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01/30/2015 – Ephemeris – Looking ahead at the Sun’s advance in February and what’s happening after it sets
Ephemeris for Friday, January 30th. The sun will rise at 8:04. It’ll be up for 9 hours and 43 minutes, setting at 5:48. The moon, half way from first quarter to full, will set at 5:25 tomorrow morning.
February is the shortest month, even so the daylight hours through out the month will be getting longer. Daylight hours will increase from 9 hours and 49 minutes on Sunday the first to 11 hours and 6 minutes on the 28th. The sunrise time will decrease from 8:02 Sunday to 7:22 at month’s end. The sunset times will increase from 5:51 on Sunday to 6:28 on the 28th. Along with that the altitude of the sun at noon will increase from 28 degrees on Sunday to nearly 38 degrees at month’s end. Local noon, by the way for Interlochen and Traverse City is about 12:55 p.m. The planet Jupiter will reach its closest to the Earth in 6 days. Comet Lovejoy will continue to fade as it retreats from the Earth and the Sun.
Times are for the Traverse City/Interlochen area of Michigan. They may be different for your location.
Addenda
Monthly Star Chart
Star Chart for February 2015. Created using my LookingUp program.
The Moon is not plotted. The planets and stars are plotted for the 15th at 9 p.m. That is chart time.
Evening astronomical twilight ends at 7:31 p.m. on February 1st, increasing to 8:06 p.m. on the 28th.
Morning astronomical twilight starts at 6:21 a.m. on February 1st, and decreasing to 5:45 a.m. on the 28th.
Add a half hour to the chart time every week before the 15th and subtract and hour for every week after the 15th.
For a list of constellation names to go with the abbreviations click here.
The green pointer from the Big Dipper is:
- Pointer stars at the front of the bowl of the Big Dipper point to Polaris the North Star.
- Drill a hole in the bowl of the Big Dipper and the water will drip on the back of Leo the Lion.
Comet C/2014 Q2 (Lovejoy)
Track of Comet C/2014 Q2 (Lovejoy) for February 2015.
Comet C/2014 Q2 (Lovejoy) will be fading fast throughout February as it moves from Andromeda to Cassiopeia.
Calendar of Planetary Events
Credit: Sky Events Calendar by Fred Espenak and Sumit Dutta (NASA’s GSFC)
To generate your own calendar go to http://eclipse.gsfc.nasa.gov/SKYCAL/SKYCAL.html
Times are Eastern Standard Time on a 24 hour clock. Some additions made to aid clarity.
Conjunctions like the Moon-Saturn: 2.3° S means Saturn will appear 2.3° south of the Moon.
| Feb | 01 | Su | Venus: 23.8° E of Sun | |
| 03 | Tu | 18:09 | Full Moon | |
| 06 | Fr | 01:25 | Moon Apogee: 406,200 km | |
| 06 | Fr | 11:55 | Jupiter Opposition from the Sun | |
| 08 | Su | 12:10 | Moon Ascending Node | |
| 11 | We | 22:50 | Last Quarter | |
| 12 | Th | 19:10 | Moon-Saturn: 2.3° S | |
| 14 | Sa | 12:18 | Moon South Dec.: 18.4° S | |
| 17 | Tu | 01:20 | Moon-Mercury: 3.5° S | |
| 18 | We | 18:47 | New Moon | |
| 19 | Th | 02:29 | Moon Perigee: 357000 km | |
| 20 | Fr | 19:56 | Moon-Venus: 2° S | |
| 20 | Fr | 20:28 | Moon-Mars: 1.5° S | |
| 21 | Sa | 11:05 | Moon Descending Node | |
| 22 | Su | 00:18 | Venus-Mars: 0.4° N | |
| 24 | Tu | 10:59 | Mercury Greatest Elongation: 26.7° W | |
| 25 | We | 12:14 | First Quarter | |
| 25 | We | 18:02 | Moon-Aldebaran: 1° S | |
| 25 | We | 23:18 | Neptune Conjunction with the Sun | |
| 27 | Fr | 02:19 | Moon North Dec.: 18.3° N | |
| Mar | 01 | Su | Venus: 30.1° E of Sun | |
01/01/2015 – Ephemeris – Happy New Year – a look at January
Ephemeris for New Years Day, Thursday, January 1st. The sun will rise at 8:20. It’ll be up for 8 hours and 52 minutes, setting at 5:12. The moon, 3 days before full, will set at 5:43 tomorrow morning.
