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Ephemeris: 02/05/2026 – The celestial unicorn

February 5, 2026 Comments off

Feb 5. This is Ephemeris for Thursday, February 5th. Today the Sun will be up for 10 hours even, setting at 5:57, and it will rise tomorrow at 7:55. The Moon, halfway from full to last quarter, will rise at 10:34 this evening.

Among all the constellations in the sky of animals real and mythical, there is also a unicorn. It’s called Monoceros, and inhabits the southeastern sky at 8 p.m. mostly bounded by Orion on the right, Canis Major, the great dog below and Canis Minor, the little dog to the left and above. Unfortunately for observers without a telescope Monoceros, is devoid of any but the faintest stars. Maybe that’s why no one sees unicorns anymore. Though it lacks bright stars Monoceros is full of wonders revealed by telescopes and photography. A feast of faint nebulae or clouds of gas and dust, the birthplace of stars, including the red rose of the Rosette Nebula, and the more recently named Hagrid’s Dragon Cluster (NGC 2301).

The astronomical event times given in this blog are for the Traverse City/Interlochen area of Michigan (Lat 44.7° N, Long 85.7° W; EST, UT – 5 hours) unless stated otherwise. Times will be different for other locations.

Addendum

Monoceros
Monoceros finder chart animation. Created using Stellarium and GIMP.
The Rosette Nebula,
The Rosette Nebula, NGC 2244, is an accurate description of this nebula. The stars in the center cause the hydrogen gases to glow red. The hottest and brightest young stars give off ultraviolet light which causes the gases to fluoresce. Also, the stellar winds from these stars blows away gases from the center, so star formation stops. Leaving a beautiful rosette in the sky. Unfortunately it’s too faint to see with the telescope visually, however it is a wonderful target for astrophotographers. Click or tap on the image to enlarge it. Credit: Dan Dall’Olmo, a member of the Grand Traverse Astronomical Society.
The brighter stars of NGC 2301, Hagrid's Dragon Cluster,
The brighter stars of NGC 2301 (Hagrid’s Dragon Cluster, AKA Great Bird Cluster and Copeland’s Golden Worm). It’s also in two other catalogs: Cr 119 and Mel 54. Created using Stellarium and GIMP. Dragon from “Dragon Flying Cycle” on YouTube by Simon Hussey.
Deep Sky Objects around Monoceros
Deep Sky Objects in and around Monoceros. Click on the image to enlarge. Created using Stellarium.
Categories: Constellations, Deep Sky Object, Ephemeris Program, Observing Tags: , ,

Ephemeris: 02/04/2026 – Taking our weekly look at the whereabouts of the naked-eye planets

February 4, 2026 Comments off

This is Ephemeris for Wednesday, February 4th. Today the Sun will be up for 9 hours and 57 minutes, setting at 5:55, and it will rise tomorrow at 7:56. The Moon, 3 days past full, will rise at 9:25 this evening.

Let’s take our weekly look at the whereabouts of the naked-eye planets. Saturn is the brightest star-like object low in the west southwestern sky as soon as it gets dark. In a telescope Saturn sports a very thin ring, 2.4 degrees from being edge on and is slowly opening. Jupiter is the brilliant star-like object in the eastern sky, to the right of Pollux in the pair Castor and Pollux, the bright stars of Gemini. It is still moving slowly to the west, and will, until it stops and reverses its track on March 10th. Jupiter’s four brightest moons can be seen even in binoculars, if held steadily enough. They shift position night to night. At 8 PM tonight, all four Galilean moons can be seen, though two may too close together to be picked out separately in binoculars.

The astronomical event times given in this blog are for the Traverse City/Interlochen area of Michigan (Lat 44.7° N, Long 85.7° W; EST, UT – 5 hours) unless stated otherwise. Times will be different for other locations.

