Archive
08/01/2013 – Ephemeris – Previewing August skies
Ephemeris for Thursday, August 1st. The sun rises at 6:29. It’ll be up for 14 hours and 38 minutes, setting at 9:07. The moon, 3 days past last quarter, will rise at 2:49 tomorrow morning.
Let’s look ahead at the month of August in the skies. Daylight hours will decrease from 14 hours and 38 minutes today 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 today 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 at between 2 and 4 p.m. on the 12th. That means that more than likely the morning of the 12th and 13th will be equally good. I tend to prefer viewing before the peak, if given a choice. There are some observing events planned for that time.
Times are for the Traverse City/Interlochen area of Michigan. They may be different for your location.
Addendum
The sky as it would appear on August 15, 2013 at 10 p.m., without the moon.
The constellation abbreviations, names and bright star names are found here.
- The arrow from the pointer stars of the Big Dipper to Polaris the North Star, near the north celestial pole.
- Follow the arc of the handle of the Big Dipper to Arcturus.
- A Leaky Dipper drips on Leo
- Follow the spike to Spica.
- The Summer Triangle (in red)
- PerR is the Perseid meteor radiant
07/01/2013 – Ephemeris – July preview
Ephemeris for Monday, July 1st. Today the sun will be up for 15 hours and 29 minutes, setting at 9:31. The moon, 1 day past last quarter, will rise at 2:11 tomorrow morning. 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 29 minutes today to 14 hours 40 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 tomorrow 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 Friday. The planets Venus and Saturn will be our evening planets this month.
Times are for the Traverse City/Interlochen area of Michigan. They may be different for your location.
Addendum
The stars and planets, specifically for July 15, 2013 at 11 p.m.
The constellation abbreviations, names and bright star names are found here.
- The arrow from the pointer stars of the Big Dipper to Polaris the North Star, near the north celestial pole.
- Follow the arc of the handle of the Big Dipper to Arcturus.
- A Leaky Dipper drips on Leo
- Follow the spike to Spica.
- The Summer Triangle (in red)
05/31/2013 – Ephemeris – Previewing June skies
Ephemeris for Friday, May 31st. Today the sun will be up for 15 hours and 19 minutes, setting at 9:19. The moon, at last quarter today, will rise at 2:11 tomorrow morning. Tomorrow the sun will rise at 6:00.
Let’s take a look at June skies as the 6th month starts tomorrow. There will be a lot of sun this month. The daylight hours will increase a bit from 15 hours and 20 minutes tomorrow to 15 hours and 33 minutes on the 21st, retreating back to 15 hours 30 minutes at month’s end. At this time of the year the sunset times for Ludington, Interlochen, Petoskey and Mackinaw City are very nearly the same. However the sunrise times are at their most divergent. With Ludington’s sunrise being 14 minutes later than Mackinaw City’s. The altitude of the sun above the southern horizon at local noon will increase from about 67 and a half degrees to 68 and three quarters on the 21st. Summer will start on the 21st at 1:04 a.m.
Times are for the Traverse City/Interlochen area of Michigan. They may be different for your location.
Addendum
The stars and planets, specifically for June 15, 2013 at 11 p.m.
The constellation abbreviations, names and bright star names are found here.
- The arrow from the pointer stars of the Big Dipper to Polaris the North Star, near the north celestial pole.
- Follow the arc of the handle of the Big Dipper to Arcturus.
- A Leaky Dipper drips on Leo
- Follow the spike to Spica.
- The Summer Triangle (in red)
04/30/2013 – Ephemeris – Previewing May sunshine
Ephemeris for Tuesday, April 30th. The sun rises at 6:33. It’ll be up for 14 hours and 12 minutes, setting at 8:46. The moon, 2 days before last quarter, will rise at 1:57 tomorrow morning.
Tomorrow we’ll start the month of May when the promise of spring is finally fulfilled. Daylight hours in the Interlochen/Traverse City area will increase from 14 hours and 15 minutes tomorrow to 15 hours 19 minutes on May 31st. The altitude, or angle, of the sun above the southern horizon at local noon will ascend from 60 degrees now 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 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. This is the month of the Eta Aquarid meteor shower which will reach its peak next Monday morning. They will be best seen around 5 a.m.