Happy New Year. Let’s preview the month of January. We’re a day from the latest sunrise at about the same time as today, 8:20 a.m. and will back down to 8:02 by the 31st. Sunset times are currently increasing by a minute a day from 5:12 p.m. today to 5:49 at month’s end. Listeners near the shore of Lake Michigan will have about the same sunrise time in Ludington, Interlochen/Traverse City, Petoskey and Mackinaw City, but the sunset times will vary markedly. The Quadrantid meteor shower whose radiant is near the end of the Big Dipper’s handle will reach peak on the 3rd, but it will have interference from the full moon,. On the 4th the Earth will be its closest to the sun of the entire year.
Times are for the Traverse City/Interlochen area of Michigan. They may be different for your location.
Addenda
Monthly Star Chart
Star Chart for January 2015. Created using my LookingUp program.
The Moon is not plotted. The planets and stars are plotted for the 15th at 9 p.m. That is chart time.
Evening astronomical twilight ends at 6:58 p.m. on January 1st, and increasing to 7:30 p.m. on the 31st.
Morning astronomical twilight starts at 6:34 a.m. on January 1st, and decreasing to 6:22 a.m. on the 31st.
Add a half hour to the chart time every week before the 15th and subtract and hour for every week after the 15th.
For a list of constellation names to go with the abbreviations click here.
The green pointer from the Big Dipper is the pointer stars at the front of the bowl of the Big Dipper that point to Polaris the North Star.
The Quadrantid meteor shower
The moon will interfere with the meteor shower, so only the brightest will be visible. The radiant will rise from the northeast. The radiant will be nearly overhead at the start of twilight. On a dark night up to 120 meteors per hour may be seen according to the International Meteor Organization.
Quadrantid meteor shower radiant at 1:30 a.m.
The Earth at Perihelion
This is the closest the Earth gets to the Sun in its orbit this year. The Sun will be 91,402,000 miles or 147,096,000 kilometers away at around 1 a.m. January 4th, 2015 EST or 6 hr UT January 5th 2015. It makes winter the shortest season because the Earth is moving its fastest during perihelion. It’s only by a few days. And in northern Michigan where it seems that winter overlaps half of fall and spring besides, that few days difference is buried under snow.
Quasi-conjunction between Venus and Mercury on the evening of January 10th.
A quasi-conjunction. Conjunctions occur when two solar system bodies have the same right ascension. Mercury will get to within 0.6 degrees of Venus before retreating back sun-ward.
Animation of the Quasi-conjunction of Venus and Mercury. Time span 1/05/2015 to 1/15/2015 at 7 p.m. Created by Bob Moler using Stellarium and GIMP.
Comet C/2014 Q2 (Lovejoy)
Here is a finder chart for 9 p.m. for January. Every other position is marked with the month-day and predicted magnitude. Recently the comet has shown to be brighter than predicted by up to one magnitude. Note that magnitudes in astronomy are like golf scores – the lower the number, the brighter the object. So the comet should reach 4th magnitude.
Nightly plot of Comet Lovejoy (C/2014 Q2) for the month of January, 2015 at 9 p.m.
Created using Cartes du Ceil (Sky Charts).
12/01/2014 – Ephemeris – Previewing December skies
Ephemeris for Monday, December 1st. The sun will rise at 7:59. It’ll be up for 9 hours and 4 minutes, setting at 5:03. The moon, 2 days past first quarter, will set at 3:32 tomorrow morning.