Addendum

Saturn appears lonely in the west-southwestern sky at 8 PM
Saturn appears lonely in the west-southwestern sky at 8 PM. Created using Stellarium.
Jupiter as it appears tonight, February 4, 2026, in its orientation at 8:00 PM moving against the stars of Gemini.
Jupiter as it appears tonight, February 4, 2026, in its orientation at 8:00 PM moving against the stars of Gemini. Also shown is its track from last July to next July, and the retrograde loop that is currently making, slowly moving to the West which you will do for the next 34 days until it stops in March. Then it will resume its eastward motion. Created using Stellarium, LibreOffice Draw and GIMP.
The Moon halfway from full to last quarter, as seen tomorrow morning, February 5, 2026. A view visible in small telescopes showing an image with and without selected features labeled. Created using Stellarium, LibreOffice Draw, and GIMP.
Telescopic Saturn, and Jupiter (north up) as they would be seen in a small telescope.
Telescopic Saturn, and Jupiter (north up) as they would be seen in a small telescope with the same magnification at 8 PM tonight, February 4, 2026. Saturn will be 16.3″ in diameter, but its rings, being nearly edge on, may show up brighter than seen here, and extend to 37.9″. They are tilted 2.4° from being edge on. Jupiter will be 45.4″ in diameter. The (”) symbol means seconds of arc, or 1/3600th of a degree. Created using Cartes du Ciel (Sky Charts), LibreOffice Draw and GIMP.
The naked-eye planets and the Moon at sunset and sunrise on a single night, starting with sunset on the right on February 4th, 2026. The night ends on the left with sunrise on the 5th.
The naked-eye planets and the Moon at sunset and sunrise on a single night, starting with sunset on the right on February 4th, 2026. The night ends on the left with sunrise on the 5th. The Venus and Mercury labels overlap near the sunset sun. Click or tap on the image to enlarge it. Created using my LookingUp app and GIMP.
A low precision ephemeris of the Sun Moon and naked eye planet positions for today and tomorrow, February 4th and 5th, 2026.
This is a low precision ephemeris of the Sun Moon and naked eye planet positions for today and tomorrow, February 4th and 5th, 2026. Some of the columns are self-explanatory, others are not. The transit column is the time that the body crosses the meridian and is due south. Elong, for elongation, is the angle between the Sun and that body. RA is right ascension, which is the object’s east-west position on the celestial sphere in hours and minutes. Dec is declination which is the north-south position of the object on the celestial sphere in degrees and minutes. R is the distance of that object from the Sun in astronomical units. An astronomical unit is about 93 million miles or 150 million kilometers. And Delta is the distance of that object from the Earth, also in astronomical units. I omit the ‘m’ in am and pm for compactness. The data was generated using my LookingUp for DOS app and displayed as a table by my Ephemeris Helper app.

Categories: Ephemeris Program, Naked-eye planets, Observing Tags: , , , , ,

Ephemeris: 02/03/2026 – Canis Major, Orion’s greater hunting dog

February 3, 2026 Comments off

This is Ephemeris for Tuesday, February 3rd. Today the Sun will be up for 9 hours and 55 minutes, setting at 5:54, and it will rise tomorrow at 7:58. The Moon, 2 days past full, will rise at 8:14 this evening.

What kind of hunter would the constellation Orion be without his trusty hunting dogs.  The larger of his two dogs is Canis Major which can be found if you extend Orion’s belt stars down to the left.  There in the southeast by 8 PM, will appear the brightest nighttime star Sirius the Dog Star.  It is in the heart of the dog, which appears to be begging.  Well it’s tilted funny.  Other than that it’s a pretty good representation of a dog as a stick figure.  The name Sirius doesn’t mean Dog Star, but means Dazzling One due to its great brightness.  It outshines all other nighttime stars, only to be out shown by the planets Venus, Jupiter and occasionally, Mars.  Binoculars will show a nice little star cluster a short ways below Sirius known as M41.

The astronomical event times given in this blog are for the Traverse City/Interlochen area of Michigan (Lat 44.7° N, Long 85.7° W; EST, UT – 5 hours) unless stated otherwise. Times will be different for other locations.

Addendum

Finding Orion's greater hunting dog, Canis Major.
Finding Orion’s greater hunting dog, Canis Major for approximately 8 PM, February 3, 2025. Bonus: also includes Canis Minor. Jupiter won’t be where it is next year. Created using Stellarium, LibreOffice Draw and GIMP.
Categories: Constellations, Ephemeris Program, Observing Tags: ,

Ephemeris: 01/30/2026 – Previewing February skies

January 30, 2026 Comments off

This is Ephemeris for Friday, January 30th. Today the Sun will be up for 9 hours and 44 minutes, setting at 5:48, and it will rise tomorrow at 8:02. The Moon, 2 days before full, will set at 7:31 tomorrow morning.

February is the shortest month, even so the daylight hours throughout the month will be getting longer. Daylight hours will increase from 9 hours and 49 minutes Sunday to 11 hours and 7 minutes on the 28th. The sunrise time will decrease from 8:01 Sunday to 7:21 at month’s end. The sunset times will increase from 5:51 today to 6:29 on the 28th. Along with that the altitude of the Sun at noon will increase from 28.4 degrees today to 37.6 degrees at month’s end. It will be a degree lower, and daylight a few minutes shorter, 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 will be about 12:56 PM at mid month.

The astronomical event times given in this blog are for the Traverse City/Interlochen area of Michigan (Lat 44.7° N, Long 85.7° W; EST, UT – 5 hours) unless stated otherwise. Times will be different for other locations.

Addendum

February Evening Star Chart

Star Chart for February 2026.
Star Chart for February 2026, (9 p.m. EST February 14, 2026). Created using my LookingUp program. Click on image to enlarge.

