discovery of the elemental makeup of stars 100 years ago. If it’s clear, there will be a star party following the meeting. The observatory is located south of Traverse City off Birmley Road, between Garfield and Keystone roads. A Zoom link will be available at gtastro.org before the meeting.
The astronomical event times given are for the Traverse City/Interlochen area of Michigan (EDT, UT – 4 hours). They may be different for your location.
Addendum
This meeting will mark the 40th anniversary of the Grand Traverse Astronomical Society. I hear someone might be bringing 40 cupcakes to celebrate.
Three of the female astronomers and planetary scientists I follow on Twitter are:
Alessondra Springmann @sondy, Planetary scientist
Dr. Katie Mack, @AstroKatie, Theoretical astrophysicist, Author of The End of Everything (Astrophysically Speaking)
Dr Carolyn Porco, @carolynporco, Planetary scientist
There are lots more in all the science disciplines.
06/02/2022 – Ephemeris – What’s an ephemeris?
This is Ephemeris for Thursday, 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, 3 days past new, will set at 12:34 tomorrow morning.
Yesterday, I was too busy on this program to mention that that program was the 47th anniversary of the Ephemeris program and was embarking on its 48th orbit of the Sun. At this juncture, you might be wondering: What’s an ephemeris? According to Wikipedia: Quote “In astronomy and celestial navigation, an ephemeris (plural: ephemerides; from Latin ephemeris, meaning ‘diary’, from the Greek, … meaning ‘diary, or journal’) gives the positions of… astronomical objects… at a given time or times. Historically, positions were given as printed tables of values, given at regular intervals of date and time.” enquote. My tables are now databases which I generate for the year during the prior December from published algorithms. I will show all on my blog today: (You are already here). I used to have to interpolate values from printed ephemerides for the first 5 or so years of the program.
The astronomical event times given are for the Traverse City/Interlochen area of Michigan (EDT, UT – 4 hours). They may be different for your location.
Addendum
An Ephemeris Example – Comet 73P-B/Schwassmann-Wachmann 3 nuclear fragment B
Here’s an ephemeris for Comet Schwassmann-Wachmann 3 nuclear fragment B from the Jet Propulsion Laboratory’s (JPL) Horizons system. The listing has been truncated for width. Click on it to enlarge it.
R.A. is right ascension – East-west position in the sky, like longitude on the Earth, only it’s in hours, minutes and seconds. One hour = 15 degrees.
DEC is declination – North-south position, in the sky, exactly like latitude on the Earth in degrees, minutes and seconds.
(a-apparent) means that the above coordinates are based on where the vernal equinox point in the sky is at that date and time, and for the observer’s location. Since I didn’t specify one, it’s the center of the Earth.
T-mag – Predicted total magnitude of the comet. Magnitudes are like golf scores. The higher magnitude, the dimmer the object. It’s really, really dim.
N-mag – Predicted magnitude of the nucleus. No estimate is made here.
r – Distance from the Sun in terms of Astronomical Units (AU). 1 AU is Earth’s mean distance from the Sun.
rdot – The change in r. It’s in kilometers per second. If negative, it’s moving toward the Sun.
For more information on how I produce ephemerides for this program, go here: https://bobmoler.wordpress.com/2019/01/22/
06/01/2022 – Ephemeris – Let’s search for the naked-eye planets for this week
This is Ephemeris for Wednesday, June 1st. Today the Sun will be up for 15 hours and 21 minutes, setting at 9:21, and it will rise tomorrow at 5:59. The Moon, 2 days past new, will set at 11:49 this evening.
Let’s search for the naked-eye planets for this week. All the naked-eye planets are in the morning sky, although Mercury is too close to the Sun to be seen, and might just be visible low in the east-northeast after 5 am around mid-month. That’s at least for those as far north as we are. At 5 am tomorrow the planets will be spread out from brilliant Venus low in the east to Saturn higher in the south-southeast. To the right of Venus, tomorrow morning, in the east-southeast are Mars and Jupiter. Mars is quite a bit dimmer than Jupiter. All will be in line sloping to the upper right with Saturn all by its lonesome in the south-southeast. Though Mercury will enter the evening sky first, it won’t have great visibility. Saturn will enter the evening sky August 14th.
The astronomical event times given are for the Traverse City/Interlochen area of Michigan (EDT, UT – 4 hours). They may be different for your location.
