Archive
10/07/11 – Ephemeris – International Observe the Moon Night
Friday, October 7th. The sun will rise at 7:47. It’ll be up for 11 hours and 25 minutes, setting at 7:12. The moon, half way from first quarter to full, will set at 4:28 tomorrow morning. | Tomorrow night is International Observe the Moon Night the Grand Traverse Astronomical Society will be out, if it’s clear, on the north side of Front Street in Traverse City, near the Martinek Clock. The moon will be bright and a fat gibbous phase. Later on in the evening Jupiter will appear to the east, and will provide even more moons to view. Also that night the Draconid meteor shower will be active, if we happen to pass through a cloud of comet debris from past passages of the Comet Giacobini-Zinner near this part of earth’s orbit. The Draconids have been spectacular at rare occasions in the past. We don’t expect a super shower this time, but it may be more active than it usually is. The bright moon will only allow the brightest to be seen.
* Times are for the Traverse City/Interlochen area of Michigan. They may be different for your location.
09/16/11 – Ephemeris – Astronomical observing events this weekend in northern Michigan
Friday, September 16th. The sun will rise at 7:22. It’ll be up for 12 hours and 29 minutes, setting at 7:51. The moon, half way from full to last quarter, will rise at 9:27 this evening.
This evening the Grand Traverse Astronomical Society will host a viewing night at Northwestern Michigan College’s Rogers Observatory starting at 9 p.m. The featured objects of the evening will be the planet Jupiter and the moon. Jupiter is the largest planet and has 65 satellites, of which the four discovered by Galileo are large enough to be easily seen. Three of these are larger than our moon. The observatory is located south of Traverse City, on Birmley Road between Garfield and Keystone roads. Also this weekend, tomorrow members of the society will bring their telescopes to the Leland Heritage Celebration to safely view the sun, which has recently become vary active. Times for this event are 10 a.m to 3 p.m.
* Times are for the Traverse City/Interlochen area of Michigan. They may be different for your location.
09/09/11 – Ephemeris – Star party Saturday September 10th, 2011 at the Sleeping Bear Dunes
Friday, September 9th. The sun will rise at 7:14. It’ll be up for 12 hours and 50 minutes, setting at 8:04. The moon, 3 days before full, will set at 5:32 tomorrow morning.
Tomorrow is the Grand Traverse Astronomical Society’s 4th star party of 2011 at the Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore. This time we’ll be at the Dune Climb. The bottom, not the top, in or near the parking lot. We’ll have the bright moon early. We’ll be also looking at binary stars, star clusters and the Ring Nebula. Toward the end of the evening Jupiter will be high enough to view. The event will be canceled if it’s too cloudy. There will be another star party, this one to celebrate the Lakeshore’s 41st anniversary in October, so stay tuned for that one. So far we’ve had no outright cancellations, but two of the nights were hampered by clouds. Our one absolutely clear night cleared just after sunset, and after an earlier rain shower.
* Times are for the Traverse City/Interlochen area of Michigan. They may be different for your location.
09/02/11 – Ephemeris – Local astronomical events this weekend
Friday, September 2nd. The sun will rise at 7:05. It’ll be up for 13 hours and 11 minutes, setting at 8:17. The moon, 2 days before first quarter, will set at 10:33 this evening.
Impact glass, the earthly sand, fused by the impacts of meteorites will be the topic at this evening’s meeting of the Grand Traverse Astronomical Society at 8 p.m. at Northwestern Michigan College’s Rogers Observatory. Society President Richard Kuschell has become fascinated with meteorites and this impact glass and has several samples to show. As always the public is welcome. Tomorrow evening the society will host a public viewing night at the observatory. On tap, if it’s clear will be the moon and later in the evening Jupiter. The sky will also be dark enough to view some of the wonders of the summer Milky Way. The observatory is located south of Traverse City of Birmley Roan between Garfield and Keystone roads.
* Times are for the Traverse City/Interlochen area of Michigan. They may be different for your location.
08/26/11 – Ephemeris – Observing events this weekend
Friday, August 26th. The sun rises at 6:57. It’ll be up for 13 hours and 32 minutes, setting at 8:30. The moon, 2 days before new, will rise at 5:10 tomorrow morning.
We have a couple of events this weekend to view the heavens hosted by the Grand Traverse Astronomical Society. Starting at 9 p.m. tonight the Northwestern Michigan College’s Rogers Observatory will be open for viewing of the wonders of the summer Milky Way. Then Saturday night starting around 9 if it is clear the society will be at the Open Space or near the beach west of there for an asteroid Vesta viewing night. We’ll be hunting for a dark spot probably as far as we can get from lights. We’ll have a banner visible from the Grand View Parkway to the area we’ll be in. We’ll be viewing this asteroid which is currently being orbited by the Dawn spacecraft. It will look like a star in our telescopes, but one of our members has a piece of Vesta which he will exhibit.