The planets and stars are plotted for the 14th at 9 PM EST in the evening and 6 AM for the morning chart. These are the chart times. Note that Traverse City is located approximately 45 minutes behind our time meridian. (An hour 45 minutes behind our daylight saving time meridian during EDT). To duplicate the star positions on a planisphere (rotating star finder) you may have to set it to 45 minutes or one hour 45 minutes (Daylight Time) earlier than the current time.

Note the chart times of 9 p.m. and 6 a.m. are for the 14th and 15th. For each week before these dates, add ½ hour (28 minutes if you’re picky). For each week after, subtract ½ hour. Planet positions on dates other than the 15th can be found in the Wednesday planet posts on this blog.

February Morning Star Chart

Star Chart for February mornings, 2026 (6 a.m. EST February 15, 2026).
Star Chart for February mornings, 2026 (6 a.m. EST February 15, 2026). No naked-eye planets are visible at chart time. 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.
  • 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

      EST        
  Morning Twilight Evening Twilight Dark Night Moon
Date Astro. Nautical Nautical Astro. Start End Illum.
2026-02-01 6h22m 6h56m 19h00m 19h34m – – 100%
2026-02-02 6h21m 6h55m 19h01m 19h35m – – 98%
2026-02-03 6h20m 6h54m 19h03m 19h37m 19h37m 20h14m 94%
2026-02-04 6h19m 6h53m 19h04m 19h38m 19h38m 21h25m 88%
2026-02-05 6h18m 6h52m 19h05m 19h39m 19h39m 22h34m 80%
2026-02-06 6h17m 6h51m 19h06m 19h40m 19h40m 23h41m 72%
2026-02-07 6h16m 6h50m 19h08m 19h42m 19h42m – 63%
2026-02-08 6h15m 6h49m 19h09m 19h43m 19h43m 0h48m 53%
2026-02-09 6h13m 6h47m 19h10m 19h44m 19h44m 1h55m 44%
2026-02-10 6h12m 6h46m 19h12m 19h45m 19h45m 3h01m 35%
2026-02-11 6h11m 6h45m 19h13m 19h47m 19h47m 4h04m 26%
2026-02-12 6h10m 6h43m 19h14m 19h48m 19h48m 5h01m 18%
2026-02-13 6h08m 6h42m 19h15m 19h49m 19h49m 5h50m 11%
2026-02-14 6h07m 6h41m 19h17m 19h50m 19h50m 6h07m 6%
2026-02-15 6h06m 6h39m 19h18m 19h52m 19h52m 6h06m 2%
2026-02-16 6h04m 6h38m 19h19m 19h53m 19h53m 6h04m 0%
2026-02-17 6h03m 6h37m 19h21m 19h54m 19h54m 6h03m 1%
2026-02-18 6h01m 6h35m 19h22m 19h56m 19h56m 6h01m 3%
2026-02-19 6h00m 6h34m 19h23m 19h57m 21h06m 6h00m 9%
2026-02-20 5h58m 6h32m 19h24m 19h58m 22h21m 5h58m 16%
2026-02-21 5h57m 6h31m 19h26m 19h59m 23h39m 5h57m 25%
2026-02-22 5h55m 6h29m 19h27m 20h01m – 5h55m 35%
2026-02-23 5h54m 6h27m 19h28m 20h02m 0h59m 5h54m 47%
2026-02-24 5h52m 6h26m 19h30m 20h03m 2h19m 5h52m 58%
2026-02-25 5h51m 6h24m 19h31m 20h05m 3h33m 5h51m 69%
2026-02-26 5h49m 6h23m 19h32m 20h06m 4h37m 5h49m 79%
2026-02-27 5h47m 6h21m 19h34m 20h07m 5h28m 5h47m 87%
2026-02-28 5h46m 6h19m 19h35m 20h09m – – 94%

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/2019/09/27/

NASA Calendar of Planetary Events

Feb  1  Su            Venus: 6.3° E
     1  Su   6:41 AM  Moon-Beehive: 1.3° S
     1  Su   5:09 PM  Full Moon
     2  Mo   9:48 PM  Moon-Regulus: 0.4° S
     3  Tu   2:18 PM  Moon Descending Node
     7  Sa   3:26 AM  Moon-Spica: 2° N
     9  Mo   7:43 AM  Last Quarter
    10  Tu  11:52 AM  Moon Apogee: 404600 km
    10  Tu  10:19 PM  Moon-Antares: 0.8° N
    12  Th   7:56 AM  Moon South Dec.: 28.4° S
    17  Tu   7:01 AM  New Moon
    17  Tu   7:13 AM  Annular Solar Eclipse
                      Southern Ocean and Antarctica
    18  We   1:19 AM  Moon Ascending Node
    19  Th  12:59 PM  Mercury Elongation: 18.1° E
    19  Th   6:54 PM  Moon-Saturn: 4.8° S
    23  Mo   9:43 PM  Moon-Pleiades: 1.2° S
    24  Tu   7:28 AM  First Quarter
    24  Tu   6:18 PM  Moon Perigee: 370100 km
    25  We   6:23 PM  Moon North Dec.: 28.4° N
    27  Fr   1:26 AM  Moon-Jupiter: 4° S
    28  Sa   3:07 PM  Moon-Beehive: 1.3° S
Mar  1  Su            Venus: 13° E

