Archive
06/01/2020 – Ephemeris – Let’s preview June’s bright skies (Long days and short nights)
This is Bob Moler with Ephemeris for Monday, June 1st. Today the Sun will be up for 15 hours and 21 minutes, setting at 9:21, and it will rise tomorrow at 5:59. The Moon, 3 days past first quarter, will set at 4:15 tomorrow morning.
Ephemeris start’s its 46th orbit of the Sun today, so let’s preview June skies. There will be a lot of sunlight in June. The daylight hours will increase a bit from 15 hours and 21 minutes today to 15 hours and 34 minutes on the 20th, the solstice, retreating back to 15 hours 31 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 20th. Local noon, when the Sun is actually due south in the Interlochen area will occur at about 1:43 p.m.
The event times given are for the Traverse City/Interlochen area of Michigan. They may be different for your location.
Addendum
June Evening Star Chart

Star Chart for June 2020 (11 p.m. EDT June 15, 2020). Created using my LookingUp program. Click on image to enlarge.
The planets and stars are plotted for the 15th at 11 p.m. EDT in the evening and 4 a.m. for the morning chart. These are the chart times. Note that Traverse City is located approximately 45 minutes behind our time meridian, West 75° longitude. (An hour 45 minutes behind our daylight saving time meridian during EDT). To duplicate the star positions on a planisphere you may have to set it to 1 hour 45 minutes earlier than the current time.
Note the chart times of 11 p.m. and 4 a.m. are for the 15th. For each week before the 15th add ½ hour (28 minutes if you’re picky). For each week after the 15th subtract ½ hour. The planet positions are updated each Wednesday on this blog. For planet positions on dates other than the 15th, check the Wednesday planet posts on this blog.
June Morning Star Chart

Star Chart for June mornings 2020 (4 a.m. EDT June 15, 2020). Created using my LookingUp program. Click on image to enlarge.
For a list of constellation names to go with the abbreviations click here.
- Pointer stars at the front of the bowl of the Big Dipper point to Polaris the North Star.
- Leaky dipper drips on Leo.
- Follow the arc of the handle of the Big Dipper to the star Arcturus, and
- Extend like a spike to Spica.
- The Summer Triangle is in red.
Twilight Limits, Nautical and Astronomical
| EDT | |||||||
| Morning twilight | Evening twilight | Dark night | Moon | ||||
| Date | Astro. | Nautical | Nautical | Astro. | Start | End | Illum. |
| 2020-06-01 | 3h42m | 4h41m | 22h47m | 23h47m | – | – | 0.82 |
| 2020-06-02 | 3h41m | 4h41m | 22h48m | 23h48m | – | – | 0.9 |
| 2020-06-03 | 3h40m | 4h40m | 22h49m | 23h50m | – | – | 0.9 |
| 2020-06-04 | 3h39m | 4h39m | 22h50m | 23h51m | – | – | 0.96 |
| 2020-06-05 | 3h37m | 4h39m | 22h51m | 23h52m | – | – | 1 |
| 2020-06-06 | 3h36m | 4h38m | 22h52m | 23h54m | – | – | 1 |
| 2020-06-07 | 3h36m | 4h37m | 22h53m | 23h55m | – | – | 0.97 |
| 2020-06-08 | 3h35m | 4h37m | 22h54m | 23h56m | 23h56m | – | 0.92 |
| 2020-06-09 | 3h34m | 4h37m | 22h55m | 23h58m | 23h58m | 0h28m | 0.85 |
| 2020-06-10 | 3h33m | 4h36m | 22h56m | 23h59m | 23h59m | 1h07m | 0.77 |
| 2020-06-11 | 3h33m | 4h36m | 22h56m | 0h00m | 0h00m | 1h38m | 0.67 |
| 2020-06-12 | 3h32m | 4h36m | 22h57m | 0h01m | 0h01m | 2h04m | 0.58 |
| 2020-06-13 | 3h32m | 4h35m | 22h58m | 0h01m | 0h01m | 2h27m | 0.48 |
| 2020-06-14 | 3h31m | 4h35m | 22h58m | 0h02m | 0h02m | 2h48m | 0.38 |
| 2020-06-15 | 3h31m | 4h35m | 22h59m | 0h03m | 0h03m | 3h09m | 0.29 |
| 2020-06-16 | 3h31m | 4h35m | 22h59m | 0h04m | 0h04m | 3h30m | 0.21 |
| 2020-06-17 | 3h31m | 4h35m | 23h00m | 0h04m | 0h04m | 3h31m | 0.13 |
| 2020-06-18 | 3h31m | 4h35m | 23h00m | 0h05m | 0h05m | 3h31m | 0.07 |
| 2020-06-19 | 3h31m | 4h35m | 23h00m | 0h05m | 0h05m | 3h31m | 0.03 |
| 2020-06-20 | 3h31m | 4h36m | 23h01m | 0h05m | 0h05m | 3h31m | 0 |
| 2020-06-21 | 3h31m | 4h36m | 23h01m | 0h05m | 0h05m | 3h31m | 0 |
| 2020-06-22 | 3h31m | 4h36m | 23h01m | 0h06m | 0h06m | 3h31m | 0.03 |
| 2020-06-23 | 3h32m | 4h36m | 23h01m | 0h06m | 0h06m | 3h32m | 0.07 |
| 2020-06-24 | 3h32m | 4h37m | 23h01m | 0h05m | 0h05m | 3h32m | 0.15 |
| 2020-06-25 | 3h33m | 4h37m | 23h01m | 0h05m | 0h28m | 3h33m | 0.24 |
| 2020-06-26 | 3h34m | 4h38m | 23h01m | 0h05m | 1h00m | 3h34m | 0.34 |
| 2020-06-27 | 3h34m | 4h38m | 23h01m | 0h05m | 1h28m | 3h34m | 0.46 |
| 2020-06-28 | 3h35m | 4h39m | 23h01m | 0h04m | 1h54m | 3h35m | 0.58 |
| 2020-06-29 | 3h36m | 4h40m | 23h00m | 0h04m | 2h19m | 3h36m | 0.69 |
| 2020-06-30 | 3h37m | 4h40m | 23h00m | 0h03m | 2h46m | 3h37m | 0.69 |
Twilight calendar was generated using Cartes du Ciel (Sky Charts).
See my blog post: Twilight Zone for the definitions of the different periods of twilight here: https://bobmoler.wordpress.com/2018/09/27/.
NASA Calendar of Planetary Events
Date Time Event
Jun 1 Mo Venus: 3.7° E
2 Tu 11:36 pm Moon Perigee: 364400 km
3 We 01:42 pm Venus Inferior Solar Conjunction
4 Th 08:59 am Mercury Greatest Elongation: 23.6° E
5 Fr 03:12 pm Full Moon
5 Fr 03:25 pm Penumbral Lunar Eclipse
(Europe, Africa, Asia, Aus.)
6 Sa 02:10 pm Moon Descending Node
7 Su 12:22 pm Moon South Dec.: 24.1° S
8 Mo 01:19 pm Moon-Jupiter: 2.3° N
8 Mo 10:19 pm Moon-Saturn: 2.8° N
12 Fr 07:53 pm Moon-Mars: 3° N
13 Sa 02:24 am Last Quarter
14 Su 08:56 pm Moon Apogee: 404600 km
19 Fr 04:52 am Moon-Venus: 0.8° S
20 Sa 05:43 pm Summer Solstice
21 Su 12:24 am Moon Ascending Node
21 Su 02:40 am Annular Solar Eclipse
(Africa, Asia)
21 Su 02:41 am New Moon
21 Su 11:56 pm Moon North Dec.: 24.1° N
23 Tu 08:33 pm Moon-Beehive: 1.8° S
28 Su 04:16 am First Quarter
29 Mo 10:09 pm Moon Perigee: 369000 km
30 Tu 10:45 pm Mercury Inferior Solar Conjunction
All event times are given for UTC-4 hr: Eastern Daylight Saving Time.
Sky Events Calendar by Fred Espenak and Sumit Dutta (NASA’s GSFC),
http://eclipse.gsfc.nasa.gov/SKYCAL/SKYCAL.html.
If you go to the above site you can print out a list like the above for the entire year or calendar pages for your time zone.
Sun and Moon Rising and Setting Events
Ephemeris of Sky Events for Interlochen/TC June, 2020 Local time zone: EDT +-----------------------------------------------------------------------+ | DATE | SUN SUN DAYLIGHT| TWILIGHT* |MOON RISE OR ILLUM | | | RISE SET HOURS | END START |PHASE SET** TIME FRACTN| +=======================================================================+ |Mon 1| 06:00a 09:21p 15:21 | 10:45p 04:36a | Set 04:15a 81%| |Tue 2| 05:59a 09:22p 15:23 | 10:46p 04:36a | Set 04:44a 89%| |Wed 3| 05:59a 09:23p 15:24 | 10:47p 04:35a | Set 05:15a 95%| |Thu 4| 05:58a 09:24p 15:25 | 10:48p 04:34a | Set 05:53a 99%| |Fri 5| 05:58a 09:24p 15:26 | 10:49p 04:34a |Full Rise 09:32p 100%| |Sat 6| 05:57a 09:25p 15:27 | 10:50p 04:33a | Rise 10:41p 98%| +------+-----------------------+----------------+-----------------------+ |Sun 7| 05:57a 09:26p 15:28 | 10:51p 04:32a | Rise 11:39p 94%| |Mon 8| 05:57a 09:26p 15:29 | 10:52p 04:32a | Rise 12:28a 88%| |Tue 9| 05:57a 09:27p 15:30 | 10:52p 04:32a | Rise 01:06a 80%| |Wed 10| 05:56a 09:28p 15:31 | 10:53p 04:31a | Rise 01:38a 71%| |Thu 11| 05:56a 09:28p 15:31 | 10:54p 04:31a | Rise 02:04a 62%| |Fri 12| 05:56a 09:29p 15:32 | 10:54p 04:31a | Rise 02:27a 53%| |Sat 13| 05:56a 09:29p 15:32 | 10:55p 04:30a |L Qtr Rise 02:48a 43%| +------+-----------------------+----------------+-----------------------+ |Sun 14| 05:56a 09:30p 15:33 | 10:56p 04:30a | Rise 03:09a 34%| |Mon 15| 05:56a 09:30p 15:33 | 10:56p 04:30a | Rise 03:30a 25%| |Tue 16| 05:56a 09:30p 15:34 | 10:57p 04:30a | Rise 03:52a 17%| |Wed 17| 05:56a 09:31p 15:34 | 10:57p 04:30a | Rise 04:18a 11%| |Thu 18| 05:56a 09:31p 15:34 | 10:57p 04:30a | Rise 04:48a 5%| |Fri 19| 05:56a 09:31p 15:34 | 10:58p 04:30a | Rise 05:25a 2%| |Sat 20| 05:57a 09:31p 15:34 | 10:58p 04:30a | Rise 06:09a 0%| +------+-----------------------+----------------+-----------------------+ |Sun 21| 05:57a 09:32p 15:34 | 10:58p 04:30a |New Set 10:12p 1%| |Mon 22| 05:57a 09:32p 15:34 | 10:58p 04:31a | Set 11:04p 3%| |Tue 23| 05:57a 09:32p 15:34 | 10:58p 04:31a | Set 11:49p 8%| |Wed 24| 05:58a 09:32p 15:34 | 10:58p 04:31a | Set 12:27a 16%| |Thu 25| 05:58a 09:32p 15:33 | 10:58p 04:32a | Set 12:59a 24%| |Fri 26| 05:58a 09:32p 15:33 | 10:58p 04:32a | Set 01:28a 35%| |Sat 27| 05:59a 09:32p 15:33 | 10:58p 04:33a | Set 01:54a 46%| +------+-----------------------+----------------+-----------------------+ |Sun 28| 05:59a 09:32p 15:32 | 10:58p 04:33a |F Qtr Set 02:19a 58%| |Mon 29| 06:00a 09:32p 15:31 | 10:57p 04:34a | Set 02:46a 69%| |Tue 30| 06:00a 09:32p 15:31 | 10:57p 04:35a | Set 03:15a 79%| +-----------------------------------------------------------------------+ * Nautical Twilight ** Moonrise or moonset, whichever occurs between sunrise and sunset
05/01/2020 – Ephemeris – Previewing May Skies
This is Bob Moler with Ephemeris for Friday, May 1st. Today the Sun will be up for 14 hours and 16 minutes, setting at 8:48, and it will rise tomorrow at 6:30. The Moon, 1 day past first quarter, will set at 4:22 tomorrow morning.
May is the month when the promise of spring is finally fulfilled. Daylight hours in the Interlochen/Traverse City area will increase from 14 hours and 16 minutes today to 15 hours 20 minutes on the 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 daylight hours will be a few minutes longer. Venus will end up too close to the Sun to be seen at month’s end, but before then its thin crescent can even be seen in binoculars. Mercury will make an appearance in the evening sky and will appear near Venus on the 22nd. They will be low in the west-northwest in evening twilight.
The event times given are for the Traverse City/Interlochen area of Michigan. They may be different for your location.
Addendum
May Evening Star Chart

Star Chart for May 2020 (11 p.m. EDT May 15, 2020). Created using my LookingUp program. Click on image to enlarge.
The planets and stars are plotted for the 15th at 11 p.m. EDT in the evening and 5 a.m. for the morning chart. These are the chart times. Note that Traverse City is located approximately 45 minutes behind our time meridian, West 75° longitude. (An hour 45 minutes behind our daylight saving time meridian during EDT). To duplicate the star positions on a planisphere you may have to set it to 1 hour 45 minutes earlier than the current time.
Note the chart times of 11 p.m. and 5 a.m. are for the 15th. For each week before the 15th add ½ hour (28 minutes if you’re picky). For each week after the 15th subtract ½ hour, or 28 minutes. The planet positions are updated each Wednesday on this blog. For planet positions on dates other than the 15th, check the Wednesday planet posts on this blog for weekly positions.
May Morning Star Chart