Let’s preview December’s skies. Winter will officially arrive on the 21st at 6:03 p.m., the winter solstice. The noontime sun will dip from 23 ½ degrees to a bit less than 22 degrees above the southern horizon on that day. There will be little movement in the sunset times: In the Traverse City/Interlochen area this will be from 5:03 today, down to 5:02 and then advancing to 5:11 at the end of the month. There is more movement in the sunrise times which will advance from 7:59 this morning to 8:19 on the 31st. The big event in December will be the Geminid meteor shower whose maximum is on the morning of the 14th. But will be hampered by the moon after 12:17 a.m that morning.
Times are for the Traverse City/Interlochen area of Michigan. They may be different for your location.
Addendum
Star Chart for December 2014. Created using my LookingUp program.
The Moon is not plotted. The planets and stars are plotted for the 15th at 9 p.m. That is chart time.
Evening astronomical twilight ends at 6:48 p.m. on December 1st, decreasing one minute by the 9th and increasing to 6:57 p.m. on the 31st.
Morning astronomical twilight starts at 6:14 a.m. on December 1st, and increasing to 6:33 a.m. on the 31st.
Add a half hour to the chart time every week before the 15th and subtract and hour for every week after the 15th.
For a list of constellation names to go with the abbreviations click here.
Also shown is the Summer Triangle in red. Clockwise from the top star is Deneb in Cygnus, Vega in Lyra and Altair in Aquila.
The green pointer from the Big Dipper is:
- Pointer stars at the front of the bowl of the Big Dipper point to Polaris the North Star.
The Geminid radiant is shown in yellow and marked GemR.
10/30/2014 – Ephemeris – Previewing November’s skies
Ephemeris for Thursday, October 30th. The sun will rise at 8:17. It’ll be up for 10 hours and 16 minutes, setting at 6:34. The moon, at first quarter today, will set at 12:49 tomorrow morning.
Let’s look at the skies for the month of November a couple of days early. The sun is still moving south rapidly. Daylight hours in the Interlochen/Traverse City area and will drop from 10 hours and 11 minutes i\on the 1st to 9 hours 6 minutes on the 30th. The altitude, or angle, of the sun above the southern horizon at local noon will be just under 31 degrees Saturday and will descend to 23 and a half degrees on the 30th. The altitude of the sun in the Straits area will be a degree lower. Local noon, this month, will be about 12:30 p.m. when we go back to standard time this weekend. The Leonid meteors have two possible dates this month, the 17th and the 21st. Those on the 21st seem to be best timed for our location on the Earth.
Times are for the Traverse City/Interlochen area of Michigan. They may be different for your location.
Addendum
Star Chart for November 2014. Created using my LookingUp program. Created using my LookingUp program.
The Moon is not plotted. The planets and stars are plotted for the 15th at 9 p.m. That is chart time.
Astronomical twilight ends at 7:08 p.m. on November 2nd, decreasing to 6:48 on the 31st.
Add a half hour to the chart time every week before the 15th and subtract and hour for every week after the 15th.
For a list of constellation names to go with the abbreviations click here.
Also shown is the Summer Triangle in red. Clockwise from the top star is Deneb in Cygnus, Vega in Lyra and Altair in Aquila.
The green pointers from the Big Dipper are:
- Pointer stars at the front of the bowl of the Big Dipper point to Polaris the North Star.
09/30/2014 – Ephemeris – Previewing October skies and events
Ephemeris for Tuesday, September 30th. The sun will rise at 7:39. It’ll be up for 11 hours and 45 minutes, setting at 7:24. The moon, 1 day before first quarter, will set at 11:43 this evening.