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
February, 2026    Local time zone: EST
+-----------------------------------------------------------------------+
| DATE |  SUN     SUN  DAYLIGHT|   TWILIGHT*    |MOON  RISE OR    ILLUM |
|      |  RISE    SET    HOURS |  END    START  |PHASE SET** TIME FRACTN|
+=======================================================================+
|Sun  1| 08:01a  05:51p  09:49 | 06:57p  06:55a |Full  Rise 05:41p  100%|
|Mon  2| 08:00a  05:53p  09:52 | 06:58p  06:54a |      Rise 07:00p   99%|
|Tue  3| 07:59a  05:54p  09:55 | 07:00p  06:53a |      Rise 08:14p   95%|
|Wed  4| 07:58a  05:55p  09:57 | 07:01p  06:52a |      Rise 09:25p   89%|
|Thu  5| 07:56a  05:57p  10:00 | 07:02p  06:51a |      Rise 10:34p   82%|
|Fri  6| 07:55a  05:58p  10:03 | 07:04p  06:50a |      Rise 11:41p   73%|
|Sat  7| 07:54a  06:00p  10:05 | 07:05p  06:49a |      Rise 12:48a   64%|
+------+-----------------------+----------------+-----------------------+
|Sun  8| 07:52a  06:01p  10:08 | 07:06p  06:47a |      Rise 01:55a   55%|
|Mon  9| 07:51a  06:02p  10:11 | 07:07p  06:46a |L Qtr Rise 03:01a   46%|
|Tue 10| 07:50a  06:04p  10:14 | 07:09p  06:45a |      Rise 04:03a   36%|
|Wed 11| 07:48a  06:05p  10:16 | 07:10p  06:44a |      Rise 05:00a   28%|
|Thu 12| 07:47a  06:07p  10:19 | 07:11p  06:42a |      Rise 05:49a   19%|
|Fri 13| 07:45a  06:08p  10:22 | 07:13p  06:41a |      Rise 06:30a   12%|
|Sat 14| 07:44a  06:10p  10:25 | 07:14p  06:40a |      Rise 07:02a    7%|
+------+-----------------------+----------------+-----------------------+
|Sun 15| 07:43a  06:11p  10:28 | 07:15p  06:38a |      Rise 07:29a    2%|
|Mon 16| 07:41a  06:12p  10:31 | 07:16p  06:37a |      Rise 07:51a    0%|
|Tue 17| 07:39a  06:14p  10:34 | 07:18p  06:36a |New   Set  06:39p    0%|
|Wed 18| 07:38a  06:15p  10:37 | 07:19p  06:34a |      Set  07:52p    3%|
|Thu 19| 07:36a  06:17p  10:40 | 07:20p  06:33a |      Set  09:05p    7%|
|Fri 20| 07:35a  06:18p  10:43 | 07:22p  06:31a |      Set  10:21p   14%|
|Sat 21| 07:33a  06:19p  10:46 | 07:23p  06:30a |      Set  11:38p   23%|
+------+-----------------------+----------------+-----------------------+
|Sun 22| 07:31a  06:21p  10:49 | 07:24p  06:28a |      Set  12:58a   33%|
|Mon 23| 07:30a  06:22p  10:52 | 07:26p  06:26a |      Set  02:18a   44%|
|Tue 24| 07:28a  06:23p  10:55 | 07:27p  06:25a |F Qtr Set  03:33a   56%|
|Wed 25| 07:27a  06:25p  10:58 | 07:28p  06:23a |      Set  04:37a   67%|
|Thu 26| 07:25a  06:26p  11:01 | 07:29p  06:22a |      Set  05:27a   77%|
|Fri 27| 07:23a  06:28p  11:04 | 07:31p  06:20a |      Set  06:06a   86%|
|Sat 28| 07:21a  06:29p  11:07 | 07:32p  06:18a |      Set  06:35a   93%|
+-----------------------------------------------------------------------+
* Nautical Twilight
** Moonrise or moonset, whichever occurs between sunset and sunrise

Created using my LookingUp for MS-DOS app.

Categories: Ephemeris Program, Month preview, Observing Tags:

Ephemeris: 01/28/2026 – Taking our weekly look at the whereabouts of the naked-eye planets

January 28, 2026 Comments off

This is Ephemeris for Wednesday, January 28th. Today the Sun will be up for 9 hours and 39 minutes, setting at 5:45, and it will rise tomorrow at 8:05. The Moon, 3 days past first quarter, will set at 5:43 tomorrow morning.