Star Chart for May mornings 2020 (5 a.m. EDT May 15, 2020). Created using my LookingUp program. Click on image to enlarge.
For a list of constellation names to go with the abbreviations click here.
- Pointer stars at the front of the bowl of the Big Dipper point to Polaris the North Star.
- Leaky dipper drips on Leo
- Follow the arc of the handle of the Big Dipper to the star Arcturus, and
- Extend like a spike to Spica,
- EaqR is the radiant of the Aquariid meteor shower that peaks on the 5th. Best viewing is before the peak this year due to the bright Moon.
Twilight Limits, Nautical and Astronomical
| EDT | |||||||
| Morning twilight | Evening twilight | Dark night | Moon | ||||
| Date | Astro. | Nautical | Nautical | Astro. | Start | End | Illum. |
| 2020-05-01 | 4h39m | 5h24m | 22h03m | 22h47m | 3h48m | 4h39m | 0.63 |
| 2020-05-02 | 4h37m | 5h22m | 22h04m | 22h49m | 4h22m | 4h37m | 0.74 |
| 2020-05-03 | 4h35m | 5h20m | 22h06m | 22h51m | – | – | 0.84 |
| 2020-05-04 | 4h33m | 5h19m | 22h07m | 22h53m | – | – | 0.92 |
| 2020-05-05 | 4h31m | 5h17m | 22h09m | 22h55m | – | – | 0.92 |
| 2020-05-06 | 4h29m | 5h15m | 22h11m | 22h57m | – | – | 0.98 |
| 2020-05-07 | 4h27m | 5h14m | 22h12m | 22h59m | – | – | 1 |
| 2020-05-08 | 4h24m | 5h12m | 22h14m | 23h01m | – | – | 0.99 |
| 2020-05-09 | 4h22m | 5h10m | 22h15m | 23h03m | 23h03m | 23h56m | 0.95 |
| 2020-05-10 | 4h20m | 5h09m | 22h17m | 23h05m | 23h05m | – | 0.89 |
| 2020-05-11 | 4h18m | 5h07m | 22h18m | 23h07m | 23h07m | 0h58m | 0.81 |
| 2020-05-12 | 4h16m | 5h06m | 22h20m | 23h09m | 23h09m | 1h51m | 0.71 |
| 2020-05-13 | 4h14m | 5h04m | 22h21m | 23h11m | 23h11m | 2h34m | 0.61 |
| 2020-05-14 | 4h12m | 5h02m | 22h23m | 23h13m | 23h13m | 3h08m | 0.51 |
| 2020-05-15 | 4h10m | 5h01m | 22h24m | 23h15m | 23h15m | 3h36m | 0.41 |
| 2020-05-16 | 4h08m | 5h00m | 22h26m | 23h17m | 23h17m | 4h01m | 0.31 |
| 2020-05-17 | 4h06m | 4h58m | 22h27m | 23h19m | 23h19m | 4h06m | 0.23 |
| 2020-05-18 | 4h05m | 4h57m | 22h29m | 23h21m | 23h21m | 4h05m | 0.15 |
| 2020-05-19 | 4h03m | 4h55m | 22h30m | 23h23m | 23h23m | 4h03m | 0.09 |
| 2020-05-20 | 4h01m | 4h54m | 22h32m | 23h25m | 23h25m | 4h01m | 0.04 |
| 2020-05-21 | 3h59m | 4h53m | 22h33m | 23h27m | 23h27m | 3h59m | 0.01 |
| 2020-05-22 | 3h57m | 4h52m | 22h35m | 23h29m | 23h29m | 3h57m | 0 |
| 2020-05-23 | 3h56m | 4h50m | 22h36m | 23h31m | 23h31m | 3h56m | 0.01 |
| 2020-05-24 | 3h54m | 4h49m | 22h37m | 23h33m | 23h33m | 3h54m | 0.04 |
| 2020-05-25 | 3h52m | 4h48m | 22h39m | 23h34m | – | 3h52m | 0.1 |
| 2020-05-26 | 3h51m | 4h47m | 22h40m | 23h36m | 0h18m | 3h51m | 0.17 |
| 2020-05-27 | 3h49m | 4h46m | 22h41m | 23h38m | 1h08m | 3h49m | 0.26 |
| 2020-05-28 | 3h48m | 4h45m | 22h42m | 23h40m | 1h50m | 3h48m | 0.37 |
| 2020-05-29 | 3h46m | 4h44m | 22h44m | 23h42m | 2h25m | 3h46m | 0.48 |
| 2020-05-30 | 3h45m | 4h43m | 22h45m | 23h43m | 2h56m | 3h45m | 0.6 |
| 2020-05-31 | 3h43m | 4h42m | 22h46m | 23h45m | 3h23m | 3h43m | 0.72 |
The twilight calendar was generated using Cartes du Ciel (Sky Charts), with some corrections.
See my blog post: Twilight Zone for the definitions of the different periods of twilight here: https://bobmoler.wordpress.com/2018/09/27/.
NASA Calendar of Planetary Events
May 1 Fr Venus: 38° E
5 Mo 03:00 am Eta Aquariid Meteor Shower: ZHR = 60
4 Mo 05:22 pm Mercury Superior Solar Conjunction
5 Tu 11:03 pm Moon Perigee: 359700 km
7 Th 06:45 am Full Moon
10 Su 05:01 am Moon Descending Node
11 Mo 02:13 am Moon South Dec.: 24° S
12 Tu 05:40 am Moon-Jupiter: 2.4° N
12 Tu 02:18 pm Moon-Saturn: 2.8° N
14 Th 10:03 am Last Quarter
14 Th 10:01 pm Moon-Mars: 3° N
18 Mo 03:45 am Moon Apogee: 405600 km
22 Fr 05:37 am Mercury-Venus: 0.9° N
22 Fr 01:39 pm New Moon
23 Sa 10:40 pm Moon-Venus: 4° N
24 Su 06:53 am Moon-Mercury: 3° N
24 Su 05:34 pm Moon Ascending Node
25 Mo 05:16 pm Moon North Dec.: 24.1° N
27 We 02:44 pm Moon-Beehive: 1.8° S
29 Fr 11:30 pm First Quarter
Jun 1 Mo Venus: 3.7° E
All event times are given for UTC-4 hr: Daylight Saving Time.
Sky Events Calendar by Fred Espenak and Sumit Dutta (NASA’s GSFC),
http://eclipse.gsfc.nasa.gov/SKYCAL/SKYCAL.html.
If you go to the above site you can print out a list like the above for the entire year or calendar pages for your time zone.
Sun and Moon Rising and Setting Events
LU Ephemeris of Sky Events for Interlochen/TC
May, 2020 Local time zone: EDT +-----------------------------------------------------------------------+ | DATE | SUN SUN DAYLIGHT| TWILIGHT* |MOON RISE OR ILLUM | | | RISE SET HOURS | END START |PHASE SET** TIME FRACTN| +=======================================================================+ |Fri 1| 06:32a 08:48p 14:16 | 10:00p 05:19a | Set 04:22a 63%| |Sat 2| 06:30a 08:49p 14:19 | 10:02p 05:18a | Set 04:52a 73%| +------+-----------------------+----------------+-----------------------+ |Sun 3| 06:29a 08:50p 14:21 | 10:04p 05:16a | Set 05:20a 83%| |Mon 4| 06:27a 08:52p 14:24 | 10:05p 05:14a | Set 05:47a 91%| |Tue 5| 06:26a 08:53p 14:26 | 10:07p 05:12a | Set 06:15a 97%| |Wed 6| 06:25a 08:54p 14:29 | 10:08p 05:11a | Set 06:46a 100%| |Thu 7| 06:23a 08:55p 14:32 | 10:10p 05:09a |Full Rise 09:26p 99%| |Fri 8| 06:22a 08:56p 14:34 | 10:11p 05:07a | Rise 10:43p 97%| |Sat 9| 06:21a 08:58p 14:36 | 10:13p 05:06a | Rise 11:55p 91%| +------+-----------------------+----------------+-----------------------+ |Sun 10| 06:19a 08:59p 14:39 | 10:14p 05:04a | Rise 12:58a 84%| |Mon 11| 06:18a 09:00p 14:41 | 10:16p 05:02a | Rise 01:51a 75%| |Tue 12| 06:17a 09:01p 14:44 | 10:18p 05:01a | Rise 02:33a 66%| |Wed 13| 06:16a 09:02p 14:46 | 10:19p 04:59a | Rise 03:08a 56%| |Thu 14| 06:15a 09:03p 14:48 | 10:21p 04:58a |L Qtr Rise 03:36a 46%| |Fri 15| 06:14a 09:04p 14:50 | 10:22p 04:56a | Rise 04:01a 36%| |Sat 16| 06:12a 09:06p 14:53 | 10:24p 04:55a | Rise 04:23a 28%| +------+-----------------------+----------------+-----------------------+ |Sun 17| 06:11a 09:07p 14:55 | 10:25p 04:53a | Rise 04:43a 20%| |Mon 18| 06:10a 09:08p 14:57 | 10:27p 04:52a | Rise 05:04a 13%| |Tue 19| 06:09a 09:09p 14:59 | 10:28p 04:51a | Rise 05:25a 7%| |Wed 20| 06:08a 09:10p 15:01 | 10:29p 04:49a | Rise 05:49a 3%| |Thu 21| 06:08a 09:11p 15:03 | 10:31p 04:48a | Rise 06:16a 1%| |Fri 22| 06:07a 09:12p 15:05 | 10:32p 04:47a |New Set 09:16p 0%| |Sat 23| 06:06a 09:13p 15:07 | 10:34p 04:46a | Set 10:20p 2%| +------+-----------------------+----------------+-----------------------+ |Sun 24| 06:05a 09:14p 15:09 | 10:35p 04:44a | Set 11:22p 5%| |Mon 25| 06:04a 09:15p 15:10 | 10:36p 04:43a | Set 12:18a 11%| |Tue 26| 06:03a 09:16p 15:12 | 10:38p 04:42a | Set 01:07a 18%| |Wed 27| 06:03a 09:17p 15:14 | 10:39p 04:41a | Set 01:49a 27%| |Thu 28| 06:02a 09:18p 15:15 | 10:40p 04:40a | Set 02:25a 37%| |Fri 29| 06:01a 09:19p 15:17 | 10:41p 04:39a |F Qtr Set 02:55a 48%| |Sat 30| 06:01a 09:20p 15:18 | 10:43p 04:38a | Set 03:23a 60%| +------+-----------------------+----------------+-----------------------+ |Sun 31| 06:00a 09:20p 15:20 | 10:44p 04:37a | Set 03:49a 71%| +-----------------------------------------------------------------------+ * Nautical Twilight ** Moonrise or moonset, whichever occurs between sunrise and sunset
03/31/2020 – Ephemeris – Looking ahead at April skies
Ephemeris for Tuesday, March 31st. Today the Sun will be up for 12 hours and 45 minutes, setting at 8:09, and it will rise tomorrow at 7:22. The Moon, 1 day before first quarter, will set at 3:30 tomorrow morning.
The 4th month of the year begins tomorrow. Daylight hours in the Interlochen/Traverse City area and will increase from 12 hours and 48 minutes tomorrow to 14 hours 13 minutes on the 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 the 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. Venus is our brilliant evening planet while Jupiter, Saturn and Mars are our morning planets with Mars passing below Saturn unseen by us this afternoon.
The event times given are for the Traverse City/Interlochen area of Michigan. They may be different for your location.
Addendum
March Evening Star Chart

Star Chart for April 2020 (10 p.m. EDT April 15, 2020). Click on image to enlarge. Created using my LookingUp program.
The planets and stars are plotted for the 15th at 10 p.m. EDT in the evening and 5 a.m. for the morning chart. These are the chart times. The brilliant planet Venus is our Evening Star in the West at chart time. Note that Traverse City is located approximately 45 minutes behind our time meridian, West 75° longitude. (An hour and 45 minutes behind our daylight saving time meridian during EDT).
April Morning Star Chart