Let’s look at the skies for the month of October. The sun will still be moving south rapidly. Daylight hours in the Interlochen/Traverse City area and will drop from 11 hours and 42 minutes tomorrow to 10 hours, 14 minutes at month’s end. The altitude of the sun above the southern horizon at local noon will be 42 degrees tomorrow in the Interlochen area, and will descend to 31 degrees on Halloween. This month will see two eclipses visible from our area plus a close encounter that a comet will have near Mars and our assets on and around Mars. We will be able to see, weather permitting a total lunar eclipse in the morning a week from today, the 8th and a partial solar eclipse on the 23rd, just before sunset.
Times are for the Traverse City/Interlochen area of Michigan. They may be different for your location.
Addendum
Star Chart for October 2014. Created using my LookingUp program.
The Moon is not plotted. The planets and stars are plotted for the 15th at 8 p.m. That is chart time.
Astronomical twilight ends at 9:00 p.m. on October 1st, decreasing to 8:11 on the 31st.
Add a half hour to the chart time every week before the 15th and subtract and hour for every week after the 15th.
For a list of constellation names to go with the abbreviations click here.
Also shown is the Summer Triangle in red. Clockwise from the top star is Deneb in Cygnus, Vega in Lyra and Altair in Aquila.
The green pointers from the Big Dipper are:
- Pointer stars at the front of the bowl of the Big Dipper point to Polaris the North Star.
- The arc of the dipper’s handle points to Arcturus.
Information on the total lunar eclipse on the 8th will be posted starting Monday October 6th.
09/01/2014 – Ephemeris – Previewing the month of September
Ephemeris for Labor Day, Monday, September 1st. The sun will rise at 7:04. It’ll be up for 13 hours and 14 minutes, setting at 8:19. The moon, 1 day before first quarter, will set at 12:02 tomorrow morning.
Let’s look at the skies for the month of September. The sun will moving at its greatest speed in its retreat to the south. Daylight hours in the Interlochen/Traverse City area and will drop from 13 hours and 14 minutes today to 11 hours 45 minutes on the 30th. The altitude of the sun above the southern horizon at local noon will be 54 degrees today, and will descend to 42 degrees on the 30th. The season of summer is getting short, so enjoy it while you can. Summer ends and autumn begins at 10:30 p.m. on September 22nd. Saturn is retreating toward the sun now. Mars is pushing on eastward. On the 27th Mars will be north of the star Antares. It will be a good time to compare their colors.
Times are for the Traverse City/Interlochen area of Michigan. They may be different for your location.
Addendum
September star chart for 10 p.m. on September 15, 2014. Created by my LookingUp program.
The Moon is not plotted. The planets are plotted for the 15th. Mars will move eastward through the month and will approach Saturn.
Astronomical twilight ends at 10:05 p.m. on September 1st, decreasing to 9:01 on the 30th.
Add a half hour to every week before the 15th and subtract and hour for every week after the 15th.
For a list of constellation names to go with the abbreviations click here.
Also shown is the Summer Triangle in red. Clockwise from the top star is Deneb in Cygnus, Vega in Lyra and Altair in Aquila.
The green pointers from the Big Dipper are:
- Pointer stars at the front of the bowl of the Big Dipper point to Polaris the North Star.
- The arc of the dipper’s handle points to Arcturus.
07/31/2014 – Ephemeris – Previewing August skies
Ephemeris for Thursday, July 31st. The sun rises at 6:27. It’ll be up for 14 hours and 41 minutes, setting at 9:09. The moon, 3 days before first quarter, will set at 11:07 this evening.
Let’s look ahead at the month of August in the skies. Daylight hours will decrease from 14 hours and 38 minutes tomorrow to 13 hours 16 minutes on the 31st. The altitude of the sun at local noon, that is degrees of angle above the horizon will decrease from 63 degrees tomorrow to just over 53 degrees on the 31st. Straits area listeners can subtract one more degree from those angles. Local noon, when the sun is due south, is about 1:43 p.m. The Perseid meteor shower will reach its peak on the morning of the 13th. All but the brightest meteors will be lost in the bright moonlight. Until then look for the meteors after the moon sets. That radiant point, where the meteors will seem to come from, will be in the northeastern sky.