Let’s take our weekly look at the whereabouts of the naked-eye planets. Saturn is the brightest star-like object in the southwestern sky as soon as it gets dark. In a telescope Saturn sports a very thin ring, 2 degrees from being edge on and is slowly opening. Jupiter is the brilliant star-like object in the eastern sky, to the right of Pollux in the pair Castor and Pollux, the bright stars of Gemini. It is still moving slowly to the west, and will, until it stops and reverses its track on March 10th. Jupiter’s 4 brightest moons can be seen even in binoculars, if held steadily enough. They shift position night to night. At 8 PM tonight, all four Galilean moons can be seen, though two may too close to the planet to be picked out in binoculars.

The astronomical event times given in this blog are for the Traverse City/Interlochen area of Michigan (Lat 44.7° N, Long 85.7° W; EST, UT – 5 hours) unless stated otherwise. Times will be different for other locations.

Addendum

Saturn appears lonely in the west- southwestern sky at 8 PM.
Saturn appears lonely in the west- southwestern sky at 8 PM. Created using Stellarium.
Jupiter as it appears tonight, January 28, 2026, in its orientation at 9:00 PM, moving against the stars of Gemini. Also shown is its track from last July to next July, and the retrograde loop that is currently making.
Jupiter as it appears tonight, January 28, 2026, in its orientation at 9:00 PM, moving against the stars of Gemini. Also shown is its track from last July to next July, and the retrograde loop that is currently making, slowly moving to the West which you will do for the next 41 days until it stops in March. Then it will resume its eastward motion. Created using Stellarium, Libreoffice Draw and GIMP.
The Moon three days past first quarter, as seen this evening, January 28, 2026. A view visible in small telescopes showing an image with and without selected features labeled. Created using Stellarium, LibreOffice Draw, and GIMP.
Telescopic Saturn, and Jupiter (north up) as they would be seen in a small telescope with the same magnification at 8 PM tonight.
Telescopic Saturn, and Jupiter (north up) as they would be seen in a small telescope with the same magnification at 8 PM tonight, January 28, 2026. Saturn will be 16.4″ in diameter, but its rings, being nearly edge on, may show up brighter than seen here, and extend to 38.2″. They are tilted 2.0° from being edge on. Jupiter will be 45.9″ in diameter. Io will begin transiting the planet at 8:35 PM EDT (1:35 UT on the 29th). Its shadow will begin crossing the planet at 9:02 PM EDT (2:02 UT). The transit will end at 10:51 PM EDT (3:51 UT), with the shadow leaving the planet at 11:19 PM EDT (4:19 UT). The (”) symbol means seconds of arc, or 1/3600th of a degree. Created using Cartes du Ciel (Sky Charts), LibreOffice Draw and GIMP.
The naked-eye planets and the Moon at sunset and sunrise on a single night.
The naked-eye planets and the Moon at sunset and sunrise on a single night, starting with sunset on the right on January 28th, 2026. The night ends on the left with sunrise on the 29th. Click or tap on the image to enlarge it. Created using my LookingUp app and GIMP.
A low precision ephemeris of the Sun Moon and naked eye planet positions for today and tomorrow.
This is a low precision ephemeris of the Sun Moon and naked eye planet positions for today and tomorrow, January 28th and 29th, 2026. Some of the columns are self-explanatory, others are not. The transit column is the time that the body crosses the meridian and is due south. Elong, for elongation, is the angle between the Sun and that body. RA is right ascension, which is the object’s east-west position on the celestial sphere in hours and minutes. Dec is declination which is the north-south position of the object on the celestial sphere in degrees and minutes. R is the distance of that object from the Sun in astronomical units. An astronomical unit is about 93 million miles or 150 million kilometers. And Delta is the distance of that object from the Earth, also in astronomical units. I omit the ‘m’ in am and pm for compactness. The data was generated using my LookingUp for DOS app and displayed as a table by my Ephemeris Helper app.
Categories: Ephemeris Program, Naked-eye planets, Observing Tags: , , , , ,

Ephemeris: 01/21/2026 – Taking our weekly look at the whereabouts of the naked-eye planets

January 21, 2026 Comments off

This is Ephemeris for Wednesday, January 21st. Today the Sun will be up for 9 hours and 23 minutes, setting at 5:36, and it will rise tomorrow at 8:11. The Moon, 3 days past new, will set at 8:53 this evening.