Star Chart for April mornings 2020 (5 a.m. EDT April 15, 2020). Click on image to enlarge. Created using my LookingUp program.
For a list of constellation names to go with the abbreviations click here.
- Pointer stars at the front of the bowl of the Big Dipper point to Polaris the North Star.
- The leaky bowl of the Big Dipper drips on Leo.
- Follow the arc of the handle of the Big Dipper to the star Arcturus, then
- Follow the spike to Spica.
- The Summer Triangle appears in red.
- LyrR is the radiant of the Lyrid meteor shower which will reach peak on the morning of the 22nd.
Twilight Limits, Nautical and Astronomical
| EDT | |||||||
| Morning twilight | Evening twilight | Dark night | Moon | ||||
| Date | Astro. | Nautical | Nautical | Astro. | Start | End | Illum. |
| 2020-04-01 | 5h45m | 6h22m | 21h18m | 21h55m | 3h31m | 5h45m | 0.56 |
| 2020-04-02 | 5h43m | 6h20m | 21h19m | 21h56m | 4h24m | 5h43m | 0.67 |
| 2020-04-03 | 5h41m | 6h18m | 21h21m | 21h58m | 5h09m | 5h41m | 0.78 |
| 2020-04-04 | 5h39m | 6h16m | 21h22m | 21h59m | – | – | 0.87 |
| 2020-04-05 | 5h37m | 6h14m | 21h24m | 22h01m | – | – | 0.87 |
| 2020-04-06 | 5h35m | 6h12m | 21h25m | 22h03m | – | – | 0.94 |
| 2020-04-07 | 5h32m | 6h10m | 21h26m | 22h04m | – | – | 0.99 |
| 2020-04-08 | 5h30m | 6h08m | 21h28m | 22h06m | – | – | 1 |
| 2020-04-09 | 5h28m | 6h06m | 21h29m | 22h08m | 22h08m | 22h36m | 0.98 |
| 2020-04-10 | 5h26m | 6h04m | 21h31m | 22h09m | 22h09m | 23h54m | 0.93 |
| 2020-04-11 | 5h24m | 6h02m | 21h32m | 22h11m | 22h11m | – | 0.85 |
| 2020-04-12 | 5h21m | 6h00m | 21h34m | 22h13m | 22h13m | 1h07m | 0.76 |
| 2020-04-13 | 5h19m | 5h58m | 21h35m | 22h14m | 22h14m | 2h13m | 0.66 |
| 2020-04-14 | 5h17m | 5h56m | 21h37m | 22h16m | 22h16m | 3h09m | 0.55 |
| 2020-04-15 | 5h15m | 5h54m | 21h38m | 22h18m | 22h18m | 3h56m | 0.44 |
| 2020-04-16 | 5h12m | 5h52m | 21h40m | 22h20m | 22h20m | 4h34m | 0.34 |
| 2020-04-17 | 5h10m | 5h50m | 21h41m | 22h21m | 22h21m | 5h05m | 0.25 |
| 2020-04-18 | 5h08m | 5h48m | 21h43m | 22h23m | 22h23m | 5h08m | 0.17 |
| 2020-04-19 | 5h06m | 5h46m | 21h44m | 22h25m | 22h25m | 5h06m | 0.11 |
| 2020-04-20 | 5h04m | 5h44m | 21h46m | 22h27m | 22h27m | 5h04m | 0.05 |
| 2020-04-21 | 5h01m | 5h43m | 21h47m | 22h29m | 22h29m | 5h01m | 0.02 |
| 2020-04-22 | 4h59m | 5h41m | 21h49m | 22h30m | 22h30m | 4h59m | 0 |
| 2020-04-23 | 4h57m | 5h39m | 21h50m | 22h32m | 22h32m | 4h57m | 0 |
| 2020-04-24 | 4h55m | 5h37m | 21h52m | 22h34m | 22h34m | 4h55m | 0.03 |
| 2020-04-25 | 4h52m | 5h35m | 21h53m | 22h36m | 23h25m | 4h52m | 0.07 |
| 2020-04-26 | 4h50m | 5h33m | 21h55m | 22h38m | – | 4h50m | 0.13 |
| 2020-04-27 | 4h48m | 5h31m | 21h57m | 22h40m | 0h28m | 4h48m | 0.21 |
| 2020-04-28 | 4h46m | 5h29m | 21h58m | 22h42m | 1h27m | 4h46m | 0.3 |
| 2020-04-29 | 4h44m | 5h28m | 22h00m | 22h44m | 2h21m | 4h44m | 0.4 |
| 2020-04-30 | 4h42m | 5h26m | 22h01m | 22h45m | 3h08m | 4h42m | 0.52 |
Twilight calendar was generated using Cartes du Ciel (Sky Charts).
See my blog post: Twilight Zone for the definitions of the different periods of twilight here: https://bobmoler.wordpress.com/2018/09/27/.
NASA Calendar of Planetary Events
Date Time Event
Apr 1 We 05:12 am Moon North Dec.: 23.7° N
1 We 06:21 am First Quarter
1 We Venus: 45.9° E
3 Fr 02:24 am Moon-Beehive: 1.3° S
3 Fr 10:39 am Venus-Pleiades: 0.3° S
7 Tu 02:08 pm Moon Perigee: 356900 km
7 Tu 10:35 pm Full Moon (super moon)
12 Su 10:58 pm Moon Descending Node
13 Mo 05:03 pm Moon South Dec.: 23.8° S
14 Tu 06:56 pm Last Quarter
14 Tu 07:04 pm Moon-Jupiter: 2.1° N
15 We 05:26 am Moon-Saturn: 2.6° N
16 Th 12:33 am Moon-Mars: 2.2° N
20 Mo 03:01 pm Moon Apogee: 406500 km
22 We 02:07 am Lyrid Meteor Shower: ZHR = 20
22 We 10:26 pm New Moon
26 Su 06:19 am Uranus Conjunction
26 Su 11:23 am Moon-Venus: 6.6° N
27 Mo 01:54 pm Moon Ascending Node
27 Mo Venus greatest brilliancy
28 Tu 11:23 am Moon North Dec.: 23.9° N
30 Th 09:17 am Moon-Beehive: 1.6° S
30 Th 04:38 pm First Quarter
May 1 Fr Venus: 38° E
Sky Events Calendar by Fred Espenak and Sumit Dutta (NASA’s GSFC),
http://eclipse.gsfc.nasa.gov/SKYCAL/SKYCAL.html.
Sun and Moon Rising and Setting Events
LU Ephemeris of Sky Events for Interlochen/TC April, 2020 Local time zone: EDT +-----------------------------------------------------------------------+ | DATE | SUN SUN DAYLIGHT| TWILIGHT* |MOON RISE OR ILLUM | | | RISE SET HOURS | END START |PHASE SET** TIME FRACTN| +=======================================================================+ |Wed 1| 07:22a 08:11p 12:48 | 09:15p 06:18a |F Qtr Set 04:23a 56%| |Thu 2| 07:20a 08:12p 12:51 | 09:17p 06:16a | Set 05:09a 67%| |Fri 3| 07:18a 08:13p 12:54 | 09:18p 06:14a | Set 05:48a 77%| |Sat 4| 07:17a 08:14p 12:57 | 09:20p 06:12a | Set 06:22a 86%| +------+-----------------------+----------------+-----------------------+ |Sun 5| 07:15a 08:16p 13:00 | 09:21p 06:10a | Set 06:53a 93%| |Mon 6| 07:13a 08:17p 13:03 | 09:23p 06:08a | Set 07:21a 98%| |Tue 7| 07:11a 08:18p 13:06 | 09:24p 06:06a |Full Rise 07:55p 100%| |Wed 8| 07:09a 08:19p 13:09 | 09:25p 06:04a | Rise 09:16p 99%| |Thu 9| 07:08a 08:21p 13:12 | 09:27p 06:02a | Rise 10:36p 95%| |Fri 10| 07:06a 08:22p 13:15 | 09:28p 06:00a | Rise 11:54p 88%| |Sat 11| 07:04a 08:23p 13:19 | 09:30p 05:58a | Rise 01:07a 80%| +------+-----------------------+----------------+-----------------------+ |Sun 12| 07:02a 08:24p 13:22 | 09:31p 05:56a | Rise 02:13a 70%| |Mon 13| 07:01a 08:26p 13:25 | 09:33p 05:54a | Rise 03:09a 60%| |Tue 14| 06:59a 08:27p 13:28 | 09:34p 05:52a |L Qtr Rise 03:56a 50%| |Wed 15| 06:57a 08:28p 13:30 | 09:36p 05:50a | Rise 04:34a 40%| |Thu 16| 06:55a 08:29p 13:33 | 09:37p 05:48a | Rise 05:05a 30%| |Fri 17| 06:54a 08:31p 13:36 | 09:39p 05:46a | Rise 05:32a 22%| |Sat 18| 06:52a 08:32p 13:39 | 09:40p 05:44a | Rise 05:55a 15%| +------+-----------------------+----------------+-----------------------+ |Sun 19| 06:50a 08:33p 13:42 | 09:42p 05:42a | Rise 06:17a 9%| |Mon 20| 06:49a 08:34p 13:45 | 09:43p 05:40a | Rise 06:37a 4%| |Tue 21| 06:47a 08:36p 13:48 | 09:45p 05:38a | Rise 06:58a 1%| |Wed 22| 06:45a 08:37p 13:51 | 09:46p 05:36a |New Set 08:15p 0%| |Thu 23| 06:44a 08:38p 13:54 | 09:48p 05:34a | Set 09:18p 1%| |Fri 24| 06:42a 08:39p 13:57 | 09:50p 05:32a | Set 10:21p 3%| |Sat 25| 06:41a 08:41p 13:59 | 09:51p 05:30a | Set 11:25p 8%| +------+-----------------------+----------------+-----------------------+ |Sun 26| 06:39a 08:42p 14:02 | 09:53p 05:29a | Set 12:27a 14%| |Mon 27| 06:37a 08:43p 14:05 | 09:54p 05:27a | Set 01:26a 22%| |Tue 28| 06:36a 08:44p 14:08 | 09:56p 05:25a | Set 02:20a 31%| |Wed 29| 06:34a 08:45p 14:11 | 09:57p 05:23a | Set 03:07a 41%| |Thu 30| 06:33a 08:47p 14:13 | 09:59p 05:21a |F Qtr Set 03:47a 52%| +-----------------------------------------------------------------------+ * Nautical Twilight ** Moonrise or moonset, whichever occurs between sunrise and sunset
Generated using my LookingUp for DOS program.
02/28/2020 – Ephemeris – Previewing March Skies
Ephemeris for Friday, February 28th. Today the Sun will be up for 11 hours and 5 minutes, setting at 6:28, and it will rise tomorrow at 7:21. The Moon, 3 days before first quarter, will set at 11:30 this evening.
Let’s look at the skies for the month of March. The Sun will pass the celestial equator as the promising season of spring will begin. Daylight hours in the Interlochen/Traverse City area and will increase from 11 hours and 11 minutes Sunday to 12 hours 45 minutes on the 31st. The altitude, or angle, of the Sun above the southern horizon at local noon will be 38 degrees Sunday and will ascend to nearly 50 degrees on the 31st. Spring will start on the 19th at 11:50 p.m. Part of the fault for that early date is the switch to daylight saving time this early in the year a while back. The Gregorian calendar reform of 1582 will keep the vernal equinox from falling much further back. So spring will come a bit early this year, calendar-wise.
The times given are for the Traverse City/Interlochen area of Michigan. They may be different for your location.
Addendum
March Evening Star Chart

Star Chart for March 2020 (10 p.m. EDT March 15, 2020). Click on image to enlarge. Created using my LookingUp program. Click on image to enlarge. Created using my LookingUp program.
The planets and stars are plotted for the 15th at 10 p.m. EDT in the evening and 6 a.m. for the morning chart. These are the chart times. The brilliant planet Venus is our Evening Star in the West at chart time. Note that Traverse City is located approximately 45 minutes behind our time meridian, West 75° longitude. (An hour 45 minutes behind our daylight saving time meridian during EDT).
March Morning Star Chart

Star Chart for March mornings 2020 (6 a.m. EST March 15, 2020). Click on image to enlarge. Created using my LookingUp program.
For a list of constellation names to go with the abbreviations click here.
- Pointer stars at the front of the bowl of the Big Dipper point to Polaris the North Star.
- The leaky bowl of the Big Dipper drips on Leo.
- Follow the arc of the handle of the Big Dipper to the star Arcturus.
- The Summer Triangle appears in red.
Twilight Limits, Nautical and Astronomical
| EST/EDT | |||||||
| Morning twilight | Evening twilight | Dark night | Moon | ||||
| Date | Astro. | Nautical | Nautical | Astro. | Start | End | Illum. |
| 2020-03-01 | 5h43m | 6h17m | 19h33m | 20h06m | 0h33m | 5h43m | 0.41 |
| 2020-03-02 | 5h41m | 6h15m | 19h34m | 20h08m | 1h36m | 5h41m | 0.52 |
| 2020-03-03 | 5h39m | 6h13m | 19h35m | 20h09m | 2h40m | 5h39m | 0.62 |
| 2020-03-04 | 5h37m | 6h11m | 19h36m | 20h10m | 3h42m | 5h37m | 0.73 |
| 2020-03-05 | 5h36m | 6h10m | 19h38m | 20h12m | 4h40m | 5h36m | 0.82 |
| 2020-03-06 | 5h34m | 6h08m | 19h39m | 20h13m | 5h31m | 5h34m | 0.91 |
| 2020-03-07 | 5h32m | 6h06m | 19h40m | 20h14m | – | – | 0.97 |
| 2020-03-08 | 6h30m | 7h04m | 20h42m | 21h16m | – | – | 0.97 |
| 2020-03-09 | 6h28m | 7h02m | 20h43m | 21h17m | – | – | 1 |
| 2020-03-10 | 6h26m | 7h01m | 20h44m | 21h18m | – | – | 1 |
| 2020-03-11 | 6h25m | 6h59m | 20h46m | 21h20m | 21h20m | 22h26m | 0.96 |
| 2020-03-12 | 6h23m | 6h57m | 20h47m | 21h21m | 21h21m | 23h45m | 0.9 |
| 2020-03-13 | 6h21m | 6h55m | 20h48m | 21h23m | 21h23m | – | 0.81 |
| 2020-03-14 | 6h19m | 6h53m | 20h50m | 21h24m | 21h24m | 1h01m | 0.71 |
| 2020-03-15 | 6h17m | 6h51m | 20h51m | 21h25m | 21h25m | 2h14m | 0.6 |
| 2020-03-16 | 6h15m | 6h49m | 20h52m | 21h27m | 21h27m | 3h21m | 0.49 |
| 2020-03-17 | 6h13m | 6h48m | 20h53m | 21h28m | 21h28m | 4h21m | 0.38 |
| 2020-03-18 | 6h11m | 6h46m | 20h55m | 21h30m | 21h30m | 5h13m | 0.29 |
| 2020-03-19 | 6h09m | 6h44m | 20h56m | 21h31m | 21h31m | 5h55m | 0.2 |
| 2020-03-20 | 6h11m | 6h46m | 21h01m | 21h36m | 21h36m | 6h11m | 0.12 |
| 2020-03-21 | 6h09m | 6h44m | 21h03m | 21h38m | 21h38m | 6h09m | 0.07 |
| 2020-03-22 | 6h07m | 6h42m | 21h04m | 21h39m | 21h39m | 6h07m | 0.03 |
| 2020-03-23 | 6h04m | 6h40m | 21h05m | 21h41m | 21h41m | 6h04m | 0 |
| 2020-03-24 | 6h02m | 6h38m | 21h07m | 21h42m | 21h42m | 6h02m | 0 |
| 2020-03-25 | 6h00m | 6h36m | 21h08m | 21h44m | 21h44m | 6h00m | 0.02 |
| 2020-03-26 | 5h58m | 6h34m | 21h10m | 21h45m | 22h23m | 5h58m | 0.05 |
| 2020-03-27 | 5h56m | 6h32m | 21h11m | 21h47m | 23h25m | 5h56m | 0.1 |
| 2020-03-28 | 5h54m | 6h30m | 21h12m | 21h48m | – | 5h54m | 0.17 |
| 2020-03-29 | 5h52m | 6h28m | 21h14m | 21h50m | 0h28m | 5h52m | 0.25 |
| 2020-03-30 | 5h50m | 6h26m | 21h15m | 21h51m | 1h31m | 5h50m | 0.35 |
| 2020-03-31 | 5h48m | 6h24m | 21h16m | 21h53m | 2h33m | 5h48m | 0.45 |
Twilight calendar was generated using Cartes du Ciel (Sky Charts).
See my blog post: Twilight Zone for the definitions of the different periods of twilight here: https://bobmoler.wordpress.com/2018/09/27/.
NASA Calendar of Planetary Events
Date Time Event
Mar 1 Su Venus: 44.6° E
2 Mo 02:57 pm First Quarter
4 We 09:58 am Moon Ascending Node
4 We 08:34 pm Moon North Dec.: 23.4° N
6 Fr 04:08 pm Moon-Beehive: 1.1° S
8 Su 08:09 am Neptune Conjunction
9 Mo 01:48 pm Full Moon
10 Tu 02:33 am Moon Perigee: 357100 km
16 Mo 05:34 am Last Quarter
16 Mo 09:00 pm Moon Descending Node
17 Tu 10:07 am Moon South Dec.: 23.5° S
18 We 04:19 am Moon-Mars: 0.8° N
18 We 06:18 am Moon-Jupiter: 1.6° N
18 We 08:04 pm Moon-Saturn: 2.3° N
19 Th 11:50 pm Vernal Equinox
20 Fr 06:24 am Mars-Jupiter: 0.7° N
21 Sa 01:48 pm Moon-Mercury: 4° N
23 Mo 09:59 pm Mercury Greatest Elongation: 27.8° W
24 Tu 05:28 am New Moon
24 Tu 11:23 am Moon Apogee: 406700 km
24 Tu 05:59 pm Venus Greatest Elongation: 46.1° E
31 Tu 12:51 pm Moon Ascending Node
31 Tu 04:00 pm Mars-Saturn: 0.9° N
Apr 1 We Venus: 45.9° E
All event times prior to 2 a.m. March 8 are given for UTC-5 Eastern Standard Time, after that time are given for UTC-4 Eastern Daylight Time
Sky Events Calendar by Fred Espenak and Sumit Dutta (NASA’s GSFC),
http://eclipse.gsfc.nasa.gov/SKYCAL/SKYCAL.html.
If you go to the above site you can print out a list like the above for the entire year or calendar pages for your time zone.
Sun and Moon Rising and Setting Events
LU Ephemeris of Sky Events for Interlochen/TC March, 2020 Local time zone: EST +-----------------------------------------------------------------------+ | DATE | SUN SUN DAYLIGHT| TWILIGHT* |MOON RISE OR ILLUM | | | RISE SET HOURS | END START |PHASE SET** TIME FRACTN| +=======================================================================+ |Sun 1| 07:19a 06:31p 11:11 | 07:34p 06:16a | Set 01:36a 42%| |Mon 2| 07:17a 06:32p 11:14 | 07:35p 06:14a |F Qtr Set 02:39a 52%| |Tue 3| 07:15a 06:33p 11:18 | 07:37p 06:12a | Set 03:41a 62%| |Wed 4| 07:14a 06:35p 11:21 | 07:38p 06:11a | Set 04:39a 72%| |Thu 5| 07:12a 06:36p 11:24 | 07:39p 06:09a | Set 05:31a 81%| |Fri 6| 07:10a 06:37p 11:27 | 07:40p 06:07a | Set 06:15a 89%| |Sat 7| 07:08a 06:39p 11:30 | 07:42p 06:05a | Set 06:54a 95%| +------+-----------------------+----------------+-----------------------+ | EDT | Time Change | | | |Sun 8| 08:07a 07:40p 11:33 | 08:43p 07:04a | Set 08:27a 99%| |Mon 9| 08:05a 07:41p 11:36 | 08:44p 07:02a |Full Rise 07:46p 100%| |Tue 10| 08:03a 07:43p 11:39 | 08:46p 07:00a | Rise 09:07p 97%| |Wed 11| 08:01a 07:44p 11:42 | 08:47p 06:58a | Rise 10:26p 92%| |Thu 12| 07:59a 07:45p 11:46 | 08:48p 06:56a | Rise 11:45p 85%| |Fri 13| 07:57a 07:47p 11:49 | 08:50p 06:54a | Rise 01:01a 75%| |Sat 14| 07:56a 07:48p 11:52 | 08:51p 06:53a | Rise 02:14a 65%| +------+-----------------------+----------------+-----------------------+ |Sun 15| 07:54a 07:49p 11:55 | 08:52p 06:51a | Rise 03:21a 54%| |Mon 16| 07:52a 07:50p 11:58 | 08:54p 06:49a |L Qtr Rise 04:21a 44%| |Tue 17| 07:50a 07:52p 12:01 | 08:55p 06:47a | Rise 05:12a 34%| |Wed 18| 07:48a 07:53p 12:04 | 08:56p 06:45a | Rise 05:55a 25%| |Thu 19| 07:46a 07:54p 12:07 | 08:58p 06:43a | Rise 06:31a 17%| |Fri 20| 07:44a 07:55p 12:11 | 08:59p 06:41a | Rise 07:00a 10%| |Sat 21| 07:43a 07:57p 12:14 | 09:00p 06:39a | Rise 07:26a 5%| +------+-----------------------+----------------+-----------------------+ |Sun 22| 07:41a 07:58p 12:17 | 09:02p 06:37a | Rise 07:49a 2%| |Mon 23| 07:39a 07:59p 12:20 | 09:03p 06:35a | Rise 08:11a 0%| |Tue 24| 07:37a 08:01p 12:23 | 09:04p 06:33a |New Set 08:21p 1%| |Wed 25| 07:35a 08:02p 12:26 | 09:06p 06:31a | Set 09:21p 2%| |Thu 26| 07:33a 08:03p 12:29 | 09:07p 06:29a | Set 10:22p 6%| |Fri 27| 07:31a 08:04p 12:32 | 09:09p 06:27a | Set 11:25p 11%| |Sat 28| 07:30a 08:06p 12:36 | 09:10p 06:25a | Set 12:28a 18%| +------+-----------------------+----------------+-----------------------+ |Sun 29| 07:28a 08:07p 12:39 | 09:11p 06:23a | Set 01:31a 26%| |Mon 30| 07:26a 08:08p 12:42 | 09:13p 06:21a | Set 02:32a 35%| |Tue 31| 07:24a 08:09p 12:45 | 09:14p 06:20a | Set 03:30a 45%| +-----------------------------------------------------------------------+ * Nautical Twilight ** Moonrise or moonset, whichever occurs between sunrise and sunset
Generated using my LookingUp for DOS program.
12/31/2019 – Ephemeris – Previewing the skies of January 2020
Ephemeris for New Years Eve, Tuesday, December 31st. The Sun will rise at 8:20. It’ll be up for 8 hours and 51 minutes, setting at 5:11. The Moon, 2 days before first quarter, will set at 10:47 this evening.
Tomorrow starts a new year and a new decade. The daylight hours start slowly getting longer and will accelerate during the month. Daylight hours will increase from 8 hours and 52 minutes tomorrow to 9 hours and 45 minutes on the 31st. The sunrise time will decrease from 8:20 tomorrow to 8:03 at months end. The sunset times will increase from 5:12 tomorrow to 5:49 on the 31st. Along with that the altitude of the sun at noon will increase from 22 degrees tomorrow to nearly 28 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 12:51 p.m. in January.
The times given are for the Traverse City/Interlochen area of Michigan. They may be different for your location.
Addendum
January Evening Star Chart