Times are for the Traverse City/Interlochen area of Michigan. They may be different for your location.
Addendum
August star chart for 10 p.m. on August 15, 2014. Created by my LookingUp program.
The Moon is not plotted. The planets are plotted for the 15th. Mars will move eastward through the month and will approach Saturn.
Astronomical twilight ends at 11:11 p.m. on August 1st, decreasing to 10:05 on the 31st.
Add a half hour to every week before the 15th and subtract and hour for every week after the 15th.
For a list of constellation names to go with the abbreviations click here.
Also shown is the Summer Triangle in red. Clockwise from the top star is Deneb in Cygnus, Vega in Lyra and Altair in Aquila.
The yellow radiant marked PerR is the radiant for the Perseid meteor shower.
The green pointers from the Big Dipper are:
- Pointer stars at the front of the bowl of the Big Dipper point to Polaris the North Star.
- The arc of the dipper’s handle points to Arcturus.
- The straighten the ark to a spike to point to Spica.
07/01/2014 – Ephemeris – July 2014 Preview
Ephemeris for Tuesday, July 1st. Today the Sun will be up for 15 hours and 30 minutes, setting at 9:31. The Moon, half way from new to first quarter, will set at 11:42 this evening. Tomorrow the sun will rise at 6:01.
Lets preview July’s skies. The sun, having reached its northern solstice, is beginning to slide southward again, at first imperceptibly, then with greater speed. The daylight hours will decrease from 15 hours and 30 minutes today to 14 hours 41 minutes at month’s end. The daylight hours will be slightly shorter south of Interlochen, and slightly longer to the north. The altitude of the sun at local noon, when the sun is due south will decrease from 68 degrees today to 63 degrees at month’s end. The sun will be a degree lower in the Straits area. Despite the warmth, the earth will reach its greatest distance from the sun on Thursday the 3rd. The planets visible this month in the evening are Mars and Saturn.
Times are for the Traverse City/Interlochen area of Michigan. They may be different for your location.
Addendum
July star chart for 11 p.m. on July 15, 2014. Created by my LookingUp program.
Astronomical twilight ends at 11:58 p.m. on July 1st, decreasing to 11:13 on the 31st.
Add a half hour to every week before the 15th and subtract and hour for every week after the 15th.
For a list of constellation names to go with the abbreviations click here.
Also shown is the Summer Triangle in red. Clockwise from the top star is Deneb in Cygnus, Vega in Lyra and Altair in Aquila.
The green pointers from the Big Dipper are:
- Pointer stars at the front of the bowl of the Big Dipper point to Polaris the North Star.
- The leaky bowl drips on the back of Leo the lion.
- The arc of the dipper’s handle points to Arcturus.
- The straighten the ark to a spike to point to Spica.
05/30/2014 – Ephemeris – Previewing June skies or Where’d the night go?
Ephemeris for Friday, May 30th. Today the sun will be up for 15 hours and 17 minutes, setting at 9:18. The moon, 2 days past new, will set at 10:51 this evening. Tomorrow the sun will rise at 6:01. | Let’s preview June skies. There will be a lot of sun in June and very little night. The daylight hours will increase a bit from 15 hours and 20 minutes Sunday to 15 hours and 33 minutes on the 21st, retreating back to 15 hours 30 minutes at month’s end. The altitude of the sun above the southern horizon at local noon will hover around 68 to 69 degrees. Local noon, when the sun is actually due south will occur at about 1:43 p.m. Summer begins on the 21st at 6:52 a.m. when the sun reaches its farthest north. The actual amount of night-time will be quite short mostly due to the length of daylight, but also because twilight last much longer than average because the sun sets at a shallow angle. On the 21st there’s only 3 ½ hours of total darkness, starting after midnight.
Times are for the Traverse City/Interlochen area of Michigan. They may be different for your location.
Addendum
June star chart for 11 p.m. on June 15, 2014. Created by my LookingUp program.