* Times are for the Traverse City/Interlochen area of Michigan. They may be different for your location.
08/19/11 – Ephemeris – Lots of viewing opportunities this weekend
Friday, August 19th. The sun rises at 6:49. It’ll be up for 13 hours and 52 minutes, setting at 8:41. The moon, 2 days before last quarter, will rise at 10:53 this evening.
This will be a big weekend of observing the heavens if it’s clear. First the Grand Traverse Astronomical Society will be part of Friday Night Live on Front Street in Traverse City. Starting at 9 p.m. Northwestern Michigan College’s Rogers Observatory will be open for viewing of the skies. Saturday night starting around 9 the society will be at the Open Space for an asteroid Vesta viewing night. This will be repeated on the 27th. We’ll probably be as far as we can get from lights in the area of the old power planet to view this asteroid which is currently being orbited by the dawn spacecraft. It will look like a star in our telescopes, but one of our members has a piece of Vesta which he will exhibit also at the Open Space.
* Times are for the Traverse City/Interlochen area of Michigan. They may be different for your location.
Announcing Starry Starry Nights – August 31, 2011
Starry Starry Night Ad
This is an ad proof. The ad contains a typo “star grazing” instead of “star gazing”. Or is it? I was never fond of the term star gazing. Now star grazing: that’s what we do at star parties, move from one celestial wonder to the next, as if we’re grazing the heavens for its choicest wonders.
The photo in this ad was taken by my granddaughter Nicole (Coley) Farrell. After a lot of standard “astronomer at the eyepiece of the telescope” shots, she was reviewing the shots with her mother who also took about half of the shots. I turned the telescope her way, looking through the finder and shouted “Hey Coley!” And this picture was the result.
08/12/11 – Ephemeris – Star Party at the Port Oneida Fair
Friday, August 12th. The sun rises at 6:41. It’ll be up for 14 hours and 11 minutes, setting at 8:52. The moon, 1 day before full, will set at 6:37 tomorrow morning.
The Grand Traverse Astronomical Society will be part of the 10th Annual Port Oneida Rural Arts and Culture Fair, an event sponsored by the Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore. Tomorrow night the society will bring their telescopes to the Thoreson Farm on Thoreson Road of M22 North of Glen Arbor for a Star party beginning at 9:30 p.m. Thoreson Road is a loop off M22. On tap will be the full moon, and Saturn if skies permit early. Even though the full moon skies will be bright, there are plenty of wonders still visible in the telescopes. Early on yours truly will be talking about the state and advancements of astronomy during the heyday of the Port Oneida community in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.
* Times are for the Traverse City/Interlochen area of Michigan. They may be different for your location.
08/05/11 – Ephemeris – Viewing night tommorrow at the Rogers Observatory
Friday, August 5th. The sun rises at 6:33. It’ll be up for 14 hours and 29 minutes, setting at 9:03. The moon, 1 day before first quarter, will set at 11:53 this evening.
Tomorrow night the Grand Traverse Astronomical Society and the NMC Astronomical Association will host a public viewing night at Northwestern Michigan College’s Rogers Observatory starting at 9 p.m. featuring, if it’s clear the planet Saturn early and the moon. Some of the brighter wonders of the summer sky can be seen as it gets darker, though the moon will interfere somewhat. There are sparkling binary stars and star clusters including the Wild Duck Cluster and at least one bright nebula, the Ring Nebula, the expanding envelope of a dying star. 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.
07/29/11 – Ephemeris – Viewing night at Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore
Friday, July 29th. The sun rises at 6:25. It’ll be up for 14 hours and 46 minutes, setting at 9:11. The moon, 1 day before new, will rise at 6:20 tomorrow morning.
The Grand Traverse Astronomical Society will hold a viewing night in cooperation with the rangers of the Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore tomorrow night starting at 9 p.m. It will be held at stop 3, the Dunes Overlook on Pierce Stocking Drive. It’s best to park at Picnic Mountain and walk over. The short cul-de-sac running to he observation platform will be closed to preserve the darkness of the spot. The viewing will take place only if we’re not completely clouded up. On tap early will be the planet Saturn, which we’ll probably pick up around 9:45. We’ll then go for some of the brighter sky objects like binary stars, then fainter star clusters and nebulae in the summer Milky Way. Sleeping Bear is one of the top 10 darkest national parks.
* Times are for the Traverse City/Interlochen area of Michigan. They may be different for your location.
Bob Moler's Ephemeris Blog 