Star Chart for January 2020 (9 p.m. EST January 15, 2020). Click on image to enlarge.Created using my LookingUp program. Click on image to enlarge. Created using my LookingUp program.
The planets and stars are plotted for the 15th at 9 p.m. EST in the evening and 6 a.m. for the morning chart. These are the chart times. The brilliant planet Venus will enter the sky at the chart time during the latter half of the month in the southwest. Note that Traverse City is located approximately 45 minutes behind our time meridian, West 75° longitude. (An hour 45 minutes behind our daylight saving time meridian during EDT).
January Morning Star Chart

Star Chart for January mornings 2020 (6 a.m. EST January 15, 2020). Click on image to enlarge. Created using my LookingUp program.
For a list of constellation names to go with the abbreviations click here.
- Pointer stars at the front of the bowl of the Big Dipper point to Polaris the North Star.
- The leaky bowl of the Big Dipper drips on Leo.
- Follow the arc of the handle of the Big Dipper to the star Arcturus, then
- Follow the spike to Spica.
- QuadR on the star charts is the radiant of the Quadrantid meteor shower which peaks on the 4th at 3:20 a.m. EST (8:20 UT).
Twilight Limits, Nautical and Astronomical
| EST | |||||||
| Morning twilight | Evening twilight | Dark night | Moon | ||||
| Date | Astro. | Nautical | Nautical | Astro. | Start | End | Illum. |
| 2020-01-01 | 6h35m | 7h10m | 18h21m | 18h57m | 23h48m | 6h35m | 0.38 |
| 2020-01-02 | 6h35m | 7h10m | 18h22m | 18h57m | – | 6h35m | 0.48 |
| 2020-01-03 | 6h35m | 7h11m | 18h23m | 18h58m | 0h49m | 6h35m | 0.58 |
| 2020-01-04 | 6h35m | 7h11m | 18h24m | 18h59m | 1h50m | 6h35m | 0.67 |
| 2020-01-05 | 6h35m | 7h11m | 18h25m | 19h00m | 2h52m | 6h35m | 0.76 |
| 2020-01-06 | 6h35m | 7h11m | 18h26m | 19h01m | 3h57m | 6h35m | 0.85 |
| 2020-01-07 | 6h35m | 7h10m | 18h27m | 19h02m | 5h03m | 6h35m | 0.92 |
| 2020-01-08 | 6h35m | 7h10m | 18h28m | 19h03m | 6h10m | 6h35m | 0.97 |
| 2020-01-09 | 6h35m | 7h10m | 18h29m | 19h04m | – | – | 0.97 |
| 2020-01-10 | 6h35m | 7h10m | 18h30m | 19h05m | – | – | 1 |
| 2020-01-11 | 6h35m | 7h10m | 18h31m | 19h06m | – | – | 1 |
| 2020-01-12 | 6h34m | 7h10m | 18h32m | 19h07m | 19h07m | 19h44m | 0.97 |
| 2020-01-13 | 6h34m | 7h09m | 18h33m | 19h08m | 19h08m | 21h01m | 0.92 |
| 2020-01-14 | 6h34m | 7h09m | 18h34m | 19h09m | 19h09m | 22h17m | 0.84 |
| 2020-01-15 | 6h34m | 7h08m | 18h35m | 19h10m | 19h10m | 23h32m | 0.74 |
| 2020-01-16 | 6h33m | 7h08m | 18h36m | 19h11m | 19h11m | – | 0.63 |
| 2020-01-17 | 6h33m | 7h08m | 18h37m | 19h12m | 19h12m | 0h46m | 0.51 |
| 2020-01-18 | 6h32m | 7h07m | 18h38m | 19h13m | 19h13m | 1h59m | 0.39 |
| 2020-01-19 | 6h32m | 7h07m | 18h39m | 19h14m | 19h14m | 3h12m | 0.28 |
| 2020-01-20 | 6h31m | 7h06m | 18h41m | 19h15m | 19h15m | 4h22m | 0.19 |
| 2020-01-21 | 6h31m | 7h05m | 18h42m | 19h16m | 19h16m | 5h30m | 0.11 |
| 2020-01-22 | 6h30m | 7h05m | 18h43m | 19h17m | 19h17m | 6h30m | 0.05 |
| 2020-01-23 | 6h30m | 7h04m | 18h44m | 19h19m | 19h19m | 6h30m | 0.01 |
| 2020-01-24 | 6h29m | 7h03m | 18h45m | 19h20m | 19h20m | 6h29m | 0 |
| 2020-01-25 | 6h28m | 7h03m | 18h46m | 19h21m | 19h21m | 6h28m | 0.01 |
| 2020-01-26 | 6h28m | 7h02m | 18h48m | 19h22m | 19h33m | 6h28m | 0.04 |
| 2020-01-27 | 6h27m | 7h01m | 18h49m | 19h23m | 20h35m | 6h27m | 0.08 |
| 2020-01-28 | 6h26m | 7h00m | 18h50m | 19h25m | 21h36m | 6h26m | 0.14 |
| 2020-01-29 | 6h25m | 6h59m | 18h51m | 19h26m | 22h37m | 6h25m | 0.22 |
| 2020-01-30 | 6h24m | 6h59m | 18h53m | 19h27m | 23h37m | 6h24m | 0.3 |
| 2020-01-31 | 6h23m | 6h58m | 18h54m | 19h28m | – | 6h23m | 0.39 |
Twilight calendar was generated using Cartes du Ciel (Sky Charts).
See my blog post: Twilight Zone for the definitions of the different periods of twilight here: https://bobmoler.wordpress.com/2018/09/27/.
NASA Calendar of Planetary Events
Date Time Event
Jan 1 We Venus: 34.6° E
1 We 08:30 pm Moon Apogee: 404600 km
2 Th 11:45 pm First Quarter
4 Sa 03:20 am Quadrantid Meteor Shower: ZHR = 120
5 Su 04:59 am Perihelion: 0.9832 AU
9 Th 06:29 pm Moon Ascending Node
10 Fr 01:03 am Moon North Dec.: 23.2° N
10 Fr 10:01 am Mercury Superior Solar Conjunction
10 Fr 02:10 pm Penumbral Lunar Eclipse
(Europe, Africa, Asia, Aus)
10 Fr 02:21 pm Full Moon
11 Sa 06:54 pm Moon-Beehive: 1° S
13 Mo 09:23 am Saturn Solar Conjunction
13 Mo 03:20 pm Moon Perigee: 366000 km
17 Fr 07:58 am Last Quarter
17 Fr 06:03 pm Mars-Antares: 4.8° N
20 Mo 02:13 pm Moon-Mars: 2.4° S
22 We 03:31 pm Moon Descending Node
22 We 09:42 pm Moon-Jupiter: 0.4° N
22 We 10:37 pm Moon South Dec.: 23.2° S
24 Fr 04:42 pm New Moon
28 Tu 02:29 am Moon-Venus: 4.5° N
29 We 04:28 pm Moon Apogee: 405400 km
Feb 1 Sa Venus: 40.4° E
All event times are given for UTC-5 Eastern Standard Time.
Sky Events Calendar by Fred Espenak and Sumit Dutta (NASA’s GSFC),
http://eclipse.gsfc.nasa.gov/SKYCAL/SKYCAL.html.
If you go to the above site you can print out a list like the above for the entire year or calendar pages for your time zone.
Sun and Moon Rising and Setting Events
LU Ephemeris of Sky Events for Interlochen/TC January, 2020 Local time zone: EST +-----------------------------------------------------------------------+ | DATE | SUN SUN DAYLIGHT| TWILIGHT* |MOON RISE OR ILLUM | | | RISE SET HOURS | END START |PHASE SET** TIME FRACTN| +=======================================================================+ |Wed 1| 08:20a 05:12p 08:52 | 06:22p 07:09a | Set 11:48p 39%| |Thu 2| 08:20a 05:13p 08:53 | 06:23p 07:09a |F Qtr Set 12:48a 48%| |Fri 3| 08:20a 05:14p 08:54 | 06:24p 07:09a | Set 01:49a 58%| |Sat 4| 08:20a 05:15p 08:55 | 06:25p 07:10a | Set 02:52a 67%| +------+-----------------------+----------------+-----------------------+ |Sun 5| 08:20a 05:16p 08:56 | 06:26p 07:10a | Set 03:56a 76%| |Mon 6| 08:19a 05:17p 08:57 | 06:27p 07:09a | Set 05:02a 84%| |Tue 7| 08:19a 05:18p 08:58 | 06:28p 07:09a | Set 06:09a 91%| |Wed 8| 08:19a 05:19p 09:00 | 06:29p 07:09a | Set 07:15a 96%| |Thu 9| 08:19a 05:20p 09:01 | 06:30p 07:09a | Set 08:15a 99%| |Fri 10| 08:18a 05:21p 09:02 | 06:31p 07:09a |Full Rise 05:20p 100%| |Sat 11| 08:18a 05:23p 09:04 | 06:32p 07:09a | Rise 06:29p 98%| +------+-----------------------+----------------+-----------------------+ |Sun 12| 08:18a 05:24p 09:05 | 06:33p 07:09a | Rise 07:44p 94%| |Mon 13| 08:17a 05:25p 09:07 | 06:34p 07:08a | Rise 09:01p 87%| |Tue 14| 08:17a 05:26p 09:09 | 06:35p 07:08a | Rise 10:17p 78%| |Wed 15| 08:16a 05:27p 09:11 | 06:36p 07:08a | Rise 11:32p 67%| |Thu 16| 08:16a 05:29p 09:12 | 06:37p 07:07a | Rise 12:46a 56%| |Fri 17| 08:15a 05:30p 09:14 | 06:38p 07:07a |L Qtr Rise 01:59a 45%| |Sat 18| 08:15a 05:31p 09:16 | 06:40p 07:06a | Rise 03:11a 34%| +------+-----------------------+----------------+-----------------------+ |Sun 19| 08:14a 05:32p 09:18 | 06:41p 07:06a | Rise 04:22a 24%| |Mon 20| 08:13a 05:34p 09:20 | 06:42p 07:05a | Rise 05:30a 15%| |Tue 21| 08:12a 05:35p 09:22 | 06:43p 07:05a | Rise 06:32a 9%| |Wed 22| 08:12a 05:36p 09:24 | 06:44p 07:04a | Rise 07:27a 4%| |Thu 23| 08:11a 05:38p 09:27 | 06:45p 07:03a | Rise 08:14a 1%| |Fri 24| 08:10a 05:39p 09:29 | 06:47p 07:03a |New Set 05:27p 0%| |Sat 25| 08:09a 05:41p 09:31 | 06:48p 07:02a | Set 06:29p 1%| +------+-----------------------+----------------+-----------------------+ |Sun 26| 08:08a 05:42p 09:33 | 06:49p 07:01a | Set 07:32p 4%| |Mon 27| 08:07a 05:43p 09:36 | 06:50p 07:00a | Set 08:35p 9%| |Tue 28| 08:06a 05:45p 09:38 | 06:52p 06:59a | Set 09:36p 15%| |Wed 29| 08:05a 05:46p 09:40 | 06:53p 06:59a | Set 10:37p 22%| |Thu 30| 08:04a 05:48p 09:43 | 06:54p 06:58a | Set 11:37p 31%| |Fri 31| 08:03a 05:49p 09:45 | 06:55p 06:57a | Set 12:38a 40%| +-----------------------------------------------------------------------+ * Nautical Twilight ** Moonrise or moonset, whichever occurs between sunrise and sunset Generated using my LookingUp for DOS program.
11/29/2019 – Ephemeris – Previewing December skies
Ephemeris for Friday, November 29th. Today the Sun will be up for 9 hours and 7 minutes, setting at 5:04, and it will rise tomorrow at 7:58. The Moon, 3 days past new, will set at 7:54 this evening.
December is the month with the shortest daylight hours. Winter will officially arrive at the winter solstice on the 21st at 11:19 p.m. There will be little movement in the sunset times: In the Traverse City/Interlochen area this will be from 5:03 Sunday, 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 Sunday to 8:20 on the 31st. There is also little movement of daylight hours. The noontime Sun will hang around 22 to 23 degrees above the southern horizon all month. The Geminid meteors on the 14th will have competition with the nearly full moon. And to change the subject, tonight the planet Saturn will appear just above the crescent Moon.
The times given are for the Traverse City/Interlochen area of Michigan. They may be different for your location.
Addendum
December Evening Star Chart