Astronomical twilight ends about midnight in June.
Add a half hour to every week before the 15th and subtract and hour for every week after the 15th.
For a list of constellation names to go with the abbreviations click here.
Also shown is the Summer Triangle in red. Clockwise from the top star is Deneb in Cygnus, Vega in Lyra and Altair in Aquila.
The green pointers from the Big Dipper are:
- Pointer stars at the front of the bowl of the Big Dipper point to Polaris the North Star.
- The leaky bowl drips on the back of Leo the lion.
- The arc of the dipper’s handle points to Arcturus.
- The straighten the ark to a spike to point to Spica.
05/01/2014 – Ephemeris – Previewing May skies
Ephemeris for Thursday, May 1st. The sun rises at 6:32. It’ll be up for 14 hours and 14 minutes, setting at 8:47. The moon, 2 days past new, will set at 11:21 this evening.
Today we will start the month when the promise of spring is finally fulfilled, we hope. Daylight hours in the Interlochen/Traverse City area will increase from 14 hours and 14 minutes today to 15 hours 18 minutes on May 31st. The altitude, or angle, of the sun above the southern horizon at local noon will ascend from 60 degrees today to 67 degrees at month’s end. The altitude of the sun in the Straits area will be a degree lower than that but your length of daylight will be a few minutes longer. Local apparent noon this month, when the sun passes due south, will be about 1:38 p.m. The Eta Aquarid meteor shower will reach its peak about 2 a.m. this Sunday morning the 4th. I’ll have more on my blog bobmoler.wordpress.com today.
Times are for the Traverse City/Interlochen area of Michigan. They may be different for your location.
Addenda
The Eta Aquarid Meteor Shower
This shower is associated with Halley’s Comet. We see two meteor showers from Halley’s comet. One in October where the comet debris is crossing the earth’s orbit heading toward the sun, and again as its leaving. This shower is caused by the debris leaving the vicinity of the sun.
The Eta Aquarid radiant at the peak of the shower. The radiant moves slowly to the east with time. Credit: Bob Moler’s LookingUp program.
The peak of the shower will be at 7 h UT on May 6th. That’s 3 a.m. EDT, about 20 minutes before the radiant will rise. This will give about one hour before astronomical twilight starts to view the meteor shower in completely dark skies.
Possible Meteor Storm – May 24
There will be the possibility of a meteor storm on the morning of May 24th. A meteor storm differs from a meteor shower in the numbers of meteors seen and duration. There is a possibility of up to 400 meteors per hour for the hours of 7h to 8h UT (3 to 4 a.m. EDT).
The body responsible is Comet 209P/LINEAR. It was the 209th periodic comet discovered on February 3, 2004 by Lincoln Near-Earth Asteroid Research (LINEAR). Despite the recent discovery 209P has been orbiting the sun for hundreds of years, maybe longer. This year the comet will come close to the Earth and will allow the Earth to pass through debris that it shed hundreds of years ago.
Comet 209P/LINEAR crosses the Earth’s orbit around May 28, 2014. The “stilts” on the comet’s orbit show that it is coming from north of the Earth’s orbital plane. Credit: Bob Moler’s LookingUp program.
The radiant for the Comet 209P/LINEAR debris. For this purpose I’ve designated it Camelopardids (not official and probably not correct). Credit: Bob Moler’s LookingUp program. Note that the constellation of Camelopardalis is a giraffe.
Astronomical Twilight starts at 3:51 a.m., but the skies should remain dark enough. The 24% illuminated moon will rise about 2:45 or so and may not be much of an impediment in seeing the meteor storm.
May Star Chart
Star Chart for mid-month for May 2014 at 11 p.m. Credit: Bob Moler’s LookingUp program.
Add a half hour to every week before the 15th and subtract and hour for every week after the 15th.
For a list of constellation names to go with the abbreviations click here.
Bob Moler's Ephemeris Blog 