Addendum
The two-day-old Moon as it might be seen in binoculars tonight, June 1, 2022. Earth shine might illuminate the Moon’s night side. Created using Stellarium and GIMP.
Morning planets at 5 am tomorrow morning, June 2, 2022. Click on the image to enlarge it. The span of the planets from Venus to Saturn is 70 degrees. Click on the image to enlarge it. Created using Stellarium.
Views of Venus, Jupiter, and Saturn (north up) as they would be seen in a small telescope, with the same magnification, tomorrow morning at 5:00 am, June 2, 2022. I do not show planets less than 10 seconds of arc in diameter. Apparent diameters: Venus 13.58″, 78.3% illuminated; Saturn 17.40″, its rings 40.54″; Jupiter 37.49″. Mars is not shown, its apparent diameter is 6.46″ and is 87.2% illuminated. The ” symbol means seconds of arc (1/3600th of a degree.) Created using Cartes du Ciel (Sky Charts), planet information from Stellarium.
The naked-eye planets and the Moon at sunset and sunrise on a single night, starting with sunset on the right on June 1, 2022. The night ends on the left with sunrise on the 2nd. Notice that all the naked-eye planets are in the morning sky now. Click on the image to enlarge it. Created using my LookingUp program.
Update on the Tau Herculid meteor shower of May 31st.
The meteor shower was rather weak. I saw one during an hour and a half of observing, slowly moving over the Big Dipper. The sky was “clear”, but there was a haze to it. It definitely wasn’t crystal clear. I’ve heard from others who had a bit more success.
05/31/2022 – Ephemeris – Let’s preview the sunny month of June
This is Ephemeris for Tuesday, May 31st. Today the Sun will be up for 15 hours and 19 minutes, setting at 9:20, and it will rise tomorrow at 6:00. The Moon, 1 day past new, will set at 10:56 this evening.
Let’s preview June skies. There will be a lot of sun in June and very little night. The daylight hours will increase a bit from 15 hours and 21 minutes Tomorrow to 15 hours and 34 minutes on the 21st, retreating back to 15 hours 31 minutes at month’s end. The altitude of the Sun above the southern horizon at local noon will hover around 68 to 69 degrees. Local noon, when the Sun is actually due south, will occur at about 1:43 p.m. Summer begins on the 21st at 5:14 am, when the Sun reaches its farthest north. The actual amount of nighttime will be quite short, mostly due to the length of daylight, but also because twilight lasts much longer than average because the Sun sets at a shallow angle. On the 21st, there’s theoretically only 3 ½ hours of total darkness if the Moon wasn’t up.
The astronomical event times given are for the Traverse City/Interlochen area of Michigan (EDT, UT – 4 hours). They may be different for your location.
Addendum
June Evening Star Chart
Star Chart for June 2022 (11 p.m. EDT June 15, 2022). Created using my LookingUp program. Click on image to enlarge.
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
Star Chart for June mornings, 2022 (4 am EDT, June 15, 2022). 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.