Star Chart for December 2019 (9 p.m. EST December 15, 2019). Click on image to enlarge.Created using my LookingUp program. Click on image to enlarge.
Credit my LookingUp program.
The planets and stars are plotted for the 15th at 9 p.m. EST in the evening and 6 a.m. for the morning chart. These are the chart times. Note that Traverse City is located approximately 45 minutes behind our time meridian, West 75° longitude. (An hour 45 minutes behind our daylight saving time meridian during EDT).
December Morning Star Chart

Star Chart for December mornings 2019 (6 a.m. EST December 15, 2019). Click on image to enlarge. Created using my LookingUp program. Credit my LookingUp program.
For a list of constellation names to go with the abbreviations click here.
- Pointer stars at the front of the bowl of the Big Dipper point to Polaris the North Star.
- The leaky bowl of the Big Dipper drips on Leo.
- Follow the arc of the handle of the Big Dipper to the star Arcturus, then
- Follow the spike to Spica.
- The Summer Triangle is in red.
- GemR on the star charts is the radiant of the Geminid meteor shower which peaks on the 14th.
Twilight Limits, Nautical and Astronomical
| EST | |||||||
| Traverse City | Morning twilight | Evening twilight | Dark night | Moon | |||
| Date | Astro. | Nautical | Nautical | Astro. | Start | End | Illum. |
| 2019-12-01 | 6h20m | 6h55m | 18h16m | 18h51m | 21h56m | 6h20m | 0.28 |
| 2019-12-02 | 6h21m | 6h56m | 18h15m | 18h51m | 22h58m | 6h21m | 0.38 |
| 2019-12-03 | 6h22m | 6h57m | 18h15m | 18h50m | 0h00m | 6h22m | 0.47 |
| 2019-12-04 | 6h23m | 6h58m | 18h15m | 18h50m | – | 6h23m | 0.57 |
| 2019-12-05 | 6h24m | 6h59m | 18h15m | 18h50m | 1h01m | 6h24m | 0.66 |
| 2019-12-06 | 6h25m | 7h00m | 18h15m | 18h50m | 2h02m | 6h25m | 0.75 |
| 2019-12-07 | 6h25m | 7h01m | 18h15m | 18h50m | 3h03m | 6h25m | 0.83 |
| 2019-12-08 | 6h26m | 7h02m | 18h15m | 18h50m | 4h05m | 6h26m | 0.9 |
| 2019-12-09 | 6h27m | 7h02m | 18h15m | 18h50m | 5h09m | 6h27m | 0.95 |
| 2019-12-10 | 6h28m | 7h03m | 18h15m | 18h50m | 6h15m | 6h28m | 0.99 |
| 2019-12-11 | 6h29m | 7h04m | 18h15m | 18h50m | – | – | 0.99 |
| 2019-12-12 | 6h29m | 7h05m | 18h15m | 18h51m | – | – | 1 |
| 2019-12-13 | 6h30m | 7h06m | 18h15m | 18h51m | – | – | 0.99 |
| 2019-12-14 | 6h31m | 7h06m | 18h15m | 18h51m | 18h51m | 19h36m | 0.95 |
| 2019-12-15 | 6h32m | 7h07m | 18h16m | 18h51m | 18h51m | 20h46m | 0.89 |
| 2019-12-16 | 6h32m | 7h08m | 18h16m | 18h52m | 18h52m | 21h59m | 0.8 |
| 2019-12-17 | 6h33m | 7h08m | 18h16m | 18h52m | 18h52m | 23h14m | 0.7 |
| 2019-12-18 | 6h30m | 7h05m | 18h13m | 18h48m | 18h48m | – | 0.59 |
| 2019-12-19 | 6h30m | 7h06m | 18h13m | 18h49m | 18h49m | 0h28m | 0.47 |
| 2019-12-20 | 6h31m | 7h06m | 18h14m | 18h49m | 18h49m | 1h42m | 0.35 |
| 2019-12-21 | 6h31m | 7h07m | 18h14m | 18h50m | 18h50m | 2h55m | 0.24 |
| 2019-12-22 | 6h32m | 7h07m | 18h15m | 18h50m | 18h50m | 4h09m | 0.15 |
| 2019-12-23 | 6h32m | 7h08m | 18h15m | 18h51m | 18h51m | 5h22m | 0.08 |
| 2019-12-24 | 6h33m | 7h08m | 18h16m | 18h51m | 18h51m | 6h33m | 0.03 |
| 2019-12-25 | 6h33m | 7h09m | 18h16m | 18h52m | 18h52m | 6h33m | 0 |
| 2019-12-26 | 6h33m | 7h09m | 18h17m | 18h52m | 18h52m | 6h33m | 0 |
| 2019-12-27 | 6h34m | 7h09m | 18h18m | 18h53m | 18h53m | 6h34m | 0.03 |
| 2019-12-28 | 6h34m | 7h10m | 18h18m | 18h54m | 19h40m | 6h34m | 0.07 |
| 2019-12-29 | 6h34m | 7h10m | 18h19m | 18h54m | 20h43m | 6h34m | 0.13 |
| 2019-12-30 | 6h35m | 7h10m | 18h20m | 18h55m | 21h46m | 6h35m | 0.21 |
| 2019-12-31 | 6h35m | 7h10m | 18h20m | 18h56m | 22h47m | 6h35m | 0.29 |
Twilight calendar was generated using Cartes du Ciel (Sky Charts).
See my blog post: Twilight Zone for the definitions of the different periods of twilight here: https://bobmoler.wordpress.com/2018/09/27/.
NASA Calendar of Planetary Events
Date Time Event
Dec 1 Su Venus: 27.9° E
4 We 1:58 am First Quarter
4 We 11:09 pm Moon Apogee: 404400 km
11 We 6:03 am Venus-Saturn: 1.8° N
12 Th 12:12 am Full Moon
13 Fr 9:15 am Moon Ascending Node
13 Fr 3:57 pm Moon North Dec.: 23.2° N
14 Sa 1:25 pm Geminid Shower: ZHR = 120
15 Su 10:54 am Moon-Beehive: 1° S
18 We 3:30 pm Moon Perigee: 370300 km
18 We 11:57 pm Last Quarter
21 Sa 11:19 pm Winter Solstice
22 Su 8:49 pm Moon-Mars: 3.6° S
22 Su 10:00 pm Ursid Shower: ZHR = 10
26 Th 12:13 am New Moon
26 Th 12:18 am Annular Solar Eclipse (Asia, Australia)
26 Th 8:01 am Moon Descending Node
26 Th 3:11 pm Moon South Dec.: 23.2° S
27 Fr 1:06 pm Jupiter Conjunction
28 Sa 8:32 pm Moon-Venus: 1.1° N
Jan 1 We Venus: 34.6° E
All event times are given for UTC-5 Eastern Standard Time.
Sky Events Calendar by Fred Espenak and Sumit Dutta (NASA’s GSFC),
http://eclipse.gsfc.nasa.gov/SKYCAL/SKYCAL.html.
If you go to the above site you can print out a list like the above for the entire year or calendar pages for your time zone.
Sun and Moon Rising and Setting Events
LU Ephemeris of Sky Events for Interlochen/TC December, 2019 Local time zone: EST +-----------------------------------------------------------------------+ | DATE | SUN SUN DAYLIGHT| TWILIGHT* |MOON RISE OR ILLUM | | | RISE SET HOURS | END START |PHASE SET** TIME FRACTN| +=======================================================================+ |Sun 1| 07:59a 05:03p 09:04 | 06:13p 06:50a | Set 09:56p 29%| |Mon 2| 08:00a 05:03p 09:02 | 06:12p 06:51a | Set 10:58p 38%| |Tue 3| 08:01a 05:03p 09:01 | 06:12p 06:52a | Set 12:00a 47%| |Wed 4| 08:02a 05:02p 08:59 | 06:12p 06:53a |F Qtr Set 01:01a 57%| |Thu 5| 08:04a 05:02p 08:58 | 06:12p 06:54a | Set 02:01a 66%| |Fri 6| 08:05a 05:02p 08:57 | 06:12p 06:55a | Set 03:02a 75%| |Sat 7| 08:06a 05:02p 08:56 | 06:12p 06:56a | Set 04:05a 82%| +------+-----------------------+----------------+-----------------------+ |Sun 8| 08:07a 05:02p 08:55 | 06:12p 06:56a | Set 05:09a 89%| |Mon 9| 08:07a 05:02p 08:54 | 06:12p 06:57a | Set 06:15a 95%| |Tue 10| 08:08a 05:02p 08:53 | 06:12p 06:58a | Set 07:22a 98%| |Wed 11| 08:09a 05:02p 08:52 | 06:12p 06:59a | Set 08:28a 100%| |Thu 12| 08:10a 05:02p 08:51 | 06:12p 07:00a |Full Rise 05:38p 99%| |Fri 13| 08:11a 05:02p 08:50 | 06:12p 07:01a | Rise 06:33p 96%| |Sat 14| 08:12a 05:02p 08:50 | 06:13p 07:01a | Rise 07:36p 91%| +------+-----------------------+----------------+-----------------------+ |Sun 15| 08:13a 05:02p 08:49 | 06:13p 07:02a | Rise 08:46p 83%| |Mon 16| 08:13a 05:03p 08:49 | 06:13p 07:03a | Rise 09:59p 74%| |Tue 17| 08:14a 05:03p 08:48 | 06:13p 07:03a | Rise 11:14p 64%| |Wed 18| 08:15a 05:03p 08:48 | 06:14p 07:04a | Rise 12:28a 52%| |Thu 19| 08:15a 05:04p 08:48 | 06:14p 07:05a |L Qtr Rise 01:42a 41%| |Fri 20| 08:16a 05:04p 08:48 | 06:15p 07:05a | Rise 02:55a 30%| |Sat 21| 08:16a 05:04p 08:48 | 06:15p 07:06a | Rise 04:09a 20%| +------+-----------------------+----------------+-----------------------+ |Sun 22| 08:17a 05:05p 08:48 | 06:16p 07:06a | Rise 05:22a 12%| |Mon 23| 08:17a 05:05p 08:48 | 06:16p 07:07a | Rise 06:34a 6%| |Tue 24| 08:18a 05:06p 08:48 | 06:17p 07:07a | Rise 07:41a 2%| |Wed 25| 08:18a 05:07p 08:48 | 06:17p 07:07a | Rise 08:42a 0%| |Thu 26| 08:18a 05:07p 08:48 | 06:18p 07:08a |New Set 05:40p 1%| |Fri 27| 08:19a 05:08p 08:49 | 06:19p 07:08a | Set 06:38p 3%| |Sat 28| 08:19a 05:09p 08:49 | 06:19p 07:08a | Set 07:40p 8%| +------+-----------------------+----------------+-----------------------+ |Sun 29| 08:19a 05:10p 08:50 | 06:20p 07:09a | Set 08:43p 14%| |Mon 30| 08:19a 05:10p 08:50 | 06:21p 07:09a | Set 09:45p 22%| |Tue 31| 08:20a 05:11p 08:51 | 06:22p 07:09a | Set 10:47p 30%| +-----------------------------------------------------------------------+ * Nautical Twilight ** Moonrise or moonset, whichever occurs between sunrise and sunset
Generated using my LookingUp for DOS program.
11/01/2019 – Ephemeris – Previewing November Skies and a GTAS meeting
Ephemeris for Friday, November 1st. The Sun will rise at 8:20. It’ll be up for 10 hours and 11 minutes, setting at 6:31. The Moon, 3 days before first quarter, will set at 10:13 this evening.
Let’s take a look at November skies. The time change back to standard time will set us back an hour on sunrise and sunset times, so it’ll be brighter in the morning and darker in the evening this Sunday. Out east in New York, the Sun is already setting before 5 p.m. It will never set that early here. The Sun is up for 10 hours 11 minutes today and that will dwindle down to 9 hours and 5 minutes at month’s end. The Sun reaches 30 and a half angular degrees above the southern horizon at local apparent solar noon, which is 12:25 p.m. this month.
The big event this month will be the transit of the planet Mercury across the face of the Sun on the morning of November 11th. Mercury is too small to be seen with eclipse glasses from left over from the eclipse of two years ago. Project the Sun’s image using a telescope or binoculars on a white card. Don’t look through the instruments or finders. The event starts at sunrise at 7:35 and runs to 1:04 p.m. I’ll have more on it next week.
Tonight there will be the monthly meeting of the Grand Traverse Astronomical Society at 8 p.m. followed by a star party at 9 p.m, if it’s clear at Northwestern Michigan College’s Rogers Observatory on Birmley Road.
The times given are for the Traverse City/Interlochen area of Michigan. They may be different for your location.
Addendum
November Evening Star Chart

Star Chart for November 2019 (9 p.m. EST November 15, 2019). Click on image to enlarge.Created using my LookingUp program. Click on image to enlarge.
The planets and stars are plotted for the 15th at 9 p.m. EST in the evening and 6 a.m. for the morning chart. These are the chart times. Note that Traverse City is located approximately 45 minutes behind our time meridian, West 75° longitude. (An hour 45 minutes behind our daylight saving time meridian during EDT).
November Morning Star Chart