Let’s take our weekly look at the whereabouts of the naked-eye planets. Saturn is the brightest star-like object in the west-southwestern sky as soon as it gets dark. At 8 PM, it is in roughly in the same direction as the Moon, but a good deal higher in the sky. In a telescope Saturn sports a very thin ring, 1.8 degrees from being edge on and is slowly opening. Jupiter is the brilliant star-like object in the eastern sky, to the right of Pollux in the pair Castor and Pollux, the bright stars of Gemini. Jupiter’s 4 brightest moons can be seen even in binoculars, if held steady enough. They shift position night to night. At 8 PM tonight, only three will be visible, but the 4th will be appearing from in front of Jupiter later this evening.

The astronomical event times given in this blog are for the Traverse City/Interlochen area of Michigan (Lat 44.7° N, Long 85.7° W; EST, UT – 5 hours) unless stated otherwise. Times will be different for other locations.

Addendum

Saturn and the waxing crescent Moon as they might appear tonight.
Saturn and the waxing crescent Moon as they might appear tonight, January 21, 2026. The Moon is being enlarged by a factor of 2 to show it up better. Look off into the west southwest at 8:00 PM. Created using Stellarium.
Jupiter as it appears tonight in its orientation at 8:00 PM, moving against the stars of Gemini. Also shown is its track from last July to next July, and the retrograde loop that is currently making.
Jupiter as it appears tonight, January 21, 2026, in its orientation at 8:00 PM, moving against the stars of Gemini. Also shown is its track from last July to next July, and the retrograde loop that is currently making, slowly moving to the West which you will do for the next 48 days until it stops in March. Then it will resume its eastward motion. Created using Stellarium, Libreoffice Draw and GIMP.
The Moon three days past new, as seen this evening, January 21, 2026. A view visible in small telescopes showing an image with and without selected features labeled. Created using Stellarium, LibreOffice Draw, and GIMP.
Telescopic Saturn, and Jupiter (north up) as they would be seen in a small telescope with the same magnification at 8 PM tonight.
Telescopic Saturn, and Jupiter (north up) as they would be seen in a small telescope with the same magnification at 8 PM tonight, January 21, 2026. Saturn will be 17.0″ in diameter, but its rings, being nearly edge on, may show up brighter than seen here, and extend to 38.6″. They are tilted 1.8° from being edge on. Jupiter will be 46.3″ in diameter. The (”) symbol means seconds of arc, or 1/3600th of a degree. Created using Cartes du Ciel (Sky Charts), LibreOffice Draw and GIMP.
The naked-eye planets and the Moon at sunset and sunrise on a single night, starting with sunset on the right on January 21st, 2026. The night ends on the left with sunrise on the 22nd.
The naked-eye planets and the Moon at sunset and sunrise on a single night, starting with sunset on the right on January 21st, 2026. The night ends on the left with sunrise on the 22nd. Mercury is not plotted, being too close to, and south of the Sun. Click or tap on the image to enlarge it. Created using my LookingUp app and GIMP.
A low precision ephemeris of the Sun Moon and naked eye planet positions for today and tomorrow, January 21st and 22nd, 2026.
This is a low precision ephemeris of the Sun Moon and naked eye planet positions for today and tomorrow, January 21st and 22nd, 2026. Some of the columns are self-explanatory, others are not. The transit column is the time that the body crosses the meridian and is due south. Elong, for elongation, is the angle between the Sun and that body. RA is right ascension, which is the object’s east-west position on the celestial sphere in hours and minutes. Dec is declination which is the north-south position of the object on the celestial sphere in degrees and minutes. R is the distance of that object from the Sun in astronomical units. An astronomical unit is about 93 million miles or 150 million kilometers. And Delta is the distance of that object from the Earth, also in astronomical units. I omit the ‘m’ in am and pm for compactness. The data was generated using my LookingUp for DOS app and displayed as a table by my Ephemeris Helper app.
Categories: Ephemeris Program, Naked-eye planets, Observing Tags: , , , , ,

Ephemeris: 01/20/2026 – What’s happening inside the Great Orion Nebula

January 20, 2026 Comments off

This is Bob Moler with Ephemeris for Tuesday, January 20th. Today the Sun will be up for 9 hours and 21 minutes, setting at 5:35, and it will rise tomorrow at 8:12. The Moon, 2 days past new, will set at 7:42 this evening.

The closest star nursery to us, places where stars are being born, is the Great Orion Nebula, 1,300 light years away. A light year is about 6 trillion miles, if you want to pace it out. It’s located in the constellation Orion’s sword that hangs below his belt. It is seen in as little as a pair of binoculars, and shines by emission and reflection of the light of a tiny clutch of four stars at its heart, called the Trapezium. These extremely hot young massive stars are not destined to live long. Unlike the Sun’s 10 billion year lifetime, these stars lifespans will be measured in millions of years. Yet do not mourn for them, even now stars are forming within their dusty cocoons in the nebula. The Trapezium stars’ deaths will provide heavy elements for new stars and planets.

The astronomical event times given in this blog are for the Traverse City/Interlochen area of Michigan (Lat 44.7° N, Long 85.7° W; EST, UT – 5 hours) unless stated otherwise. Times will be different for other locations.

