Archive
12/06/11 – Ephemeris – Jupiter will appear close to the moon tonight
Tuesday, December 6th. The sun will rise at 8:04. It’ll be up for 8 hours and 58 minutes, setting at 5:02. The moon, half way from first quarter to full, will set at 5:16 tomorrow morning.
This evening the planet Jupiter will appear to the lower right of the moon. They will appear at their closest at 2 p.m., but that’s before they rise. Jupiter is the largest of the planets and three of its four largest moons that we can see in small telescopes, are larger than our moon. Last month I spent a day at the National Radio Astronomy Observatory in Green Bank West Virginia. One of the studies they were doing was a radar study of the Jovian moon Europa to see if the suspected ocean that separates the moon’s core from its surface would cause the surface to slip a bit and show that Europa’s not completely solid. Radar pulses would be sent from Aricebo in Puerto Rico to be received by their GBT 100 meter telescope.
* Times, as always are for the Traverse City/Interlochen area of Michigan.
Addendum
Jupiter and the moon the evening of December 6, 2011. Created using Stellarium
11/28/11 – Ephemeris – There may be an aurora tonight
Monday, November 28th. The sun will rise at 7:55. It’ll be up for 9 hours and 9 minutes, setting at 5:05. The moon, 3 days past new, will set at 8:53 this evening.
Last Saturday afternoon the sun let loose with an explosion that is sending a cloud of particles toward the earth. It was called a Coronal Mass Ejection or CME for short. As usual for these things, it takes about 48 hours give or take for the cloud of particles to reach the earth. The expected arrival time for the cloud is about noon, give or take 7 hours. If the cloud is a bit late we could get a display of the northern lights or aurora borealis. The sun is getting more active now after a prolonged minimum that lasted over 2 years. The sun is ramping up for a peak in sun spot numbers possibly in 2013. Although the numbers of aurorae occur mostly after peak, so we’re just starting our auroral season, so there will be more opportunities to come.
* Times, as always are for the Traverse City/Interlochen area of Michigan.
Aurora visible tonight 10/24/11
Check out this image:
Aurora looking north at 10/24/2011 at 10:52 p.m.
According to SpaceWeather.com the earth was hit by a CME (Coronal Mass Ejection) at 2 p.m. eastern time. My thanks go to Sarah Johnson of Greenspire School for giving me the heads up on this. I’ve been busy working on my blog entries for later this week and was oblivious to the outside world.
Bad.
10/20/11 – Ephemeris – The Orionid meteor shower
Thursday, October 20th. The sun will rise at 8:03. It’ll be up for 10 hours and 46 minutes, setting at 6:50. The moon, 1 day past last quarter, will rise at 1:40 tomorrow morning. | The Orionid meteor shower will reach its peak tomorrow morning. Like most meteor showers, this is best seen just before dawn. As the name suggests the so-called shooting stars will seem to come from the constellation Orion the hunter. They will appear to come from above the rectangular torso of the giant. These meteors actually have nothing to do with Orion, but they are the light flashes from bits of rock that were once part of Halley’s comet, as they burn up in the earth’s atmosphere. In Halley’s many passes close to the sun, much of its solid material has been liberated by the evaporating gasses, leaving a trail of litter in its orbit. The earth passes through this debris every May and now, in October.
* Times are for the Traverse City/Interlochen area of Michigan. They may be different for your location.
Addendum
Orionid Radiant
10/03/11 – Ephemeris – More celestial events for this month
Monday, October 3rd. The sun will rise at 7:42. It’ll be up for 11 hours and 37 minutes, setting at 7:19. The moon, at first quarter today, will set at 12:10 tomorrow morning.
We have more celestial happenings this month than I could enumerate last Friday. Later on Saturday evening, if it’s clear the Grand Traverse Astronomical Society will join with astronomy groups, planetariums and observatories with International Observe the Moon Night with telescopes positioned on the 200 block east Front Street in Traverse City, near the Martinek clock. Going on that same evening will be the return of the Draconid meteor shower. Its a favorable return of a periodic shower but interferes with by the bright moon. However some bright meteors will be seen. I’ll have more information and background Thursday. Another meteor shower later this month will be the Orionids a morning shower related to Halley’s Comet.
* Times are for the Traverse City/Interlochen area of Michigan. They may be different for your location.
08/16/11 – Ephemeris – Solar conjunctions today of Mercury and Venus
Tuesday, August 16th. The sun rises at 6:45. It’ll be up for 14 hours and 0 minutes, setting at 8:46. The moon, 3 days past full, will rise at 9:38 this evening.