- 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. |
| 2022-06-01 | 3h44m | 4h42m | 22h47m | 23h46m | 23h49m | 3h44m | 0.07 |
| 2022-06-02 | 3h42m | 4h42m | 22h48m | 23h47m | – | 3h42m | 0.12 |
| 2022-06-03 | 3h41m | 4h41m | 22h49m | 23h49m | 0h34m | 3h41m | 0.19 |
| 2022-06-04 | 3h40m | 4h40m | 22h50m | 23h50m | 1h11m | 3h40m | 0.27 |
| 2022-06-05 | 3h39m | 4h39m | 22h51m | 23h52m | 1h41m | 3h39m | 0.36 |
| 2022-06-06 | 3h38m | 4h39m | 22h52m | 23h53m | 2h07m | 3h38m | 0.46 |
| 2022-06-07 | 3h37m | 4h38m | 22h53m | 23h54m | 2h29m | 3h37m | 0.56 |
| 2022-06-08 | 3h36m | 4h38m | 22h54m | 23h56m | 2h49m | 3h36m | 0.66 |
| 2022-06-09 | 3h35m | 4h37m | 22h55m | 23h57m | 3h09m | 3h35m | 0.76 |
| 2022-06-10 | 3h34m | 4h37m | 22h55m | 23h58m | 3h29m | 3h34m | 0.85 |
| 2022-06-11 | 3h34m | 4h37m | 22h56m | 23h59m | – | – | 0.92 |
| 2022-06-12 | 3h33m | 4h36m | 22h57m | 0h00m | – | – | 0.98 |
| 2022-06-13 | 3h33m | 4h36m | 22h57m | 0h01m | – | – | 1 |
| 2022-06-14 | 3h32m | 4h36m | 22h58m | 0h02m | – | – | 0.99 |
| 2022-06-15 | 3h32m | 4h36m | 22h59m | 0h02m | – | – | 0.95 |
| 2022-06-16 | 3h32m | 4h36m | 22h59m | 0h03m | – | – | 0.89 |
| 2022-06-17 | 3h32m | 4h36m | 22h59m | 0h04m | 0h04m | 0h18m | 0.81 |
| 2022-06-18 | 3h32m | 4h36m | 23h00m | 0h04m | 0h04m | 0h56m | 0.71 |
| 2022-06-19 | 3h32m | 4h36m | 23h00m | 0h05m | 0h05m | 1h25m | 0.6 |
| 2022-06-20 | 3h32m | 4h36m | 23h00m | 0h05m | 0h05m | 1h49m | 0.49 |
| 2022-06-21 | 3h32m | 4h36m | 23h01m | 0h05m | 0h05m | 2h10m | 0.39 |
| 2022-06-22 | 3h32m | 4h37m | 23h01m | 0h05m | 0h05m | 2h29m | 0.29 |
| 2022-06-23 | 3h33m | 4h37m | 23h01m | 0h05m | 0h05m | 2h48m | 0.21 |
| 2022-06-24 | 3h33m | 4h37m | 23h01m | 0h05m | 0h05m | 3h09m | 0.13 |
| 2022-06-25 | 3h34m | 4h38m | 23h01m | 0h05m | 0h05m | 3h32m | 0.08 |
| 2022-06-26 | 3h34m | 4h38m | 23h01m | 0h05m | 0h05m | 3h34m | 0.03 |
| 2022-06-27 | 3h35m | 4h39m | 23h01m | 0h05m | 0h05m | 3h35m | 0.01 |
| 2022-06-28 | 3h36m | 4h39m | 23h01m | 0h04m | 0h04m | 3h36m | 0 |
| 2022-06-29 | 3h37m | 4h40m | 23h00m | 0h04m | 0h04m | 3h37m | 0.01 |
| 2022-06-30 | 3h38m | 4h41m | 23h00m | 0h03m | 0h03m | 3h38m | 0.04 |
The twilight calendar was generated using Cartes du Ciel (Sky Charts), with some corrections.
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
Jun 1 We Venus: 36.5° W
1 We 6:32 pm Moon North Dec.: 26.9° N
1 We 9:14 pm Moon Apogee: 406,200 km
3 Fr 1:42 am Moon-Pollux: 2.4° N
4 Sa 3:17 am Moon-Beehive: 4° S
7 Tu 10:48 am First Quarter
12 Su 6:02 am Moon Descending Node
14 Tu 7:52 am Full Strawberry Moon (Super Moon)
14 Tu 7:21 pm Moon Perigee: 357,400 km
15 We 6:59 am Moon South Dec.: 26.9° S
16 Th 10:59 am Mercury Elongation: 23.2° W
18 Sa 8:22 am Moon-Saturn: 4.3° N
20 Mo 11:11 pm Last Quarter
21 Tu 5:14 am Summer Solstice
21 Tu 9:31 am Moon-Jupiter: 2.9° N
22 We 2:05 pm Mercury-Aldebaran: 2.9° N
22 We 2:16 pm Moon-Mars: 1° N
22 We 8:53 pm Venus-Pleiades: 5.7° S
25 Sa 3:10 am Moon Ascending Node
25 Sa 5:27 pm Moon-Pleiades: 3.9° N
26 Su 4:11 am Moon-Venus: 3° S
28 Tu 10:52 pm New Moon
29 We 12:06 am Moon North Dec.: 26.9° N