Times are for the Traverse City/Interlochen area of Michigan. They may be different for your location.
Addendum
May Stars, centered at 11 p.m. on the 15th. Created using my program Looking Up for Windows.
04/02/2013 – Ephemeris – April Preview
Tuesday, April 2nd. The sun will rise at 7:21. It’ll be up for 12 hours and 50 minutes, setting at 8:11. The moon, 1 day before last quarter, will rise at 3:15 tomorrow morning.
The 4th month of the year began yesterday. Daylight hours in the Interlochen/Traverse City area and will increase from 12 hours and 50 minutes today to 14 hours 12 minutes on April 30th. The altitude, or angle, of the sun above the southern horizon at local noon will be 50 degrees tomorrow and will ascend to 60 degrees on April 30th. The altitude of the sun in the Straits area will be a degree lower. The actual time of local apparent noon this month for the Interlochen/Traverse City area, when the sun passes due south, will be about 1:43 p.m. For the straits area local noon occurs about 4 minutes earlier. The reason for the is that the straits, are about one degree of longitude east of Traverse City.
Times are for the Traverse City/Interlochen area of Michigan. They may be different for your location.
Addendum
Calendar of Astronomical Events for April 2013 for Eastern Daylight Time
Apr 03 00:37 LAST QUARTER MOON
10 05:35 NEW MOON
12 08:12 Moon at Descending Node
14 06:51 Aldebaran 3.4°S of Moon
14 14:23 Jupiter 2.1°N of Moon
15 18:21 Moon at Apogee: 404865 km
17 20 Mars in Conjunction with Sun
18 08:31 FIRST QUARTER MOON
21 00:44 Regulus 5.9°N of Moon
22 07 Lyrid Meteor Shower
24 20:10 Spica 0.0°N of Moon
(Occultation visible across the southern Atlantic Ocean
and South Africa. Link)
25 15:57 FULL MOON
25 16:09 Partial Lunar Eclipse; mag=0.014
25 22:28 Saturn 3.5°N of Moon
26 10:07 Moon at Ascending Node
27 15:48 Moon at Perigee: 362268 km
28 04 Saturn at Opposition
Calendar of Astronomical Events Courtesy of Fred Espenak,
www.AstroPixels.com
Fred’s site has calendars for all the time zones in the United States. Foe daylight time use the time zone one zone east. This Eastern Daylight Time time zone above uses the Atlantic Standard Time zone.
Star Chart for mid April at 10 p.m. Created using my LookingUp program.
The chart includes the following finder aids:
- Big Dipper pointers point to Polaris.
- The arc of the Big Dipper’s handle points to Arcturus.
- Extend the arc as a spike to Spica.
- Leaky Big Dipper bowl leaks on Leo the lion’s back
02/28/2013 – Ephemeris – Previewing March Skies
Ephemeris for Thursday, February 28th. The sun will rise at 7:21. It’ll be up for 11 hours and 8 minutes, setting at 6:29. The moon, 3 days past full, will rise at 10:06 this evening.
Let’s preview the month of March which begins tomorrow. This month the increase in daylight hours is at its greatest, with Spring 3 weeks away. Daylight hours will increase from 11 hours and 11 minutes tomorrow to 12 hours and 44 minutes on the 31st. Along with that the altitude of the sun at noon will increase from 38 degrees today to 49 ½ degrees at month’s end. Local noon, by the way for Interlochen and Traverse City is about 12:50 p.m, which is mainly due to the fact that our standard time meridian happens to run through Philadelphia. That’s before daylight time starts next week. The big astronomical event this month be the appearance of Comet PanSTARRS in the evening. Spring starts on the 20th.
Times are for the Traverse City/Interlochen area of Michigan. They may be different for your location.
Addendum
Comet PanSTARRS path in the March evening sky. Created using Cartes duCiel.
Cartesn duCiel doesn’t do twilight. The comet will be in twilight through out March.
