Archive
04/27/2012 – Ephemeris – Astronomy Day and other viewing opportunities this weekend
Ephemeris for Arbor Day, Friday, April 27th. The sun rises at 6:37. It’ll be up for 14 hours and 4 minutes, setting at 8:42. The moon, 2 days before first quarter, will set at 2:10 tomorrow morning.
The moon’s crescent is getting fatter each day as it moves eastward. There are two events scheduled to take with the moon and the bright spring planets, and one to show the sun this weekend. Tonight the Grand Traverse Astronomical Society will hold a star party at the Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore. It will be held at Platte River Point, west of Honor starting at about 8:30 p.m. Saturday is International Astronomy Day. Some of us will take our telescopes to the Open Space in Traverse City to view the sun with our new solar telescope and other scopes. That’s from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. That evening starting at nine with be a star party at the Northwestern Michigan College’s Rogers Observatory.
Times are for the Traverse City/Interlochen area of Michigan. They may be different for your location.
04/26/2012 – Ephemeris – Three astronomical viewing opportunities this weekend
Ephemeris for Thursday, April 26th. The sun rises at 6:39. It’ll be up for 14 hours and 2 minutes, setting at 8:41. The moon, 3 days before first quarter, will set at 1:33 tomorrow morning.
The moon is getting ready to take over the night sky. It’s crescent is getting fatter each day as it moves eastward. There are two events scheduled to take with the moon and the bright spring planets, and one to show the sun this weekend. Tomorrow the Grand Traverse Astronomical Society will hold a star party at the Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore. It will be held at Platte River Point, west of Honor starting at about 8:30 p.m. Saturday is International Astronomy Day. Some of us will take our telescopes to the Open Space in Traverse City to view the sun with our new solar telescope and other scopes. That’s from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. That evening starting at nine with be a star party at the Rogers Observatory.
Times are for the Traverse City/Interlochen area of Michigan. They may be different for your location.
04/17/2012 – Ephemeris – The constellation of Coma Berenices as a star cluster
Ephemeris for Tuesday, April 17th. The sun rises at 6:54. It’ll be up for 13 hours and 36 minutes, setting at 8:30. The moon, half way from last quarter to new, will rise at 5:23 tomorrow morning.
Looking to the southeast these nights can be found the dim constellation of Coma Berenices, or Berenice’s hair. It’s located about half way from the horizon to the zenith. It’s best seen on a moonless night as a sprinkling of faint stars that look like strands of hair. It is a star cluster some 270 light years away, the second closest star cluster to the earth, the closest being the Hyades the marks the face of Taurus the bull, at about 153 light years, which is below, left of Venus tonight in the west. Coma Berenices is located at an odd spot for an open or galactic star cluster. It’s at the pole of the milky way, as far from the milky band as you can get. Most galactic star clusters are close or in that band. However due to its closeness Coma Berenices is abreast of us. as we orbit the center of the Milky Way.
* Times are for the Traverse City/Interlochen area of Michigan. They may be different for your location.
Addendum
Coma Berenices via Stellarium
Only one star of the three denote the constellation is part of the Coma Berenices star cluster, which appears to trail from the top star.
04/06/2012 – Ephemeris – Meteorites and a Star Party this weekend
Ephemeris for Good Friday, Friday, April 6th. The sun will rise at 7:13. It’ll be up for 13 hours and 3 minutes, setting at 8:16. The moon, at full today, will rise at 8:38 this evening.
The Grand Traverse Astronomical Society will meet tonight at 8 p.m. at the Northwestern Michigan College’s Rogers Observatory. Following will be a public star party featuring the moon, Venus, Jupiter, Mars and Saturn. This year the first viewing night of the month will come at the end of the society meeting at 9 o’clock. Come for both. From April to September there will be a second star party at the observatory, plus other star parties and other events in the area. The presenter for the meeting tonight will be member Joe Brooks. He will bring his extensive meteorite collection and talk about them and where they come from. The observatory is located on Birmley Road between Keystone and Garfield roads.
* Times are for the Traverse City/Interlochen area of Michigan. They may be different for your location.
03/02/2012 – Ephemeris – My talk tonight on Radio Astronomy
Ephemeris for Friday, March 2nd. The sun will rise at 7:17. It’ll be up for 11 hours and 14 minutes, setting at 6:32. The moon, 2 days past first quarter, will set at 4:02 tomorrow morning.
Radio astronomy will be the topic of yours truly this evening at the Grand Traverse Astronomical Society’s monthly meeting at 8 p.m. at Northwestern Michigan College’s Rogers Observatory. Prompted by my recent tour of the National Radio Astronomy Observatory in Green Bank West Virginia, I’ll overview this window on the universe that opened up after World War II. Starting at 9 p.m. will be the monthly viewing night at the observatory. On tap if its clear will be the moon and the planets Venus, Jupiter plus Mars at its closest this time around. The Observatory is located south of Traverse City on Birmley Road off either Garfield or Keystone roads.
* Times are for the Traverse City/Interlochen area of Michigan. They may be different for your location.