29 We 2:08 am Moon Apogee: 406,600 km
30 Th 10:45 pm Venus-Aldebaran: 4.1° N
Jul 1 Fr Venus: 29.6° W
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/TC June, 2022 Local time zone: EDT +-----------------------------------------------------------------------+ | DATE | SUN SUN DAYLIGHT| TWILIGHT* |MOON RISE OR ILLUM | | | RISE SET HOURS | END START |PHASE SET** TIME FRACTN| +=======================================================================+ |Wed 1| 06:00a 09:21p 15:21 | 10:44p 04:37a | Set 11:49p 6%| |Thu 2| 05:59a 09:22p 15:22 | 10:45p 04:36a | Set 12:34a 11%| |Fri 3| 05:59a 09:23p 15:23 | 10:46p 04:35a | Set 01:11a 17%| |Sat 4| 05:58a 09:23p 15:24 | 10:47p 04:35a | Set 01:41a 25%| +------+-----------------------+----------------+-----------------------+ |Sun 5| 05:58a 09:24p 15:26 | 10:48p 04:34a | Set 02:06a 34%| |Mon 6| 05:58a 09:25p 15:27 | 10:49p 04:33a | Set 02:28a 44%| |Tue 7| 05:57a 09:25p 15:28 | 10:50p 04:33a |F Qtr Set 02:49a 54%| |Wed 8| 05:57a 09:26p 15:29 | 10:51p 04:32a | Set 03:08a 64%| |Thu 9| 05:57a 09:27p 15:29 | 10:52p 04:32a | Set 03:29a 74%| |Fri 10| 05:57a 09:27p 15:30 | 10:53p 04:31a | Set 03:52a 83%| |Sat 11| 05:56a 09:28p 15:31 | 10:53p 04:31a | Set 04:19a 91%| +------+-----------------------+----------------+-----------------------+ |Sun 12| 05:56a 09:28p 15:32 | 10:54p 04:31a | Set 04:54a 97%| |Mon 13| 05:56a 09:29p 15:32 | 10:55p 04:30a | Set 05:41a 100%| |Tue 14| 05:56a 09:29p 15:33 | 10:55p 04:30a |Full Rise 10:22p 100%| |Wed 15| 05:56a 09:30p 15:33 | 10:56p 04:30a | Rise 11:27p 96%| |Thu 16| 05:56a 09:30p 15:34 | 10:56p 04:30a | Rise 12:17a 91%| |Fri 17| 05:56a 09:30p 15:34 | 10:57p 04:30a | Rise 12:55a 82%| |Sat 18| 05:56a 09:31p 15:34 | 10:57p 04:30a | Rise 01:25a 73%| +------+-----------------------+----------------+-----------------------+ |Sun 19| 05:56a 09:31p 15:34 | 10:57p 04:30a | Rise 01:49a 62%| |Mon 20| 05:57a 09:31p 15:34 | 10:58p 04:30a |L Qtr Rise 02:09a 51%| |Tue 21| 05:57a 09:32p 15:34 | 10:58p 04:30a | Rise 02:28a 41%| |Wed 22| 05:57a 09:32p 15:34 | 10:58p 04:31a | Rise 02:48a 31%| |Thu 23| 05:57a 09:32p 15:34 | 10:58p 04:31a | Rise 03:08a 22%| |Fri 24| 05:58a 09:32p 15:34 | 10:58p 04:31a | Rise 03:31a 15%| |Sat 25| 05:58a 09:32p 15:34 | 10:58p 04:32a | Rise 03:59a 9%| +------+-----------------------+----------------+-----------------------+ |Sun 26| 05:58a 09:32p 15:33 | 10:58p 04:32a | Rise 04:32a 4%| |Mon 27| 05:59a 09:32p 15:33 | 10:58p 04:33a | Rise 05:13a 1%| |Tue 28| 05:59a 09:32p 15:32 | 10:58p 04:33a |New Set 09:44p 0%| |Wed 29| 06:00a 09:32p 15:32 | 10:58p 04:34a | Set 10:32p 1%| |Thu 30| 06:00a 09:32p 15:31 | 10:57p 04:34a | Set 11:11p 3%| +-----------------------------------------------------------------------+ * Nautical Twilight ** Moonrise or moonset, whichever occurs between sunrise and sunset
Generated using my LookingUp for DOS program.
05/30/2022 – Ephemeris – There might be a spectacular meteor shower/storm tonight after midnight!
This is Ephemeris for Memorial Day, Monday, May 30th. 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 is new today, and won’t be visible.