Star Chart for November mornings 2019 (6 a.m. EST November 15, 2019). Click on image to enlarge. Created using my LookingUp program.
For a list of constellation names to go with the abbreviations click here.
- Pointer stars at the front of the bowl of the Big Dipper point to Polaris the North Star.
- Follow the arc of the handle of the Big Dipper to the star Arcturus
- The Summer Triangle is in red.
- TauR on the evening star chart can be used as the radiant for the North and South Taurid meteor showers.
- LeoR on the morning star chart is the radiant of the Leonid meteor shower which peaks between the 16th to 21st.
Twilight Limits, Nautical and Astronomical
| EDT | |||||||
| Traverse City | Morning twilight | Evening twilight | Dark night | Moon | |||
| Date | Astro. | Nautical | Nautical | Astro. | Start | End | Illum. |
| 2019-11-01 | 6h46m | 7h20m | 19h40m | 20h13m | 22h13m | 6h46m | 0.26 |
| 2019-11-02 | 6h48m | 7h22m | 19h38m | 20h12m | 23h10m | 6h48m | 0.36 |
| EST | |||||||
| 2019-11-03 | 5h49m | 6h23m | 18h37m | 19h11m | 23h09m | 5h49m | 0.46 |
| 2019-11-04 | 5h50m | 6h24m | 18h36m | 19h10m | – | 5h50m | 0.56 |
| 2019-11-05 | 5h51m | 6h25m | 18h35m | 19h09m | 0h10m | 5h51m | 0.65 |
| 2019-11-06 | 5h52m | 6h26m | 18h33m | 19h08m | 1h12m | 5h52m | 0.74 |
| 2019-11-07 | 5h54m | 6h28m | 18h32m | 19h06m | 2h13m | 5h54m | 0.82 |
| 2019-11-08 | 5h55m | 6h29m | 18h31m | 19h05m | 3h14m | 5h55m | 0.89 |
| 2019-11-09 | 5h56m | 6h30m | 18h30m | 19h04m | 4h15m | 5h56m | 0.94 |
| 2019-11-10 | 5h57m | 6h31m | 18h29m | 19h03m | 5h16m | 5h57m | 0.98 |
| 2019-11-11 | 5h58m | 6h33m | 18h28m | 19h02m | – | – | 0.98 |
| 2019-11-12 | 5h59m | 6h34m | 18h27m | 19h02m | – | – | 1 |
| 2019-11-13 | 6h01m | 6h35m | 18h26m | 19h01m | – | – | 1 |
| 2019-11-14 | 6h02m | 6h36m | 18h25m | 19h00m | – | – | 0.97 |
| 2019-11-15 | 6h03m | 6h37m | 18h25m | 18h59m | 18h59m | 19h45m | 0.92 |
| 2019-11-16 | 6h04m | 6h38m | 18h24m | 18h58m | 18h58m | 20h41m | 0.85 |
| 2019-11-17 | 6h05m | 6h40m | 18h23m | 18h57m | 18h57m | 21h46m | 0.76 |
| 2019-11-18 | 6h06m | 6h41m | 18h22m | 18h57m | 18h57m | 22h56m | 0.66 |
| 2019-11-19 | 6h07m | 6h42m | 18h21m | 18h56m | 18h56m | – | 0.55 |
| 2019-11-20 | 6h08m | 6h43m | 18h21m | 18h55m | 18h55m | 0h09m | 0.43 |
| 2019-11-21 | 6h10m | 6h44m | 18h20m | 18h55m | 18h55m | 1h24m | 0.31 |
| 2019-11-22 | 6h11m | 6h45m | 18h19m | 18h54m | 18h54m | 2h39m | 0.21 |
| 2019-11-23 | 6h12m | 6h47m | 18h19m | 18h54m | 18h54m | 3h55m | 0.12 |
| 2019-11-24 | 6h13m | 6h48m | 18h18m | 18h53m | 18h53m | 5h11m | 0.05 |
| 2019-11-25 | 6h14m | 6h49m | 18h18m | 18h53m | 18h53m | 6h14m | 0.01 |
| 2019-11-26 | 6h15m | 6h50m | 18h17m | 18h52m | 18h52m | 6h15m | 0 |
| 2019-11-27 | 6h16m | 6h51m | 18h17m | 18h52m | 18h52m | 6h16m | 0.02 |
| 2019-11-28 | 6h17m | 6h52m | 18h17m | 18h52m | 18h59m | 6h17m | 0.06 |
| 2019-11-29 | 6h18m | 6h53m | 18h16m | 18h51m | 19h54m | 6h18m | 0.12 |
| 2019-11-30 | 6h19m | 6h54m | 18h16m | 18h51m | 20h54m | 6h19m | 0.19 |
Twilight calendar was generated using Cartes du Ciel (Sky Charts).
See my blog post: Twilight Zone for the definitions of the different periods of twilight here: https://bobmoler.wordpress.com/2018/09/27/.
NASA Calendar of Planetary Events
Date Time Event
Nov 1 Fr Venus: 20.8° E
1 Fr 4:40 pm Moon Descending Node
1 Fr 7:33 pm Moon South Dec.: 23° S
2 Sa 2:31 am Moon-Saturn: 0.6° N
4 Mo 5:23 am First Quarter
5 Tu 6:41 pm South Taurid Meteor Shower: ZHR = 10
7 Th 3:37 am Moon Apogee: 405100 km
9 Sa 2:18 pm Venus-Antares: 3.9° N
9 Sa 6:05 pm Mars-Spica: 2.8° N
11 Mo 10:17 am Mercury Inferior Conjunction (Transit)
12 Tu 8:34 am Full Moon
12 Tu 5:57 pm North Taurid Meteor Shower: ZHR = 15
16 Sa 3:48 am Moon Ascending Node
16 Sa 8:52 am Moon North Dec.: 23.2° N
18 Mo 12:15 am Leonid Meteor Shower: ZHR = 15
18 Mo 5:11 am Moon-Beehive: 0.9° S
19 Tu 4:11 pm Last Quarter
23 Sa 2:54 am Moon Perigee: 366700 km
24 Su 4:02 am Moon-Mars: 4.4° S
24 Su 7:17 am Venus-Jupiter: 1.4° N
26 Tu 10:06 am New Moon
28 Th 4:59 am Mercury Greatest Elongation: 20.1° W
28 Th 5:49 am Moon-Jupiter: 0.8° S
28 Th 1:50 pm Moon-Venus: 2° S
28 Th 11:13 pm Moon Descending Node
29 Fr 5:36 am Moon South Dec.: 23.2° S
29 Fr 4:12 pm Moon-Saturn: 1° N
Dec 1 Su Venus: 27.9° E
All event times are given for UTC-4 hr: Eastern Daylight Saving Time or UTC-5 Eastern Standard Time starting the 3rd.
Sky Events Calendar by Fred Espenak and Sumit Dutta (NASA’s GSFC),
http://eclipse.gsfc.nasa.gov/SKYCAL/SKYCAL.html.
If you go to the above site you can print out a list like the above for the entire year or calendar pages for your time zone.
Sun and Moon Rising and Setting Events
LU Ephemeris of Sky Events for Interlochen/TC
November, 2019 Local time zone: EDT
+-----------------------------------------------------------------------+
| DATE | SUN SUN DAYLIGHT| TWILIGHT* |MOON RISE OR ILLUM |
| | RISE SET HOURS | END START |PHASE SET** TIME FRACTN|
+=======================================================================+
|Fri 1| 08:20a 06:31p 10:11 | 07:36p 07:15a | Set 10:13p 27%|
|Sat 2| 08:21a 06:30p 10:08 | 07:35p 07:16a | Set 11:09p 36%|
+------+-----------------------+----------------+-----------------------+
| EST | Time Change | | |
|Sun 3| 07:23a 05:29p 10:05 | 06:34p 06:17a | Set 11:09p 46%|
|Mon 4| 07:24a 05:27p 10:03 | 06:32p 06:19a |F Qtr Set 12:10a 55%|
|Tue 5| 07:25a 05:26p 10:00 | 06:31p 06:20a | Set 01:12a 65%|
|Wed 6| 07:27a 05:25p 09:57 | 06:30p 06:21a | Set 02:13a 73%|
|Thu 7| 07:28a 05:23p 09:55 | 06:29p 06:22a | Set 03:13a 81%|
|Fri 8| 07:30a 05:22p 09:52 | 06:28p 06:24a | Set 04:14a 88%|
|Sat 9| 07:31a 05:21p 09:50 | 06:27p 06:25a | Set 05:16a 93%|
+------+-----------------------+----------------+-----------------------+
|Sun 10| 07:32a 05:20p 09:47 | 06:26p 06:26a | Set 06:19a 97%|
|Mon 11| 07:34a 05:19p 09:45 | 06:25p 06:27a | Set 07:24a 100%|
|Tue 12| 07:35a 05:17p 09:42 | 06:24p 06:28a |Full Rise 05:45p 100%|
|Wed 13| 07:36a 05:16p 09:40 | 06:23p 06:30a | Rise 06:18p 98%|
|Thu 14| 07:38a 05:15p 09:37 | 06:22p 06:31a | Rise 06:57p 94%|
|Fri 15| 07:39a 05:14p 09:35 | 06:21p 06:32a | Rise 07:45p 88%|
|Sat 16| 07:40a 05:13p 09:33 | 06:21p 06:33a | Rise 08:41p 80%|
+------+-----------------------+----------------+-----------------------+
|Sun 17| 07:42a 05:12p 09:30 | 06:20p 06:34a | Rise 09:46p 70%|
|Mon 18| 07:43a 05:12p 09:28 | 06:19p 06:36a | Rise 10:56p 60%|
|Tue 19| 07:44a 05:11p 09:26 | 06:18p 06:37a |L Qtr Rise 12:09a 49%|
|Wed 20| 07:46a 05:10p 09:24 | 06:18p 06:38a | Rise 01:24a 37%|
|Thu 21| 07:47a 05:09p 09:22 | 06:17p 06:39a | Rise 02:39a 27%|
|Fri 22| 07:48a 05:08p 09:20 | 06:16p 06:40a | Rise 03:55a 17%|
|Sat 23| 07:49a 05:08p 09:18 | 06:16p 06:41a | Rise 05:10a 9%|
+------+-----------------------+----------------+-----------------------+
|Sun 24| 07:51a 05:07p 09:16 | 06:15p 06:42a | Rise 06:26a 4%|
|Mon 25| 07:52a 05:06p 09:14 | 06:15p 06:43a | Rise 07:41a 1%|
|Tue 26| 07:53a 05:06p 09:12 | 06:14p 06:45a |New Set 05:27p 0%|
|Wed 27| 07:54a 05:05p 09:10 | 06:14p 06:46a | Set 06:10p 2%|
|Thu 28| 07:56a 05:05p 09:08 | 06:13p 06:47a | Set 06:59p 7%|
|Fri 29| 07:57a 05:04p 09:07 | 06:13p 06:48a | Set 07:54p 13%|
|Sat 30| 07:58a 05:04p 09:05 | 06:13p 06:49a | Set 08:54p 20%|
+-----------------------------------------------------------------------+
* Nautical Twilight
** Moonrise or moonset, whichever occurs between sunrise and sunset
Generated using my LookingUp for DOS program.
10-01-2019 – Ephemeris – Previewing October skies
Ephemeris for Tuesday, October 1st. Today the Sun will be up for 11 hours and 43 minutes, setting at 7:23, and it will rise tomorrow at 7:41. The Moon, 3 days past new, will set at 9:28 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 will drop from 11 hours and 43 minutes today to 10 hours 14 minutes on the 31st. The altitude of the Sun above the southern horizon at local noon will be 42 degrees today, and will descend to 31 degrees 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. The planets Saturn and Jupiter will appear low in the southwest in the early evening, and Venus just might be visible low in the west-southwest a half hour after sunset by month’s end.
The times given are for the Traverse City/Interlochen area of Michigan. They may be different for your location.
Addendum
October Evening Star Chart

Star Chart for October 2019 (9 p.m. EDT October 15, 2019). Click on image to enlarge.Created using my LookingUp program. Click on image to enlarge.
The planets and stars are plotted for the 15th at 9 p.m. EDT in the evening and 6 a.m. for the morning chart. These are the chart times. Note that Traverse City is located approximately 45 minutes behind our time meridian, West 75° longitude. (An hour 45 minutes behind our daylight saving time meridian during EDT). To duplicate the star positions on a planisphere you may have to set it to 1 hour 45 minutes earlier than the current time.
October Morning Star Chart

