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Ephemeris: 10/13/2025 – Celebrating Indigenous Peoples Day
This is Ephemeris for Indigenous Peoples Day, Monday, October 13th. Today the Sun will be up for 11 hours and 4 minutes, setting at 7:01, and it will rise tomorrow at 7:57. The Moon, at last quarter today, will rise at 12:19 tomorrow morning.
This is, according to the current U.S. administration, Columbus Day and only Columbus Day. Some of us commemorate it as Indigenous Peoples Day because they discovered this place first. Columbus never set foot on the continental United States, however he did visit Puerto Rico. The indigenous people beat him to it by more than 1000 years. The reason that Columbus is celebrated because he unleashed the giant migration of Europeans and others, what the indigenous people might just think of a flood of illegal aliens into what they called Turtle Island. It being named after one of their creation stories, which we call North America. No, it’s not “Turtles all the way down”. That’s a Hindu thing.
The astronomical event times given in this blog are for the Traverse City/Interlochen area of Michigan (Lat 44.7° N, Long 85.7° W; EDT, UT – 4 hours) unless stated otherwise. Times will be different for other locations.
Addendum
Ephemeris: 02/03/2025 – Did the groundhog see his shadow yesterday?
Did it matter?
This is Ephemeris for Monday, February 3rd. Today the Sun will be up for 9 hours and 55 minutes, setting at 5:54, and it will rise tomorrow at 7:57. The Moon, 2 days before first quarter, will set at 12:35 tomorrow morning.
I don’t know if Punxsutawney Phil saw his shadow yesterday morning or not, but February 2nd was a special day to the ancients. It is celebrated as a cross-quarter day, the middle of the season of winter, though the real date of the middle of winter is tomorrow. And if Phil saw his shadow, and we do get 6 more weeks of winter, that’s OK too. By the calendar, it’s actually more like 6 ½ weeks to the vernal or spring equinox the official end of winter, plus this is Northern Michigan. I don’t know if Phil is any better or worse than the National Weather Service at long range forecasts. Of the other cross-quarter days, two others stand out. They are May 1st, May Day; and Halloween.
The astronomical event times given are for the Traverse City/Interlochen area of Michigan (EST, UT – 5 hours). Times will be different for other locations.
Addendum
Ephemeris: 06/13/2024 – The Apollo 11 flag
This is Ephemeris for Thursday, June 13th. Today the Sun will be up for 15 hours and 32 minutes, setting at 9:29, and it will rise tomorrow at 5:56. The Moon, 1 day before first quarter, will set at 2:06 tomorrow morning.
Tomorrow is Flag Day. That got me to thinking about the flags that the Apollo astronauts planted on the Moon and what state they are in. We know the Apollo 11 flag was blown down by the blast of the ascent stage engine when they left the Moon because it was planted too close to the lunar module. The other five flags are still standing. However, there’s some speculation as to what color they are. Are the colors bleached out by the ultraviolet of the sun’s light, which is unimpeded on the Moon? The flags may be bleached completely white. There was nothing really special about the flags that NASA used for the Apollo mission so they weren’t especially prepared to withstand the rigors of being out and undiluted sunlight.
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
Ephemeris: 02/02/2024 – It’s Groundhog Day!
This is Bob Moler with Ephemeris for Groundhog Day, Friday, February 2nd. Today the Sun will be up for 9 hours and 51 minutes, setting at 5:52, and it will rise tomorrow at 8:00. The Moon, at last quarter today, will rise at 2:11 tomorrow morning.
I’m not sure if Punxsutawney Phil will see his shadow this morning or not, but February 2nd was a special day to the ancients. It is also Candlemas day for the Catholic Church, and it is celebrated as a cross-quarter day, the middle of the season of winter, though the exact date of the middle of winter is the 4th. And if Phil sees his shadow, and we do get 6 more weeks of winter, that’s OK too. By the calendar, it’s actually more like 6 ½ weeks to the vernal or spring equinox and the official end of winter. Of the other cross-quarter days, two others stand out. They are May 1st, May Day; and Halloween. The way this year has been going, winter has had a hard time getting started. The temperatures are above normal and the snowfall is below normal. A lot of grass is showing, and the bay isn’t even thinking of freezing over.