Comet Schwassmann-Wachmann 3, SW3 for short began to breakup in 1995, 27 years ago. Two large chunks of the comet’s nucleus and dozens of smaller pieces have been seen. We expect a vast debris field to be expanding from the remnants of the comet, unseen. Astronomers, calculating what happened to that unseen debris cloud, expect the Earth to run into a part of it around 1 am (EDT, 5 hours UT), give or take, tomorrow morning. Causing, if we’re lucky, a meteor shower or meteor storm. The radiant point from which the meteors seem to come is from between the Big Dipper’s handle and the bright star Arcturus. They will appear all over the sky. I’m crossing my fingers on this one, it could be great, or it could be nothing.
The astronomical event times given are for the Traverse City/Interlochen area of Michigan (EDT, UT – 4 hours). They may be different for your location.
Addendum
Position of the Tau Herculid radiant at 1 am, May 31, 2022. However, meteors will appear all over the sky, but could be traced back to the radiant. These meteors will appear to travel a lot slower than the Perseid meteors of August. Created using Stellarium for the star field and LibreOffice for annotations.
Comet Schwassmann-Wachmann 3 Hubble Space Telescope images from 2006 showing the breakup of the comet. Credit: NASA.
05/27/2022 – Ephemeris – There could be a spectacular meteor display Tuesday early morning, or nothing!
This is Bob Moler with Ephemeris for Friday, May 27th. Today the Sun will be up for 15 hours and 13 minutes, setting at 9:16, and it will rise tomorrow at 6:02. The Moon, 3 days before new, will rise at 5:03 tomorrow morning.
Comet Schwassmann-Wachmann 3, SW3 for short began to breakup in 1995, 27 years ago. Two large chunks of the comet’s nucleus and dozens of smaller pieces have been seen. A vast, unseen debris field is expected to be expanding from the remnants of the comet. Astronomers, calculating what happened to that unseen debris cloud, expect the Earth to run into a part of it around 1 am (EDT, 5 hours UT), give or take, on Tuesday, May 31st (That’s late Memorial Day night). Causing, if we’re lucky, a meteor shower or meteor storm. The radiant point from which the meteors seem to come is from between the Big Dipper’s handle and the bright star Arcturus. They will appear all over the sky. I’m crossing my fingers on this one, it could be great, or it could be nothing.
The astronomical event times given are for the Traverse City/Interlochen area of Michigan (EDT, UT – 4 hours). They may be different for your location.
Addendum
Position of the Tau Herculid radiant at 1 am, May 31, 2022. However, meteors will appear all over the sky, but could be traced back to the radiant. These meteors will appear to travel a lot slower than the Perseid meteors of August. Created using Stellarium for the star field and LibreOffice for annotations.
Comet Schwassmann-Wachmann 3 Hubble Space Telescope images from 2006 showing the breakup of the comet. Credit: NASA.
05/26/2022 – Ephemeris – There may be a spectacular meteor storm Tuesday am or nothing!
This is Ephemeris for Thursday, May 26th. Today the Sun will be up for 15 hours and 11 minutes, setting at 9:16, and it will rise tomorrow at 6:03. The Moon, halfway from last quarter to new, will rise at 4:42 tomorrow morning.
Early risers tomorrow morning should be able to see, if it’s clear, the planet Venus just above and right of the waning crescent Moon. The last of the visible Moon-planet encounters this month. Another event this month may be the Tau Herculid meteor shower. This may be a spectacular meteor shower, or nothing. It would be the result of the breakup of Comet Schwassmann-Wachmann 3 that started back in 1995. SW3, as it’s known for short, has a 5.44 year orbit of the Sun, so we only get a good look at it about every 11 years currently. As the nucleus breaks up, the debris field widens, with time. The comet will pass close to the orbit of the Earth in a few months. The comet’s orbit comes closest to the Earth’s orbit on May 31st. If the debris cloud has widened enough by now, the Earth should intercept it around 1 am our time that morning.
The astronomical event times given are for the Traverse City/Interlochen area of Michigan (EDT, UT – 4 hours). They may be different for your location.
Addendum
Position of the Tau Herculid radiant at 1 am, May 31, 2022. However, meteors will appear all over the sky, but could be traced back to the radiant. These meteors will appear to travel a lot slower than the Perseid meteors of August. The meteor storm, if it occurs, should peak around 1 am. However, there is an uncertainty with the time or if the meteor will show up. Created using Stellarium for the star field and LibreOffice for annotations.
Comet Schwassmann-Wachmann 3 Hubble Space Telescope images from 2006 showing the breakup of the comet. Credit: NASA.
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