Bob Moler's Ephemeris Blog

Friday, March 4th.  The sun will rise at 7:15.  It’ll be up for 11 hours and 18 minutes, setting at 6:33.  The moon is new today, and won’t be visible.

A look at the forgotten planets Uranus and Neptune will be given by Chris Snyder of the Northwestern Michigan College Astronomical Association at this evening’s meeting of the Grand Traverse Astronomical Society at 8 p.m. at Northwestern Michigan College’s Rogers Observatory.  These two planets were last closely studied by the Voyager 2 spacecraft in the 1980’s, though the Hubble space telescope and other telescopes have been keeping tabs on them.  Tomorrow night both groups will host a public viewing night starting at 8 p.m.  On tap will be the planet Jupiter early, and the Great Orion Nebula, a place where stars are even now forming, and a look at the rising planet Saturn later on.  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.

Friday, February 4th.  The sun will rise at 7:58.  It’ll be up for 9 hours and 57 minutes, setting at 5:55.   The moon, 2 days past new, will set at 7:53 this evening.

A star Bowl quiz will be held this evening between the NMC astronomy club 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 NMC folks are really smart being in or freshly out of professor Dobek’s astronomy class.  We’re going to lose so bad.  Come in and watch the carnage annd learn sone cool astronomy facts..  Tomorrow night the groups bury the hatchet and will both host a public viewing night starting at 8 p.m.  On tap will be the planet Jupiter early, and the Great Orion Nebula, a place where stars are even now forming.. 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.

Friday, December 10th.  The sun will rise at 8:08.  It’ll be up for 8 hours and 53 minutes, setting at 5:02.   The moon, 3 days before first quarter, will set at 10:15 this evening.

Tomorrow night the Grand Traverse Astronomical Society and NMC Astronomy Club will host a public viewing night at Northwestern Michigan College’s Rogers Observatory starting at 8 p.m.  On tap, if it’s clear, will be the moon, and the planet Jupiter.  There are also the Great Orion Nebula, The closest star nursery, a cloud of gas and dust where stars form.  Also on tap can be the famous Double Cluster, and using binoculars or telescope finder scopes, the even more famous Pleiades or Seven Sisters may be seen.  The NMC Astronomy Club has hands on activities for visitors, especially the kids, in case of cloudy skies. 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.

Friday, December 3rd.  The sun will rise at 8:01.  It’ll be up for 9 hours and 1 minute, setting at 5:03.   The moon, 2 days before new, will rise at 7:00 tomorrow morning.

The Search for the Star of Bethlehem, will be presented at this evening’s meeting of the Grand Traverse Astronomical Society at Northwestern Michigan College’s Rogers Observatory starting at 8 p.m.  This is my generally biennial presentation.  We’ll check out the Biblical passages that mention the star,  Johannes Kepler’s discovery that started the search some 1600 years later, ancient Chinese records, ancient writers all contribute to the evidence.  Thanks to Kepler, Newton, Einstein and others plus the power of today’s computers and software we can go back and see the skies, and computer generated recreations of planet positions to see what the star might have been.  The observatory’s located south of Traverse City on Birmley Road.

* Times are for the Traverse City/Interlochen area of Michigan.  They may be different for your location.

Friday, November 12th.*  The sun will rise at 7:35.  It’ll be up for 9 hours and 42 minutes, setting at 5:17.   The moon, 1 day before first quarter, will set at 11:26 this evening.

Tomorrow night the Grand Traverse Astronomical Society and NMC Astronomy Club will host a public viewing night at Northwestern Michigan College’s Rogers Observatory starting at 9 p.m.  On tap, if it’s clear, will be the moon, and the planets Jupiter and possibly Uranus which will appear near Jupiter.  There are also some interesting binary stars and star clusters visible including the famous Double Cluster, and using binoculars or telescope finder scopes, the even more famous Pleiades or Seven Sisters may be seen.  The NMC Astronomy Club has hand on activities for visitors, especially the kids, in case of cloudy skies. 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.

Friday, October 15th.  The sun will rise at 7:57.  It’ll be up for 11 hours and 1 minute, setting at 6:58.   The moon, 1 day past first quarter, will set at 1:35 tomorrow morning.

There’s an event to be held this Sunday evening at the Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lake Shore.  It’s sponsored by Families United in Nature.  They’ve invited the Grand Traverse Astronomical Society to participate.  If it’s good weather it will be held at stop #3 of the Pierce Stocking Scenic Drive from 6 to 8 p.m.  Since it won’t get too dark observing will include the sun, moon and the planet Jupiter.  If inclement weather it will be held at the park headquarters in Empire.  On Thursday the 21st there will be a celebration of the park’s 40th anniversary.  We’ll be there again at the same locations though the end time will be at 9 p.m. giving us darker skies.  Details of the society’s outreach program can be found at www.gtastro.org.