Today we have an interesting coincidence. Both Venus and Mercury will be in conjunction with the sun. Astrologers may make a big deal out of it but this time astronomers won’t. A conjunction means that two solar system bodies are just north and south of each other. At 8:07 this morning Venus will be just north of the sun in superior conjunction. That is it is beyond the sun. And at 9:03 this evening Mercury will be somewhat south of the sun in inferior conjunction. Thai is it is between the earth and the sun. Mercury will be going into our morning sky, while Venus will begin to appear in the evening sky later this fall. But the coolest thing of all will be Venus’ next inferior conjunction June 6th, 2012. It will cross the face of the sun in a rare transit.
* Times are for the Traverse City/Interlochen area of Michigan. They may be different for your location.
We might get an aurora (northern lights) tonight (August 5, 2011)
Also southern lights too. There was a big coronal mass ejection (CME) yesterday. Arrival time of the stuff at earth is thought to be 10 hours UT (6 a.m. EDT) plus or minus 7 hours. Though no reports yet. See Phil Plait’s Bad Astronomy for more on it. Also check out www.spaceweather.com.
06/15/11 – Ephemeris – The bright planets for this week and a Lunar Eclipse
Wednesday, June 15th. Today the sun will be up for 15 hours and 32 minutes, setting at 9:29. The moon, at full today, will rise at 9:35 this evening. Tomorrow the sun will rise at 5:56.
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 south southwest 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 set at 2:44 a.m. Saturn is a wonderful sight is a telescope with its rings. Jupiter will rise at 3:19 a.m. in the east. Mars will rise at 4:19. Venus now rises too close to sunrise to be seen in the twilight as is Mercury. There will be a total lunar eclipse this afternoon our time, making it completely invisible from here. However it will be perfectly visible from Asia where among others my grandson Chris is serving as a Marine. I’ve emailed him the times which are also available on the Ephemeris Blog.
* Times are for the Traverse City/Interlochen area of Michigan. They may be different for your location.
Addendum
Here’s the poop on the Total Lunar Eclipse on the night of the 15th-16th.
I’m giving the timings in both Universal Time (UT), also known as Greenwich Mean Time (GMT) or Zulu and Afghanistan Standard Time (AST) (UT+4.5 hours).
Event UT AST Partial Eclipse Starts 15th 18:22 15th 22:52 Total Phase Starts 15th 19:22 15th 23:52 Total Phase Ends 15th 21:03 16th 01:33 Partial Eclipse Ends 15th 02:02 16th 02:32
The moon will enter the earth’s shadow from right to left.
During the total phase of the eclipse (we call it totality), the moon will probably appear red in color with gray near the edge of the earth’s shadow.
If you were on the moon, looking back at the earth at maximum eclipse the earth will appear as a red ring, the total of all the sunrises and sunsets around the earth.
06/07/11 – Ephemeris – The T.A.P.E. Forum Tonight
Tuesday, June 7th. Today the sun will be up for 15 hours and 26 minutes, setting at 9:24. The moon, 1 day before first quarter, will set at 1:17 tomorrow morning. Tomorrow the sun will rise at 5:57.
Tonight there’s a free forum at the Dennos museum starting at 7 p.m.. Its called TAPE: Traverse Astronomy, Philosophy, and Energy Forum. It features Zach Constan of the National Superconducting Cyclotron laboratory at Michigan State, Mary Stewart Adams on the Emmet County Dark Sky Park Committee, and yours truly. In my part of it, which starts shortly after 7 I’ll talk about how astronomy is connected to all the other sciences, and is the only one where scientific discoveries can be made in the back yard. I’ll give a bit of the history of the Grand Traverse Astronomical Society, our outreach in the past and the plans for events this summer including 5 nights at the Sleeping Bear Dunes and two asteroid Vesta nights.
* Times are for the Traverse City/Interlochen area of Michigan. They may be different for your location.
Addendum
T.A.P.E. Poster
I’ll be part of the T.A.P.E Forum Tuesday June 7 at 7 p.m.
I’m giving a presentation for the T.A.P.E. Traverse Astronomy, Philosophy and Energy. It’s a free presentation at the Dennos Museum Center on the Northwestern Michigan College campus. My talk is about astronomy, our Grand Traverse Astronomical Society and our outreach program.
T.A.P.E. Poster
Bob Moler's Ephemeris Blog 