Star Chart for October mornings 2019 (6 a.m. EDT October 15, 2019). Click on image to enlarge. Created using my LookingUp program.
For a list of constellation names to go with the abbreviations click here.
- Pointer stars at the front of the bowl of the Big Dipper point to Polaris the North Star.
- Leaky dipper drips on Leo.
- Follow the arc of the handle of the Big Dipper to the star Arcturus.
- The Summer Triangle is in red.
- DracR – Draconid Radiant – Peak 9th – Zenithal Hourly Rate = 10
- OriR – Orionid Radiant – Peak 22nd – Zenithal Hourly Rate = 20
Twilight Limits, Nautical and Astronomical
| EDT | |||||||
| Traverse City |
Morning twilight | Evening twilight | Dark night | Moon | |||
| Date | Astro. | Nautical | Nautical | Astro. | Start | End | Illum. |
| 2019-10-01 | 6h08m | 6h42m | 20h30m | 21h04m | 21h28m | 6h08m | 0.13 |
| 2019-10-02 | 6h09m | 6h44m | 20h28m | 21h02m | 22h04m | 6h09m | 0.22 |
| 2019-10-03 | 6h11m | 6h45m | 20h26m | 21h00m | 22h46m | 6h11m | 0.32 |
| 2019-10-04 | 6h12m | 6h46m | 20h24m | 20h58m | 23h33m | 6h12m | 0.43 |
| 2019-10-05 | 6h13m | 6h47m | 20h22m | 20h56m | – | 6h13m | 0.53 |
| 2019-10-06 | 6h15m | 6h49m | 20h20m | 20h54m | 0h25m | 6h15m | 0.63 |
| 2019-10-07 | 6h16m | 6h50m | 20h19m | 20h53m | 1h22m | 6h16m | 0.73 |
| 2019-10-08 | 6h17m | 6h51m | 20h17m | 20h51m | 2h21m | 6h17m | 0.81 |
| 2019-10-09 | 6h18m | 6h52m | 20h15m | 20h49m | 3h21m | 6h18m | 0.88 |
| 2019-10-10 | 6h20m | 6h53m | 20h13m | 20h47m | 4h22m | 6h20m | 0.93 |
| 2019-10-11 | 6h21m | 6h55m | 20h12m | 20h45m | 5h23m | 6h21m | 0.93 |
| 2019-10-12 | 6h22m | 6h56m | 20h10m | 20h44m | – | – | 0.97 |
| 2019-10-13 | 6h23m | 6h57m | 20h08m | 20h42m | – | – | 1 |
| 2019-10-14 | 6h25m | 6h58m | 20h06m | 20h40m | – | – | 1 |
| 2019-10-15 | 6h26m | 7h00m | 20h05m | 20h38m | – | – | 0.98 |
| 2019-10-16 | 6h27m | 7h01m | 20h03m | 20h37m | 20h37m | 20h44m | 0.94 |
| 2019-10-17 | 6h28m | 7h02m | 20h01m | 20h35m | 20h35m | 21h18m | 0.89 |
| 2019-10-18 | 6h29m | 7h03m | 20h00m | 20h34m | 20h34m | 21h59m | 0.81 |
| 2019-10-19 | 6h31m | 7h04m | 19h58m | 20h32m | 20h32m | 22h49m | 0.72 |
| 2019-10-20 | 6h32m | 7h06m | 19h57m | 20h30m | 20h30m | 23h48m | 0.62 |
| 2019-10-21 | 6h33m | 7h07m | 19h55m | 20h29m | 20h29m | – | 0.5 |
| 2019-10-22 | 6h34m | 7h08m | 19h54m | 20h27m | 20h27m | 0h55m | 0.39 |
| 2019-10-23 | 6h36m | 7h09m | 19h52m | 20h26m | 20h26m | 2h08m | 0.28 |
| 2019-10-24 | 6h37m | 7h11m | 19h51m | 20h24m | 20h24m | 3h24m | 0.17 |
| 2019-10-25 | 6h38m | 7h12m | 19h49m | 20h23m | 20h23m | 4h42m | 0.09 |
| 2019-10-26 | 6h39m | 7h13m | 19h48m | 20h21m | 20h21m | 6h00m | 0.03 |
| 2019-10-27 | 6h40m | 7h14m | 19h46m | 20h20m | 20h20m | 6h40m | 0 |
| 2019-10-28 | 6h42m | 7h15m | 19h45m | 20h19m | 20h19m | 6h42m | 0 |
| 2019-10-29 | 6h43m | 7h17m | 19h43m | 20h17m | 20h17m | 6h43m | 0.04 |
| 2019-10-30 | 6h44m | 7h18m | 19h42m | 20h16m | 20h36m | 6h44m | 0.09 |
| 2019-10-31 | 6h45m | 7h19m | 19h41m | 20h15m | 21h22m | 6h45m | 0.17 |
Twilight calendar was generated using Cartes du Ciel (Sky Charts).
See my blog post: Twilight Zone for the definitions of the different periods of twilight here: https://bobmoler.wordpress.com/2018/09/27/.
NASA Calendar of Planetary Events
Date Time Event
Oct 1 Tu Venus: 13.1° E
3 Th 4:23 pm Moon-Jupiter: 2° S
5 Sa 12:01 pm Moon South Dec.: 22.8° S
5 Sa 12:47 pm First Quarter
5 Sa 2:49 pm Moon Descending Node
5 Sa 4:48 pm Moon-Saturn: 0.3° N
10 Th 2:29 pm Moon Apogee: 405900 km
13 Su 5:08 pm Full Moon
19 Sa 11:59 pm Mercury Elongation: 24.6° E
20 Su 3:28 am Moon Ascending Node
20 Su 4:07 am Moon North Dec.: 22.9° N
21 Mo 8:39 am Last Quarter
21 Mo 7:12 pm Orionid Shower: ZHR = 20
22 Tu 12:41 am Moon-Beehive: 0.7° S
26 Sa 6:41 am Moon Perigee: 361300 km
27 Su 10:38 pm New Moon
28 Mo 3:17 am Uranus Opposition
29 Tu 8:33 am Moon-Venus: 4° S
30 We 11:22 pm Mercury-Venus: 2.5° N
31 Th 9:22 am Moon-Jupiter: 1.4° S
Nov 1 Fr Venus: 20.8° E
All event times are given for UTC-4 hr: Eastern Daylight Saving Time.
Sky Events Calendar by Fred Espenak and Sumit Dutta (NASA’s GSFC),
http://eclipse.gsfc.nasa.gov/SKYCAL/SKYCAL.html.
If you go to the above site you can print out a list like the above for the entire year or calendar pages for your time zone.
Sun and Moon Rising and Setting Events
LU Ephemeris of Sky Events for Interlochen/TC
October, 2019 Local time zone: EDT
+-----------------------------------------------------------------------+
| DATE | SUN SUN DAYLIGHT| TWILIGHT* |MOON RISE OR ILLUM |
| | RISE SET HOURS | END START |PHASE SET** TIME FRACTN|
+=======================================================================+
|Tue 1| 07:40a 07:23p 11:43 | 08:26p 06:37a | Set 09:28p 14%|
|Wed 2| 07:41a 07:21p 11:40 | 08:24p 06:38a | Set 10:04p 23%|
|Thu 3| 07:42a 07:20p 11:37 | 08:22p 06:39a | Set 10:46p 33%|
|Fri 4| 07:44a 07:18p 11:34 | 08:21p 06:41a | Set 11:33p 43%|
|Sat 5| 07:45a 07:16p 11:30 | 08:19p 06:42a |F Qtr Set 12:25a 53%|
+------+-----------------------+----------------+-----------------------+
|Sun 6| 07:46a 07:14p 11:27 | 08:17p 06:43a | Set 01:21a 63%|
|Mon 7| 07:47a 07:12p 11:24 | 08:15p 06:44a | Set 02:21a 72%|
|Tue 8| 07:49a 07:10p 11:21 | 08:13p 06:46a | Set 03:21a 80%|
|Wed 9| 07:50a 07:09p 11:18 | 08:12p 06:47a | Set 04:22a 87%|
|Thu 10| 07:51a 07:07p 11:15 | 08:10p 06:48a | Set 05:23a 92%|
|Fri 11| 07:52a 07:05p 11:12 | 08:08p 06:49a | Set 06:24a 97%|
|Sat 12| 07:54a 07:03p 11:09 | 08:06p 06:50a | Set 07:25a 99%|
+------+-----------------------+----------------+-----------------------+
|Sun 13| 07:55a 07:02p 11:06 | 08:05p 06:52a |Full Rise 07:25p 100%|
|Mon 14| 07:56a 07:00p 11:03 | 08:03p 06:53a | Rise 07:49p 99%|
|Tue 15| 07:57a 06:58p 11:00 | 08:01p 06:54a | Rise 08:14p 96%|
|Wed 16| 07:59a 06:56p 10:57 | 08:00p 06:55a | Rise 08:44p 91%|
|Thu 17| 08:00a 06:55p 10:54 | 07:58p 06:57a | Rise 09:18p 84%|
|Fri 18| 08:01a 06:53p 10:51 | 07:56p 06:58a | Rise 09:59p 76%|
|Sat 19| 08:03a 06:51p 10:48 | 07:55p 06:59a | Rise 10:49p 66%|
+------+-----------------------+----------------+-----------------------+
|Sun 20| 08:04a 06:50p 10:45 | 07:53p 07:00a | Rise 11:48p 56%|
|Mon 21| 08:05a 06:48p 10:42 | 07:52p 07:02a |L Qtr Rise 12:55a 45%|
|Tue 22| 08:07a 06:46p 10:39 | 07:50p 07:03a | Rise 02:08a 34%|
|Wed 23| 08:08a 06:45p 10:36 | 07:49p 07:04a | Rise 03:24a 23%|
|Thu 24| 08:09a 06:43p 10:33 | 07:47p 07:05a | Rise 04:41a 14%|
|Fri 25| 08:11a 06:42p 10:31 | 07:46p 07:06a | Rise 06:00a 7%|
|Sat 26| 08:12a 06:40p 10:28 | 07:44p 07:08a | Rise 07:18a 2%|
+------+-----------------------+----------------+-----------------------+
|Sun 27| 08:13a 06:39p 10:25 | 07:43p 07:09a |New Set 06:51p 0%|
|Mon 28| 08:15a 06:37p 10:22 | 07:41p 07:10a | Set 07:22p 1%|
|Tue 29| 08:16a 06:36p 10:19 | 07:40p 07:11a | Set 07:57p 5%|
|Wed 30| 08:17a 06:34p 10:16 | 07:39p 07:13a | Set 08:36p 11%|
|Thu 31| 08:19a 06:33p 10:14 | 07:37p 07:14a | Set 09:22p 18%|
+-----------------------------------------------------------------------+
* Nautical Twilight
** Moonrise or moonset, whichever occurs between sunrise and sunset
Generated using my LookingUp for DOS program.
09/02/2019 – Ephemeris – Previewing September Skies
Ephemeris for Labor Day, Monday, September 2nd. Today the Sun will be up for 13 hours and 11 minutes, setting at 8:18, and it will rise tomorrow at 7:07. The Moon, half way from new to first quarter, will set at 10:29 this evening.
Let’s look at to the skies of September which started yesterday. The Sun will moving at its greatest speed in its retreat to the south. Daylight hours in the Interlochen/Traverse City area will drop from 13 hours and 11 minutes today to 11 hours 46 minutes on the 30th. The altitude of the Sun above the southern horizon at local noon will be 53 degrees today, and will descend to 42 degrees on the 30th. The Straits area will see the Sun a degree lower. The season of summer is getting short, so enjoy it while you can. Summer ends and autumn begins at 3:49 a.m. on September 23rd. Mars is in conjunction with the Sun today and Mercury will be in conjunction with the Sun tomorrow.
The times given are for the Traverse City/Interlochen area of Michigan. They may be different for your location.
Addendum
September Evening Star Chart

Star Chart for September 2019 (10 p.m. EDT September 15, 2019). Click on image to enlarge.Created using my LookingUp program. Click on image to enlarge.
The planets and stars are plotted for the 15th at 10 p.m. EDT in the evening and 5 a.m. for the morning chart. These are the chart times. Note that Traverse City is located approximately 45 minutes behind our time meridian, West 75° longitude. (An hour 45 minutes behind our daylight saving time meridian during EDT). To duplicate the star positions on a planisphere you may have to set it to 1 hour 45 minutes earlier than the current time.
September Morning Star Chart

Star Chart for September mornings 2019 (6 a.m. EDT September 15, 2019). Click on image to enlarge. Created using my LookingUp program.
For a list of constellation names to go with the abbreviations click here.
- Pointer stars at the front of the bowl of the Big Dipper point to Polaris the North Star.
- Leaky dipper drips on Leo.
- Follow the arc of the handle of the Big Dipper to the star Arcturus.
- The Summer Triangle is in red.
Twilight Limits, Nautical and Astronomical
| EDT | |||||||
| Traverse City | Morning twilight | Evening twilight | Dark night | Moon | |||
| Date | Astro. | Nautical | Nautical | Astro. | Start | End | Illum. |
| 2019-09-01 | 5h25m | 6h04m | 21h29m | 22h08m | 22h08m | 5h25m | 0.08 |
| 2019-09-02 | 5h27m | 6h05m | 21h27m | 22h05m | 22h29m | 5h27m | 0.17 |
| 2019-09-03 | 5h28m | 6h06m | 21h25m | 22h03m | 23h00m | 5h28m | 0.27 |
| 2019-09-04 | 5h30m | 6h08m | 21h23m | 22h01m | 23h33m | 5h30m | 0.37 |
| 2019-09-05 | 5h31m | 6h09m | 21h21m | 21h59m | – | 5h31m | 0.48 |
| 2019-09-06 | 5h33m | 6h10m | 21h19m | 21h56m | 0h10m | 5h33m | 0.59 |
| 2019-09-07 | 5h35m | 6h12m | 21h17m | 21h54m | 0h52m | 5h35m | 0.69 |
| 2019-09-08 | 5h36m | 6h13m | 21h15m | 21h52m | 1h40m | 5h36m | 0.78 |
| 2019-09-09 | 5h38m | 6h14m | 21h13m | 21h50m | 2h32m | 5h38m | 0.86 |
| 2019-09-10 | 5h39m | 6h16m | 21h11m | 21h48m | 3h29m | 5h39m | 0.92 |
| 2019-09-11 | 5h41m | 6h17m | 21h09m | 21h45m | 4h29m | 5h41m | 0.92 |
| 2019-09-12 | 5h42m | 6h18m | 21h07m | 21h43m | 5h30m | 5h42m | 0.96 |
| 2019-09-13 | 5h43m | 6h20m | 21h05m | 21h41m | – | – | 0.99 |
| 2019-09-14 | 5h45m | 6h21m | 21h03m | 21h39m | – | – | 1 |
| 2019-09-15 | 5h46m | 6h22m | 21h01m | 21h37m | – | – | 0.99 |
| 2019-09-16 | 5h48m | 6h23m | 20h59m | 21h35m | – | – | 0.96 |
| 2019-09-17 | 5h49m | 6h25m | 20h57m | 21h33m | 21h33m | 21h45m | 0.91 |
| 2019-09-18 | 5h51m | 6h26m | 20h55m | 21h30m | 21h30m | 22h11m | 0.85 |
| 2019-09-19 | 5h52m | 6h27m | 20h53m | 21h28m | 21h28m | 22h42m | 0.77 |
| 2019-09-20 | 5h53m | 6h29m | 20h51m | 21h26m | 21h26m | 23h19m | 0.67 |
| 2019-09-21 | 5h55m | 6h30m | 20h49m | 21h24m | 21h24m | – | 0.57 |
| 2019-09-22 | 5h56m | 6h31m | 20h47m | 21h22m | 21h22m | 0h03m | 0.46 |
| 2019-09-23 | 5h57m | 6h32m | 20h45m | 21h20m | 21h20m | 0h57m | 0.35 |
| 2019-09-24 | 5h59m | 6h34m | 20h43m | 21h18m | 21h18m | 2h01m | 0.24 |
| 2019-09-25 | 6h00m | 6h35m | 20h41m | 21h16m | 21h16m | 3h12m | 0.14 |
| 2019-09-26 | 6h01m | 6h36m | 20h39m | 21h14m | 21h14m | 4h30m | 0.07 |
| 2019-09-27 | 6h03m | 6h37m | 20h37m | 21h12m | 21h12m | 5h49m | 0.02 |
| 2019-09-28 | 6h04m | 6h39m | 20h35m | 21h10m | 21h10m | 6h04m | 0 |
| 2019-09-29 | 6h05m | 6h40m | 20h33m | 21h08m | 21h08m | 6h05m | 0.01 |
| 2019-09-30 | 6h07m | 6h41m | 20h32m | 21h06m | 21h06m | 6h07m | 0.06 |
Twilight calendar was generated using Cartes du Ciel (Sky Charts).
See my blog post: Twilight Zone for the definitions of the different periods of twilight here: https://bobmoler.wordpress.com/2018/09/27/.
NASA Calendar of Planetary Events
Date Time Event
Sep 1 Su Venus: 5.2° E
2 Mo 6:18 am Mars Conjunction
3 Tu 9:26 pm Mercury Superior Conj.
5 Th 11:10 pm First Quarter
6 Fr 2:52 am Moon-Jupiter: 2.4° S
8 Su 5:39 am Moon South Dec.: 22.5° S
8 Su 9:53 am Moon-Saturn: 0°
8 Su 1:35 pm Moon Descending Node
10 Tu 2:18 am Neptune Opposition
13 Fr 9:32 am Moon Apogee: 406400 km
14 Sa 12:33 am Full Moon
20 Fr 12:14 pm Moon-Aldebaran: 2.8° S
21 Sa 10:41 pm Last Quarter
22 Su 9:54 pm Moon North Dec.: 22.7° N
23 Mo 2:30 am Moon Ascending Node
23 Mo 3:49 am Autumnal Equinox
24 Tu 5:15 pm Moon-Beehive: 0.4° S
27 Fr 10:27 pm Moon Perigee: 357800 km
28 Sa 2:26 pm New Moon
29 Su 12:13 am Mercury-Spica: 1.3° N
Oct 1 Tu Venus: 13.1° E
All event times are given for UTC-4 hr: Eastern Daylight Saving Time.
Sky Events Calendar by Fred Espenak and Sumit Dutta (NASA’s GSFC),
http://eclipse.gsfc.nasa.gov/SKYCAL/SKYCAL.html.
If you go to the above site you can print out a list like the above for the entire year or calendar pages for your time zone.
Sun and Moon Rising and Setting Events
LU Ephemeris of Sky Events for Interlochen/TC September, 2019 Local time zone: EDT +-----------------------------------------------------------------------+ | DATE | SUN SUN DAYLIGHT| TWILIGHT* |MOON RISE OR ILLUM | | | RISE SET HOURS | END START |PHASE SET** TIME FRACTN| +=======================================================================+ |Sun 1| 07:04a 08:19p 13:14 | 09:26p 05:58a | Set 10:00p 10%| |Mon 2| 07:06a 08:18p 13:11 | 09:24p 05:59a | Set 10:29p 18%| |Tue 3| 07:07a 08:16p 13:08 | 09:22p 06:01a | Set 10:59p 28%| |Wed 4| 07:08a 08:14p 13:05 | 09:20p 06:02a | Set 11:32p 38%| |Thu 5| 07:09a 08:12p 13:02 | 09:18p 06:03a |F Qtr Set 12:09a 49%| |Fri 6| 07:10a 08:10p 12:59 | 09:15p 06:05a | Set 12:52a 59%| |Sat 7| 07:11a 08:08p 12:56 | 09:13p 06:06a | Set 01:39a 69%| +------+-----------------------+----------------+-----------------------+ |Sun 8| 07:13a 08:07p 12:53 | 09:11p 06:07a | Set 02:32a 77%| |Mon 9| 07:14a 08:05p 12:50 | 09:09p 06:09a | Set 03:29a 85%| |Tue 10| 07:15a 08:03p 12:47 | 09:07p 06:10a | Set 04:29a 91%| |Wed 11| 07:16a 08:01p 12:44 | 09:05p 06:11a | Set 05:29a 96%| |Thu 12| 07:17a 07:59p 12:41 | 09:03p 06:13a | Set 06:30a 99%| |Fri 13| 07:19a 07:57p 12:38 | 09:01p 06:14a | Set 07:31a 100%| |Sat 14| 07:20a 07:55p 12:35 | 08:59p 06:15a |Full Rise 08:36p 99%| +------+-----------------------+----------------+-----------------------+ |Sun 15| 07:21a 07:53p 12:32 | 08:57p 06:17a | Rise 08:58p 97%| |Mon 16| 07:22a 07:51p 12:29 | 08:55p 06:18a | Rise 09:21p 93%| |Tue 17| 07:23a 07:50p 12:26 | 08:53p 06:19a | Rise 09:45p 87%| |Wed 18| 07:24a 07:48p 12:23 | 08:51p 06:21a | Rise 10:11p 80%| |Thu 19| 07:26a 07:46p 12:20 | 08:49p 06:22a | Rise 10:42p 71%| |Fri 20| 07:27a 07:44p 12:17 | 08:47p 06:23a | Rise 11:19p 62%| |Sat 21| 07:28a 07:42p 12:14 | 08:45p 06:24a |L Qtr Rise 12:03a 51%| +------+-----------------------+----------------+-----------------------+ |Sun 22| 07:29a 07:40p 12:10 | 08:43p 06:26a | Rise 12:57a 40%| |Mon 23| 07:30a 07:38p 12:07 | 08:41p 06:27a | Rise 02:01a 30%| |Tue 24| 07:32a 07:36p 12:04 | 08:40p 06:28a | Rise 03:13a 20%| |Wed 25| 07:33a 07:34p 12:01 | 08:38p 06:29a | Rise 04:30a 11%| |Thu 26| 07:34a 07:33p 11:58 | 08:36p 06:31a | Rise 05:49a 5%| |Fri 27| 07:35a 07:31p 11:55 | 08:34p 06:32a | Rise 07:09a 1%| |Sat 28| 07:36a 07:29p 11:52 | 08:32p 06:33a |New Set 07:56p 0%| +------+-----------------------+----------------+-----------------------+ |Sun 29| 07:38a 07:27p 11:49 | 08:30p 06:34a | Set 08:25p 2%| |Mon 30| 07:39a 07:25p 11:46 | 08:28p 06:36a | Set 08:55p 7%| +-----------------------------------------------------------------------+ * Nautical Twilight ** Moonrise or moonset, whichever occurs between sunrise and sunset
Generated using my LookingUp for DOS program.
08/01/2019 – Ephemeris – Previewing August skies
Ephemeris for Thursday, August 1st. Today the Sun will be up for 14 hours and 40 minutes, setting at 9:08, and it will rise tomorrow at 6:29. The Moon, 1 day past new, will set at 9:54 this evening.
Let’s look ahead at the month of August. Daylight hours will decrease from 14 hours and 40 minutes today to 13 hours 17 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 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 during the morning hours of the 13th, by then the Moon will be nearly full. On the nights between now and then when the moon has set these meteor numbers will be building to the peak. Jupiter and Saturn will be our easily visible evening planets.
The times given are for the Traverse City/Interlochen area of Michigan. They may be different for your location.
Addendum
August Evening Star Chart