The astronomical event times given are for the Traverse City/Interlochen area of Michigan (EST, UT –5 hours). They may be different for your location.
Addendum
Ephemeris: 11/23/2023 – Celestial Navigation in the time of the Mayflower
This is Ephemeris for Thanksgiving Day, Thursday, November 23rd. Today the Sun will be up for 9 hours and 18 minutes, setting at 5:08, and it will rise tomorrow at 7:51. The Moon, 3 days past first quarter, will set at 4:33 tomorrow morning.
Being Thanksgiving it would be nice take a look at something astronomical about the day. Say celestial navigation in the day of the Mayflower. Back then one could find one’s latitude or position North and South of the equator by sighting the altitude of Sun at noon. Determining noon for one’s position took several sightings. Noon was the time of the highest altitude or angle that the sun was above the horizon. Several sighting would have to be made until one found the time that the sun was highest above the horizon and knowing the day of the year to get the Sun’s declination which is its latitude in the sky to calculate one’s own latitude. Estimating one’s longitude was a much more difficult proposition.
The astronomical event times given are for the Traverse City/Interlochen area of Michigan (EST, UT –5 hours). They may be different for your location.
Addendum
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Ephemeris: 10/09/2023 – Happy Indigenous Peoples Day
This is Ephemeris for Indigenous Peoples Day, Monday, October 9th. Today the Sun will be up for 11 hours and 18 minutes, setting at 7:09, and it will rise tomorrow at 7:51. The Moon, 3 days past last quarter, will rise at 3:26 tomorrow morning.
Today, the second Monday in October, is, by many, celebrated as Indigenous Peoples Day alongside of, or instead of Columbus Day. It’s funny that with all the memorials to Columbus in the United States, Columbus himself had never set foot onto what would become the United States or even North America for that matter. On his first voyage to what had later been called the New World, Columbus was clearly lost, thinking he was at the islands off the coast of India, so he called the inhabitants Indians, where they retain that confusing title to this day. Maybe we should change the name of North America to what the indigenous peoples call it: Turtle Island.
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
06/19/2023 – Ephemeris – Juneteenth and the flight to freedom
This is Bob Moler with Ephemeris for Juneteenth, Monday, June 19th. Today the Sun will be up for 15 hours and 34 minutes, setting at 9:31, and it will rise tomorrow at 5:56. The Moon, 1 day past new, will set at 11:22 this evening.
In 1865, it was on June 19th that the Union soldiers, led by Major General Gordon Granger, landed at Galveston, Texas with news that the war had ended and that the slaves were now free. Until then about the only path to freedom for the slaves was “To follow the Drinking Gourd”, or the Big Dipper, northward. The Big Dipper and the Great Bear, Ursa Major, has, for the last few millennia been the constellation of the north, being closer to the North Pole of the sky than it is now. The Earth’s axis has a slow wobble, called precession, caused by the gravitational pull of the Moon and Sun on Earth’s slight equatorial bulge of 30 miles wider than the pole to pole distance. That wobble period is nearly 26 thousand years.
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
07/04/2022 – Ephemeris – Space firsts, or attempts, on our nation’s birthday
This is Ephemeris for Independence Day, Monday, July 4th. Today the Sun will be up for 15 hours and 28 minutes, setting at 9:31, and it will rise tomorrow at 6:03. The Moon, 2 days before first quarter, will set at 12:53 tomorrow morning.