01/31/2013 – Ephemeris – Preview of February Skies
Ephemeris for Thursday, January 31st. The sun will rise at 8:02. It’ll be up for 9 hours and 48 minutes, setting at 5:50. The moon, 3 days before last quarter, will rise at 11:06 this evening.
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 50 minutes tomorrow to 11 hours and 7 minutes on the 28th. The sunrise time will decrease from 8:00 tomorrow to 7:21 at months end. The sunset times will increase from 5:51 tomorrow to 6:28 on the 28th. Along with that the altitude of the sun at noon will increase from 28 degrees today to nearly 38 degrees at month’s end. It will be a degree lower for folks in the Straits area because they are a degree of latitude farther north. Local noon, by the way for Interlochen and Traverse City is about 12:55 p.m. We are expecting clearer skies later this month as the lakes cool.
Times are for the Traverse City/Interlochen area of Michigan. They may be different for your location.
Addendum
Ephemeris of Sky Events for NMC Observatory, Traverse City MI |
||||||||||
| February, 2013 – Local time zone: EST | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Date | Sun | Twilight* | Moon | Illum | ||||||
| Rise | Set | Hours | End | Start | Phase | R/S** | Time | Fractn | ||
| Fri | 1 | 08:00a | 05:51p | 09:50 | 07:31p | 06:20a | Rise | 12:15a | 67% | |
| Sat | 2 | 07:59a | 05:53p | 09:53 | 07:33p | 06:19a | Rise | 01:25a | 57% | |
| Sun | 3 | 07:58a | 05:54p | 09:55 | 07:34p | 06:18a | L Qtr | Rise | 02:34a | 45% |
| Mon | 4 | 07:57a | 05:56p | 09:58 | 07:35p | 06:17a | Rise | 03:41a | 34% | |
| Tue | 5 | 07:56a | 05:57p | 10:01 | 07:36p | 06:16a | Rise | 04:42a | 24% | |
| Wed | 6 | 07:54a | 05:58p | 10:03 | 07:38p | 06:15a | Rise | 05:36a | 15% | |
| Thu | 7 | 07:53a | 06:00p | 10:06 | 07:39p | 06:14a | Rise | 06:22a | 7% | |
| Fri | 8 | 07:52a | 06:01p | 10:09 | 07:40p | 06:13a | Rise | 07:01a | 2% | |
| Sat | 9 | 07:50a | 06:03p | 10:12 | 07:41p | 06:12a | Rise | 07:36a | 0% | |
| Sun | 10 | 07:49a | 06:04p | 10:15 | 07:43p | 06:11a | New | Set | 06:58p | 1% |
| Mon | 11 | 07:48a | 06:05p | 10:17 | 07:44p | 06:09a | Set | 08:09p | 4% | |
| Tue | 12 | 07:46a | 06:07p | 10:20 | 07:45p | 06:08a | Set | 09:17p | 9% | |
| Wed | 13 | 07:45a | 06:08p | 10:23 | 07:46p | 06:07a | Set | 10:23p | 16% | |
| Thu | 14 | 07:43a | 06:10p | 10:26 | 07:48p | 06:05a | Set | 11:27p | 24% | |
| Fri | 15 | 07:42a | 06:11p | 10:29 | 07:49p | 06:04a | Set | 12:29a | 33% | |
| Sat | 16 | 07:40a | 06:12p | 10:32 | 07:50p | 06:03a | Set | 01:28a | 42% | |
| Sun | 17 | 07:39a | 06:14p | 10:35 | 07:51p | 06:01a | F Qtr | Set | 02:23a | 51% |
| Mon | 18 | 07:37a | 06:15p | 10:38 | 07:53p | 06:00a | Set | 03:15a | 61% | |
| Tue | 19 | 07:36a | 06:17p | 10:41 | 07:54p | 05:58a | Set | 04:01a | 70% | |
| Wed | 20 | 07:34a | 06:18p | 10:43 | 07:55p | 05:57a | Set | 04:43a | 78% | |
| Thu | 21 | 07:32a | 06:19p | 10:46 | 07:57p | 05:55a | Set | 05:21a | 85% | |
| Fri | 22 | 07:31a | 06:21p | 10:49 | 07:58p | 05:54a | Set | 05:55a | 91% | |
| Sat | 23 | 07:29a | 06:22p | 10:52 | 07:59p | 05:52a | Set | 06:26a | 96% | |
| Sun | 24 | 07:27a | 06:23p | 10:55 | 08:01p | 05:51a | Set | 06:54a | 99% | |
| Mon | 25 | 07:26a | 06:25p | 10:58 | 08:02p | 05:49a | Full | Rise | 06:40p | 100% |
| Tue | 26 | 07:24a | 06:26p | 11:02 | 08:03p | 05:47a | Rise | 07:47p | 98% | |
| Wed | 27 | 07:22a | 06:27p | 11:05 | 08:04p | 05:46a | Rise | 08:56p | 95% | |
| Thu | 28 | 07:21a | 06:29p | 11:08 | 08:06p | 05:44a | Rise | 10:06p | 89% | |
| * Astronomical Twilight | ||||||||||
| ** Moonrise or moonset, whichever occurs between sunset and sunrise | ||||||||||
11/30/2012 – Ephemeris – Previewing December skies
Ephemeris for Friday, November 30th. The sun will rise at 7:58. It’ll be up for 9 hours and 5 minutes, setting at 5:03. The moon, 2 days past full, will rise at 6:58 this evening.