Star Chart for August 2019 (10 p.m. EDT August 15, 2019). Click on image to enlarge.Created using my LookingUp program. Click on image to enlarge.
The planets and stars are plotted for the 15th at 10 p.m. EDT in the evening and 5 a.m. for the morning chart. These are the chart times. Note that Traverse City is located approximately 45 minutes behind our time meridian, West 75° longitude. (An hour 45 minutes behind our daylight saving time meridian during EDT). To duplicate the star positions on a planisphere you may have to set it to 1 hour 45 minutes earlier than the current time.
Note the chart times are for the 15th. For each week before the 15th add ½ hour (28 minutes if you’re picky). For each week after the 15th subtract ½ hour. The planet positions are updated each Wednesday on this blog. For planet positions on dates other than the 15th.
August Morning Star Chart

Star Chart for August mornings 2019 (5 a.m. EDT August 15, 2019). Click on image to enlarge. Created using my LookingUp program.
For a list of constellation names to go with the abbreviations click here.
- Pointer stars at the front of the bowl of the Big Dipper point to Polaris the North Star.
- Leaky dipper drips on Leo.
- Follow the arc of the handle of the Big Dipper to the star Arcturus, and
- Extend like a spike to Spica.
- The Summer Triangle is in red.
- PerR is the radiant of the Perseid meteor shower (Peaks on the 13th)
Twilight Limits, Nautical and Astronomical
| EDT | |||||||
| Traverse City |
Morning twilight | Evening twilight | Dark night | Moon | |||
| Date | Astro. | Nautical | Nautical | Astro. | Start | End | Illum. |
| 2019-08-01 | 4h30m | 5h18m | 22h27m | 23h16m | 23h16m | 4h30m | 0.01 |
| 2019-08-02 | 4h31m | 5h20m | 22h26m | 23h14m | 23h14m | 4h31m | 0.04 |
| 2019-08-03 | 4h33m | 5h21m | 22h24m | 23h12m | 23h12m | 4h33m | 0.11 |
| 2019-08-04 | 4h35m | 5h23m | 22h22m | 23h10m | 23h33m | 4h35m | 0.2 |
| 2019-08-05 | 4h37m | 5h24m | 22h21m | 23h07m | – | 4h37m | 0.3 |
| 2019-08-06 | 4h39m | 5h26m | 22h19m | 23h05m | 0h01m | 4h39m | 0.42 |
| 2019-08-07 | 4h41m | 5h27m | 22h17m | 23h03m | 0h30m | 4h41m | 0.53 |
| 2019-08-08 | 4h43m | 5h29m | 22h15m | 23h01m | 1h00m | 4h43m | 0.64 |
| 2019-08-09 | 4h45m | 5h30m | 22h14m | 22h59m | 1h33m | 4h45m | 0.74 |
| 2019-08-10 | 4h47m | 5h32m | 22h12m | 22h57m | 2h11m | 4h47m | 0.83 |
| 2019-08-11 | 4h49m | 5h33m | 22h10m | 22h54m | 2h54m | 4h49m | 0.9 |
| 2019-08-12 | 4h51m | 5h35m | 22h08m | 22h52m | 3h44m | 4h51m | 0.9 |
| 2019-08-13 | 4h52m | 5h36m | 22h06m | 22h50m | 4h38m | 4h52m | 0.95 |
| 2019-08-14 | 4h54m | 5h38m | 22h04m | 22h48m | – | – | 0.98 |
| 2019-08-15 | 4h56m | 5h39m | 22h03m | 22h46m | – | – | 1 |
| 2019-08-16 | 4h58m | 5h41m | 22h01m | 22h43m | – | – | 0.99 |
| 2019-08-17 | 5h00m | 5h42m | 21h59m | 22h41m | – | – | 0.97 |
| 2019-08-18 | 5h01m | 5h43m | 21h57m | 22h39m | – | – | 0.93 |
| 2019-08-19 | 5h03m | 5h45m | 21h55m | 22h37m | 22h37m | 22h53m | 0.87 |
| 2019-08-20 | 5h05m | 5h46m | 21h53m | 22h34m | 22h34m | 23h16m | 0.8 |
| 2019-08-21 | 5h07m | 5h48m | 21h51m | 22h32m | 22h32m | 23h41m | 0.72 |
| 2019-08-22 | 5h08m | 5h49m | 21h49m | 22h30m | 22h30m | – | 0.62 |
| 2019-08-23 | 5h10m | 5h51m | 21h47m | 22h28m | 22h28m | 0h10m | 0.52 |
| 2019-08-24 | 5h12m | 5h52m | 21h45m | 22h25m | 22h25m | 0h43m | 0.41 |
| 2019-08-25 | 5h14m | 5h54m | 21h43m | 22h23m | 22h23m | 1h23m | 0.3 |
| 2019-08-26 | 5h15m | 5h55m | 21h41m | 22h21m | 22h21m | 2h13m | 0.2 |
| 2019-08-27 | 5h17m | 5h56m | 21h39m | 22h19m | 22h19m | 3h13m | 0.11 |
| 2019-08-28 | 5h19m | 5h58m | 21h37m | 22h16m | 22h16m | 4h23m | 0.05 |
| 2019-08-29 | 5h20m | 5h59m | 21h35m | 22h14m | 22h14m | 5h20m | 0.01 |
| 2019-08-30 | 5h22m | 6h01m | 21h33m | 22h12m | 22h12m | 5h22m | 0 |
| 2019-08-31 | 5h24m | 6h02m | 21h31m | 22h10m | 22h10m | 5h24m | 0.03 |
Twilight calendar was generated using Cartes du Ciel (Sky Charts).
See my blog post: Twilight Zone for the definitions of the different periods of twilight here: https://bobmoler.wordpress.com/2018/09/27/.
NASA Calendar of Planetary Events
Aug 1 Th Venus: 3.6° W 2 Fr 3:08 am Moon Perigee: 359400 km 7 We 1:31 pm First Quarter 9 Fr 6:53 pm Moon-Jupiter: 2.6° S 9 Fr 6:59 pm Mercury Elongation: 19° W 12 Mo 12:28 am Moon South Dec.: 22.4° S 12 Mo 6:05 am Moon-Saturn: 0° 12 Mo 10:45 am Moon Descending Node 12 Mo 12:29 pm Jupiter-Antares: 6.9° N 13 Tu 2:53 am Perseid Shower: ZHR = 90 14 We 1:44 am Venus Superior Conj. 15 Th 8:29 am Full Moon 17 Sa 12:24 am Mercury-Beehive: 1.2° S 17 Sa 6:50 am Moon Apogee: 406200 km 23 Fr 10:56 am Last Quarter 24 Sa 5:24 am Moon-Aldebaran: 2.5° S 26 Mo 1:53 pm Moon North Dec.: 22.5° N 26 Mo 9:50 pm Moon Ascending Node 28 We 7:31 am Moon-Beehive: 0.2° S 30 Fr 6:37 am New Moon 30 Fr 11:57 am Moon Perigee: 357200 km Sep 1 Su Venus: 5.2° E
All event times are given for UTC-4 hr: Eastern Daylight Saving Time.
Sky Events Calendar by Fred Espenak and Sumit Dutta (NASA’s GSFC),
http://eclipse.gsfc.nasa.gov/SKYCAL/SKYCAL.html.
If you go to the above site you can print out a list like the above for the entire year or calendar pages for your time zone.
Sun and Moon Rising and Setting Events
LU Ephemeris of Sky Events for Interlochen/TC
August, 2019 Local time zone: EDT
+-----------------------------------------------------------------------+
| DATE | SUN SUN DAYLIGHT| TWILIGHT* |MOON RISE OR ILLUM |
| | RISE SET HOURS | END START |PHASE SET** TIME FRACTN|
+=======================================================================+
|Thu 1| 06:28a 09:08p 14:40 | 10:24p 05:12a | Set 09:54p 1%|
|Fri 2| 06:29a 09:07p 14:37 | 10:22p 05:14a | Set 10:31p 5%|
|Sat 3| 06:31a 09:06p 14:35 | 10:20p 05:15a | Set 11:03p 12%|
+------+-----------------------+----------------+-----------------------+
|Sun 4| 06:32a 09:04p 14:32 | 10:19p 05:17a | Set 11:33p 21%|
|Mon 5| 06:33a 09:03p 14:30 | 10:17p 05:18a | Set 12:01a 31%|
|Tue 6| 06:34a 09:02p 14:27 | 10:15p 05:20a | Set 12:29a 42%|
|Wed 7| 06:35a 09:00p 14:25 | 10:14p 05:21a |F Qtr Set 01:00a 53%|
|Thu 8| 06:36a 08:59p 14:22 | 10:12p 05:23a | Set 01:33a 64%|
|Fri 9| 06:37a 08:57p 14:20 | 10:10p 05:24a | Set 02:11a 73%|
|Sat 10| 06:39a 08:56p 14:17 | 10:08p 05:26a | Set 02:54a 82%|
+------+-----------------------+----------------+-----------------------+
|Sun 11| 06:40a 08:55p 14:14 | 10:06p 05:27a | Set 03:44a 89%|
|Mon 12| 06:41a 08:53p 14:12 | 10:05p 05:29a | Set 04:38a 94%|
|Tue 13| 06:42a 08:51p 14:09 | 10:03p 05:30a | Set 05:36a 98%|
|Wed 14| 06:43a 08:50p 14:06 | 10:01p 05:32a | Set 06:36a 100%|
|Thu 15| 06:44a 08:48p 14:03 | 09:59p 05:33a |Full Rise 09:17p 100%|
|Fri 16| 06:46a 08:47p 14:01 | 09:57p 05:35a | Rise 09:44p 98%|
|Sat 17| 06:47a 08:45p 13:58 | 09:55p 05:36a | Rise 10:08p 94%|
+------+-----------------------+----------------+-----------------------+
|Sun 18| 06:48a 08:44p 13:55 | 09:53p 05:38a | Rise 10:31p 89%|
|Mon 19| 06:49a 08:42p 13:52 | 09:51p 05:39a | Rise 10:53p 83%|
|Tue 20| 06:50a 08:40p 13:49 | 09:49p 05:41a | Rise 11:16p 75%|
|Wed 21| 06:51a 08:39p 13:47 | 09:47p 05:42a | Rise 11:41p 66%|
|Thu 22| 06:53a 08:37p 13:44 | 09:46p 05:44a | Rise 12:10a 56%|
|Fri 23| 06:54a 08:35p 13:41 | 09:44p 05:45a |L Qtr Rise 12:43a 46%|
|Sat 24| 06:55a 08:34p 13:38 | 09:42p 05:47a | Rise 01:24a 36%|
+------+-----------------------+----------------+-----------------------+
|Sun 25| 06:56a 08:32p 13:35 | 09:40p 05:48a | Rise 02:13a 26%|
|Mon 26| 06:57a 08:30p 13:32 | 09:38p 05:50a | Rise 03:13a 16%|
|Tue 27| 06:59a 08:28p 13:29 | 09:36p 05:51a | Rise 04:23a 9%|
|Wed 28| 07:00a 08:27p 13:26 | 09:34p 05:52a | Rise 05:40a 3%|
|Thu 29| 07:01a 08:25p 13:23 | 09:32p 05:54a | Rise 07:00a 0%|
|Fri 30| 07:02a 08:23p 13:20 | 09:30p 05:55a |New Set 08:59p 1%|
|Sat 31| 07:03a 08:21p 13:17 | 09:28p 05:57a | Set 09:31p 4%|
+-----------------------------------------------------------------------+
* Nautical Twilight
** Moonrise or moonset, whichever occurs between sunrise and sunset
Generated using my LookingUp for DOS program.