Addendum
The Green Bank Telescope (GBT) the largest steerable radio telescope in the world
This is located at the National Radio Astronomy Observatory (NRAO) in Green Bank, WV. I visited there last November.
02/03/2012 – Ephemeris – A Star Bowl quiz and a viewing opportunity tonight
Ephemeris for Friday, February 3rd. The sun will rise at 7:59. It’ll be up for 9 hours and 54 minutes, setting at 5:53. The moon, half way from first quarter to full, will set at 5:28 tomorrow morning.
A Star Bowl quiz will be held this evening between the NMC Astronomy Association and the Grand Traverse Astronomical Society at this evening’s meeting of the society at 8 p.m. at Northwestern Michigan College’s Rogers Observatory. The society will accept anyone to help us. These NMC students are smart. After the Star Bowl there will be a viewing night starting at 9 p.m. On tap if its clear will be the last gasp of the planet Venus before it sets, Jupiter will be high up as well as the moon. Mars will rise as the viewing starts, but we will need to wait until at least 10 p.m. for it to clear the thick earth’s atmosphere lower down in the sky. The Observatory is located south of Traverse City on Birmley Road off either Garfield or Keystone roads.
* Times, as always are for the Traverse City/Interlochen area of Michigan.
01/06/2012 – Ephemeris – GTAS meeting and viewing night tonight
Friday, January 6th. The sun will rise at 8:19. It’ll be up for 8 hours and 58 minutes, setting at 5:17. The moon, 3 days before full, will set at 6:50 tomorrow morning.
The Grand Traverse Astronomical Society will have its first meeting of the year tonight at 8 p.m. at the Northwestern Michigan College’s Rogers Observatory. Following will be a public viewing night featuring the moon and Jupiter. This year the first viewing night of the month will come at the end of the society meeting at 9 o’clock. Come for both. The presentation for the meeting will be NMC Astronomy Club member Storm Strausheim and her topic will be those mysterious stellar cannibals – Black Holes. The observatory is located on Birmley Road between Keystone and Garfield roads. April through October this year there will be a second viewing night at the observatory later in the month.
* Times, as always are for the Traverse City/Interlochen area of Michigan.
12/02/11 – Ephemeris – Astronomy events this weekend
Friday, December 2nd. The sun will rise at 7:59. It’ll be up for 9 hours and 3 minutes, setting at 5:03. The moon, at first quarter today, will set at 1:14 tomorrow morning.
This evening yours truly will present one of his biannual Christmas programs, Biblical Cosmology, at Northwestern Michigan College’s Rogers Observatory starting at 8 p.m. It is the monthly meeting of the Grand Traverse Astronomical Society. In the Bible, in Genesis and elsewhere we have descriptions of the earth and the heavens. We’ll look at what the ancient Hebrews thought of the structure of the universe from the Bible and other writings. Tomorrow evening we will also have a Public Viewing Night from 8 to 10 p.m. This will be the last viewing night of the year. If it’s clear we’ll look at the moon and Jupiter. The observatory is located south of Traverse City on Birmley Road between Garfield and Keystone roads.
* Times, as always are for the Traverse City/Interlochen area of Michigan.
11/04/11 – Ephemeris – GTAS activities this weekend plus fall back
Friday, November 4th. The sun will rise at 8:23. It’ll be up for 10 hours and 3 minutes, setting at 6:27. The moon, 2 days past first quarter, will set at 3:23 tomorrow morning.
This evening the Grand Traverse Astronomical Society will be holding its monthly meeting at Northwestern Michigan College’s Rogers Observatory at 8 p.m. This evening we will have a special program by the student astronomers of NMC. And tomorrow night there will be a public viewing night from 8 to 10 p.m. with Jupiter and the moon as the featured targets if it will be clear. You can never tell if it’s going to be clear or cloudy until its time to observe, especially this year. The observatory is located south of Traverse City on Birmley Road between Garfield and Keystone Roads. Tomorrow night also we fall back by turning our clocks back one hour as standard time resumes. It’s going to be a lot darker in the evenings now.
* Times are for the Traverse City/Interlochen area of Michigan. They may be different for your location.
10/21/11 – Ephemeris – Star Party at the Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore
Friday, October 21st. The sun will rise at 8:05. It’ll be up for 10 hours and 43 minutes, setting at 6:48. The moon, 2 days past last quarter, will rise at 2:52 tomorrow morning. | Tonight if it’s clear The Grand Traverse Astronomical Society will be holding the last Star Party of the year at the Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore. This time we’ll be at Stop 3 on the Pierce Stocking Scenic Drive starting at 7 p.m. Parking will be at Picnic Mountain, adjacent to Stop 3, which is a cul-de-sac off the main drive. Celestial wonders that will be visible include the planet Jupiter and three of its moons, shy Io will be hiding behind the planet til after 9. Some of the northern summer wonders including the great globular star cluster in Hercules are still visible. Rising, while we’re viewing will be the Pleiades the Seven Sisters, better seen in binoculars than a telescope, actually, and many more autumn wonders will be visible..
* Times are for the Traverse City/Interlochen area of Michigan. They may be different for your location.
Bob Moler's Ephemeris Blog 