Addendum

The lower part of Orion with the Great Orion Nebula. Created using Stellarium.
The lower part of Orion with the Great Orion Nebula. Created using Stellarium.
The Sword of Orion, with the Great Orion Nebula and other nebulae in the sword.
The Sword of Orion, with the Great Orion Nebula and other nebulae in the sword oriented to approximate the image above. To the naked eye, the center star of the sword may appear just as a single star. However, in binoculars a glow might be visible among several stars there. In a telescope, using its very lowest power, some structure might be visible that shows up in this photograph as the brightest part of the nebula, and the blue wisps downward and to he upper right of the brightest part. The main part of the nebula was catalogued by Charles Messier in the 18th century as M42, the 42nd object on his catalog of things in the sky that weren’t comets. That little bit of brightness just above left of center of it he cataloged as a separate nebula, M43. In fact, all this nebulosity belongs to one great molecular cloud. Credit: Daniel Dall’Olmo.

There are several videos produced by NASA, ESA and others of a fanciful trip through the Great Orion Nebula. I found them by typing: NASA trip through the Orion nebula into my Internet browser.

Categories: Deep Sky Object, Ephemeris Program, Nebulae, Observing Tags: ,

Ephemeris: 01/16/2026 – Comparing Orion’s two brightest stars

January 16, 2026 Comments off

This is Ephemeris for Friday, January 16th. Today the Sun will be up for 9 hours and 13 minutes, setting at 5:29, and it will rise tomorrow at 8:15. The Moon, 2 days before new, will rise at 7:54 tomorrow morning.

Orion’s two brightest stars are kind of the same but different. Let me explain. Betelgeuse is a red giant star, extremely massive, maybe 14 to 19 times the sun’s mass. It is somewhere between 8 and 14 million years old, which compared to the sun is just a baby, except it is so massive that it is in the last million or so years of its life. Rigel is a bluish white and a bit more massive, about 21 times the mass of the sun, and maybe 8 million years old. It has used most of the hydrogen in its core, and is beginning to transition into its final years which is a few more millions of years. So it’s not as far along in its evolution as Betelgeuse and has not bloated out and turned red. Betelgeuse is 500 light years away, while Rigel is almost 900.

The astronomical event times given in this blog are for the Traverse City/Interlochen area of Michigan (Lat 44.7° N, Long 85.7° W; EST, UT – 5 hours) unless stated otherwise. Times will be different for other locations.

Addendum

Orion's named stars
Orion’s named stars. Betelgeuse means “Armpit”. Bellatrix means “Female warrior”. The names of the belt stars refer to belt or girdle, Rigel refers to Orion’s foot. Saiph means sword, however Orion’s sword is the line of three stars below the belt stars. In binoculars, there’s more than three stars here. Around the second “star” of the sword is the Great Orion Nebula, barely visible here. Created using Stellarium.
Betelgeuse disk
This is the disk of the star Betelgeuse in Orion. It is not an image from an optical telescope, but of an image created in submillimeter microwaves by the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) in Chile. Color added for your viewing pleasure. Credit: ALMA (ESO/NAOJ/NRAO)/E. O’Gorman/P. Kervella
Rigel A & B
Rigel with its companion star as photographed through a telescope. No attribution. Source: http://washedoutastronomy.com/content/urban-orion?page=1

Categories: Constellations, Observing, Stars Tags: , ,

Ephemeris: 01/14/2026 – Only two naked-eye planets are visible this week, both in the evening

January 14, 2026 Comments off

This is Ephemeris for Wednesday, January 14th. Today the Sun will be up for 9 hours and 10 minutes, setting at 5:27, and it will rise tomorrow at 8:16. The Moon, halfway from last quarter to new, will rise at 6:14 tomorrow morning.

Let’s take our weekly look at the whereabouts of the naked-eye planets. Saturn is the brightest star-like object in the southwestern sky as soon as it gets dark. In a telescope Saturn sports a very thin ring, 1½ degrees from being edge on and is slowly opening. Jupiter is now officially an evening planet, rising before sunset. It’s seen in the evening to the right of Pollux in the pair Castor and Pollux, the bright stars of Gemini. Jupiter’s four brightest moons can be seen even in binoculars, and shift position night to night. Jupiter can still be seen in the morning sky. At 7 AM it will be low in the western sky. Venus, Mercury and Mars are too close to the direction of the Sun to be seen.

The astronomical event times given in this blog are for the Traverse City/Interlochen area of Michigan (Lat 44.7° N, Long 85.7° W; EST, UT – 5 hours) unless stated otherwise. Times will be different for other locations.