To celebrate our nation’s 200th birthday, NASA attempted to land the Viking 1 lander on the planet Mars on July 4th, 1976. The Viking was a combination orbiter and lander and had a twin spacecraft arriving almost two months later. Viking 1 entered orbit on June 19th and began to survey the prime landing area, that radar from the Earth suggested would be smooth, to land on the day of the Bicentennial. However, images from orbit showed too many obstructions, so another area was surveyed. The mission planners from JPL found a spot and sent the Viking lander down to land on Mars on another historic date, July 20, 1976, the 7th anniversary of the Apollo 11 landing on the Moon.
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
Model of the Viking lander. Credit NASA/JPL.
The first Mars image from the Viking 1 lander, taken moments after touchdown. The Viking landers used rockets to land, after a parachute descent, because the parachutes would not slow the lander enough in the thin Martian atmosphere. The reason to photograph the landing pad was to see how far it would sink into the surface. Credit NASA/JPL.
NASA did finally make a historic landing on July 4th,
the Mars Pathfinder mission, with the first rover to operate on Mars, the Sojourner rover, landed on July 4, 1997. It was a microwave sized rover. The mission on the surface lasted 85 days.
Pathfinder collage, Left to right, the collapsed Sojourner rover attached to one of the lander’s tetrahedron petals; 24 inflated airbags, attached 6 to a side of the Pathfinder tetrahedron; launch of the Delta II rocket carrying Pathfinder to Mars. Credit NASA/JPL.
Sojourner rover investigates a rock named Yogi with its Alpha Particle X-ray Spectrometer to determine its composition. Credit NASA/JPL.
The Pathfinder Lander/Base Station and its deflated airbags from Sojourner. All communications from Sojourner to Earth is relayed through the Base Station. Credit NASA/JPL.
10/11/2021 – Ephemeris – It’s Indigenous Peoples Day
This is Ephemeris for Indigenous Peoples Day, Monday, October 11th. Today the Sun will be up for 11 hours and 11 minutes, setting at 7:04, and it will rise tomorrow at 7:54. The Moon, 1 day before first quarter, will set at 10:46 this evening.
Today the United States celebrates Columbus Day, a Monday near the date Christopher Columbus landed on a Caribbean island, and found people who got there at least 15 thousand years earlier. Due to superior technology, and nothing else really, the Europeans conquered the peoples of the continents they called the Americas, deeming the indigenous peoples, incorrectly, as savages. My astronomical journey started with learning the constellations and stories from the ancient Greeks. About nine years ago I began to investigate the constellations and stories of the Anishinaabe peoples, whose ancestral lands we live on, which turn out to be as rich and meaningful as those I learned in my youth from the Old World.
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 Anishinaabe saw North America as Turtle Island. Credit: www.rabbitandbearpaws.com.Of course, some whites still think the Earth is 6,000 years old and flat.
01/18/2021 – Ephemeris – The Drinking Gourd
This is Bob Moler with Ephemeris for Martin Luther King Jr. Day, Monday, January 18th. Today the Sun will be up for 9 hours and 18 minutes, setting at 5:32, and it will rise tomorrow at 8:13. The Moon, 2 days before first quarter, will set at 11:34 this evening.
This day is set aside to honor the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. who gave his life for the struggle for equality for blacks and other minorities and to end segregation. A struggle that continues to this day. In the decades before the Civil War runaway slaves would travel, often at night, northward from the slave states of the south to the northern free states and Canada over the metaphorical Underground Railroad following the Drinking Gourd, the Big Dipper as their compass. Over the last several millennia the Great Bear, Ursa Major has been that northward pointer. For much of that time the North Pole of the sky had been passing near the handle of the Big Dipper or bear’s tail.
The event times given are for the Traverse City/Interlochen area of Michigan. They may be different for your location.
Addendum
An animation showing the Big Dipper, also known as the Drinking Gourd pointing to Polaris, the North Star which is just about due north. This is for 9 pm January 18th, about 3 1/2 hours after sunset. Created using Stellarium with additional annotations.
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