Let’s look at the month of December which starts tomorrow. The hours of daylight will change little except to be darker in the morning and lighter in the evenings. In the Traverse City/Interlochen area sunset will be from 5:03 today, down to 5:02 and then advancing to 5:12 at the end of the month. The earliest sunset will be around the 10th. There is more movement in the sunrise times which will advance from 7:59 this morning to 8:19 on the 31st.Dec 1. Winter will officially arrive at the winter solstice on the 21st at 6:12 a.m. The noontime sun will dip from 23 ½ degrees to a bit less than 22 degrees above the southern horizon on that day. Daylight hours will drop from 9 hours 3 minutes tomorrow to 8:48 on the solstice.
Times are for the Traverse City/Interlochen area of Michigan. They may be different for your location.
11/01/2012 – Ephemeris – Previewing November Skies
Ephemeris for Thursday, November 1st. The sun will rise at 8:20. It’ll be up for 10 hours and 9 minutes, setting at 6:30. The moon, 3 days past full, will rise at 8:21 this evening.
Tonight Jupiter will appear above the moon. The month of November is one early sunsets, especially with the return to standard time this Sunday, and shortening of day light hours. Daylight hours will decrease from 10 hours 9 minutes today to 9 hours 5 minutes at month end. The altitude of the sun above the southern horizon at local noon, will drop from 31 degrees to 23½ degrees over the month. The Leonid meteor shower will have two peaks this year, but the best for us will be at 2 a.m. on the morning of the 20th. Up to 15 meteors per hour are expected. These are from Comet Tempel-Tuttle’s 1400 AD passage through the inner solar system. It won’t be until the late 2030’s when the comet will come around again.
Times are for the Traverse City/Interlochen area of Michigan. They may be different for your location.
Addendum
Jupiter and the moon at 10 p.m. November 1, 2012. Created using Stellarium.
Leo rising at around 2 a.m. on the morning of November 20. Note the radiant in the sickle asterism of Leo. Created using Looking Up, my own program.
10-01-2012 – Ephemeris – Previewing October daylight changes
Ephemeris for Monday, October 1st. The sun will rise at 7:40. It’ll be up for 11 hours and 41 minutes, setting at 7:22. The moon, 2 days past full, will rise at 7:51 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 41 minutes today to 10 hours, 12 minutes at months end.. The altitude of the sun above the southern horizon at local noon will be 42 degrees today, and will descend to 31degrees on Halloween, also in the Interlochen area. The Straits area will have the sun a degree lower. Local noon, when the sun is due south will be about 1:30 p.m. in Interlochen. Sunrise times will increase all the way to 8:19 a.m. in Interlochen on the 31st. Sunset times will decrease from 7:22 p.m. today to 6:32 when the trick or treaters haunt our neighborhoods.
Times are for the Traverse City/Interlochen area of Michigan. They may be different for your location.
Bob Moler's Ephemeris Blog 