Addendum

This is a photograph of the Sun, Venus and Mars taken through the Solar and Heliospheric Observatory‘s (SOHO) C3 coronagraph last night.
This is a photograph of the Sun, Venus and Mars taken through the Solar and Heliospheric Observatory‘s (SOHO) C3 coronagraph last night at 7:54 PM or 0:54 today Universal Time. Venus and Mercury are heading to the left, while Mars is heading to the right. They are all beyond the Sun. Venus will be entering our evening sky, and should be visible in about a month. Mercury too should be visible in the evening twilight by mid-February. Mars will be moving into the morning sky and it will take several months before it will be visible then. Credit: NOAA/ESA.
Jupiter, and Saturn along with the zodiacal constellations, and the path of the Sun (ecliptic) in orange, in this panorama at 8 PM tonight, January 14, 2026.
Jupiter, and Saturn along with the zodiacal constellations, and the path of the Sun (ecliptic) in orange, in this panorama at 8 PM tonight, January 14, 2026. Created using Stellarium.
The Moon three days before last quarter as seen tomorrow morning, January 15, 2026. A view visible in small telescopes showing an image with and without selected features labeled. Created using Stellarium, LibreOffice Draw, and GIMP.
Telescopic Saturn, and Jupiter (north up) as they would be seen in a small telescope with the same magnification at 8 PM tonight, January 14, 2026.
Telescopic Saturn, and Jupiter (north up) as they would be seen in a small telescope with the same magnification at 8 PM tonight, January 14, 2026. Saturn will be 16.7″ in diameter, but its rings, being nearly edge on, may show up brighter than seen here, and extend to 39.0″. They are tilted 1.5° from being edge on. Jupiter will be 46.5″ in diameter. The (”) symbol means seconds of arc, or 1/3600th of a degree. Created using Cartes du Ciel (Sky Charts), LibreOffice Draw and GIMP.
The naked-eye planets and the Moon at sunset and sunrise on a single night.
The naked-eye planets and the Moon at sunset and sunrise on a single night, starting with sunset on the right on January 14th, 2026. The night ends on the left with sunrise on the 15th. Click or tap on the image to enlarge it. Created using my LookingUp app and GIMP.
A low precision ephemeris of the Sun Moon and naked eye planet positions for today and tomorrow, January 14th and 15th, 2026.
This is a low precision ephemeris of the Sun Moon and naked eye planet positions for today and tomorrow, January 14th and 15th, 2026. Some of the columns are self-explanatory, others are not. The transit column is the time that the body crosses the meridian and is due south. Elong, for elongation, is the angle between the Sun and that body. RA is right ascension, which is the object’s east-west position on the celestial sphere in hours and minutes. Dec is declination which is the north-south position of the object on the celestial sphere in degrees and minutes. R is the distance of that object from the Sun in astronomical units. An astronomical unit is about 93 million miles or 150 million kilometers. And Delta is the distance of that object from the Earth, also in astronomical units. I omit the ‘m’ in am and pm for compactness. The data was generated using my LookingUp for DOS app and displayed as a table by my Ephemeris Helper app.
Categories: Ephemeris Program, Naked-eye planets, Observing Tags: , , , , ,

Ephemeris: 01/13/2026 – Orion is too preoccupied to notice Lepus the hare

January 13, 2026 Comments off

This is Ephemeris for Tuesday, January 13th. Today the Sun will be up for 9 hours and 8 minutes, setting at 5:26, and it will rise tomorrow at 8:17. The Moon, 3 days past last quarter, will rise at 5:13 tomorrow morning.

Orion, the central winter constellation is seen in the southern sky this evening. He is a hunter, as artists depict him, however, he is preoccupied with the charge of Taurus the bull from the upper right. At Orion’s feet, and unnoticed by him is the small constellation of Lepus the hare. It’s very hard to see a rabbit in its dim stars: however, I can see a rabbit’s head ears and shoulders. A misshapen box is the head and face of this critter facing to the left. His ears extend upwards from the upper right star of the box, and they bend forward a bit. Two stars to the right of the box and a bit farther apart hint at the front part of the body. Others see a whole rabbit facing the other direction, with additional stars to depict his long ears.

The astronomical event times given in this blog are for the Traverse City/Interlochen area of Michigan (Lat 44.7° N, Long 85.7° W; EST, UT – 5 hours) unless stated otherwise. Times will be different for other locations.

Addendum

The constellation Lepus the hare seen looking southeast in four frames at 9 PM EST, in mid-January.
The constellation Lepus the hare seen looking southeast in four frames at 9 PM EST, in mid-January. The stars with no connecting lines, the lines as I’ve learned to see them, a more modern way to see them, and the constellation art provided by Stellarium. Take your pick, or invent your own, there’s no right way. The stars at the tips of the ears on the modern version are 4th and 5th magnitude, lost on all but the darkest of nights. Created using Stellarium and GIMP.

Categories: Constellations, Ephemeris Program, Observing Tags: , ,