02/17/2022 – Ephemeris – Mission to a metallic asteroid
This is Ephemeris for Thursday, February 17th. Today the Sun will be up for 10 hours and 34 minutes, setting at 6:14, and it will rise tomorrow at 7:38. The Moon, 1 day past full, will rise at 7:21 this evening.
In August this year, one of the three scheduled Falcon-Heavy rocket launches this year will send the Psyche spacecraft on a four-year journey to its namesake asteroid, 16 Psyche. It is an unusual asteroid, thought to be 30 to 60 percent iron-nickel in composition. The spacecraft will swing by Mars for a gravitational boost. After the chemical powered boost into solar orbit, the spacecraft will open its huge solar panels in the shape of two crosses to feed its power hungry electric thrusters to complete the journey and to orbit 16 Psyche. The thrusters are Hall Effect thrusters, the first used in space, that use magnetic fields instead of electric fields to eject xenon gas ions to provide thrust. It is expected to arrive at 16 Psyche in 2026.
The astronomical event times given are for the Traverse City/Interlochen area of Michigan (EST, UT – 5 hours). They may be different for your location.
Addendum
Artist’s visualization of the spacecraft Psyche orbiting asteroid 16 Psyche. This imagining seems to assume the asteroid is nearly 100% metallic. Credit: NASA.
02/16/2022 – Ephemeris – Let’s search for the naked-eye planets for this week
This is Bob Moler with Ephemeris for Wednesday, February 16th. Today the Sun will be up for 10 hours and 31 minutes, setting at 6:12, and it will rise tomorrow at 7:39. The Moon, at full today, will rise at 6:11 this evening.
Let’s search for the naked-eye planets for this week. There is just one planet left in the evening sky now, and it’s going to leave us soon. Jupiter will be barely visible very low in the west-southwest around 6:45 pm, or a half hour after sunset. It will set at 7:16 pm. Saturn has entered the morning sky, where we’ve lost it for a month or so. Speaking of the morning sky, Venus, our brilliant morning star, Mars and maybe even Mercury can be spotted low in the southeast by 6:55 am, about 45 minutes before sunrise. Mars will be below, and right of Venus, while Mercury will be near the horizon left of Venus. Mercury is brighter than Mars, but lower in more intense twilight. Venus will rise at 5:12, with Mars following at 5:45, and Mercury rising last at 6:30.
The astronomical event times given are for the Traverse City/Interlochen area of Michigan (EST, UT – 5 hours). They may be different for your location.
Addendum
Jupiter, tonight, is barely visible in the west-southwest at 6:45 pm, about 34 minutes after sunset, February 16, 2022. Created using Stellarium.
The full Moon as it might appear as it rises tonight, as viewed in binoculars. Notice the squashed appearance of the Moon, which is due to the fact that atmospheric refraction is affecting the bottom part of the Moon more than the top. Created using Stellarium.
Venus, Mars and Mercury, visible at 6:45 am, or about 55 minutes before sunrise, tomorrow February 17, 2022. Mercury is at its greatest elongation or separation from the Sun. Created using Stellarium.
Only one planet is worth attention through a telescope. That one is Venus as a bright crescent. Venus is magnified much more than I normally do, so the caption will fit under it. Created using Stellarium.
The naked-eye planets and the Moon at sunset and sunrise on a single night, starting with sunset on the right on February 16, 2022. The night ends on the left with sunrise on the 17th. Click on the image to enlarge it. Created using my LookingUp program.
02/15/2022 – Ephemeris – The Moon’s splashiest crater
This is Ephemeris for Tuesday, February 15th. Today the Sun will be up for 10 hours and 28 minutes, setting at 6:11, and it will rise tomorrow at 7:41. The Moon, 1 day before full, will set at 8:09 tomorrow morning.
The Moon at 8 pm tonight will be only 16 hours before being full. As down as I am about full moons due to the fact that they light up the sky and flood out the dimmer objects, I once in a while stop and view it. Being less than a day from full, we see it tonight from very nearly the direction of the Sun, so there will be few shadows to be had. The crater Tycho is near the bottom or south end of the moon and has long rays of tiny ejecta craters. The full moon is the best time to see these rays, which are easily visible in binoculars, through which Tycho itself looks like a bright dot. In telescopes, Tycho looks like a small, bright crater with a dark ring around it. The full moon is super bright. It’s daytime over there.
The astronomical event times given are for the Traverse City/Interlochen area of Michigan (EST, UT – 5 hours). They may be different for your location.
Addendum
An image I took of the full moon in August 2016 and processed for maximum contrast to show the crater Tycho with its dark ring, near the bottom (south) of the Moon and its rays that stretch for hundreds of miles across the face of the Moon. The image is fairly low resolution, taken with a 300 mm telephoto lens. Click on the image to enlarge it a bit.
02/14/2022 – Ephemeris – A celestial Valentine’s Day encounter
This is Bob Moler with Ephemeris for St Valentine’s Day, Monday, February 14th. Today the Sun will be up for 10 hours and 25 minutes, setting at 6:10, and it will rise tomorrow at 7:43. The Moon, 2 days before full, will set at 7:40 tomorrow morning.
Twenty-two years ago to the day, the NEAR-Shoemaker* spacecraft entered into orbit of the near Earth asteroid 433 Eros. It wasn’t originally planned to enter orbit of the asteroid named after the Greek god of love on Valentine’s Day, 2000. It arose after an aborted course correction a year earlier. After solving the problem, a new course was plotted and NEAR-Shoemaker was gently inserted into orbit of this 21 mile long asteroid shaped like a bent bread stick with a bite taken out of the center of it. The spacecraft spent almost a year orbiting Eros at various altitudes. The spacecraft ended its mission gently crashing into the middle of the asteroid, where it stayed alive for two weeks before succumbing to the cold.
The astronomical event times given are for the Traverse City/Interlochen area of Michigan (EST, UT – 5 hours). They may be different for your location.
*The name Shoemaker was added to the NEAR spacecraft name after it was launched. NEAR stands for Near Earth Asteroid Rendezvous. It was named for Eugene Shoemaker, a geologist who proved that the Barringer Crater in Arizona was an impact crater rather than a volcanic crater, thus proving, before the Apollo 11 landing on the Moon, that the Moon’s craters were mostly impact craters produced by small asteroids like Eros. Shoemaker and his wife Carolyn, the astronomer in the family, along with David Levy discovered the Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9. The comet had broken into more than 22 pieces and crashed into Jupiter over a week in July 1994, making blemishes in the Jovian clouds that lasted many months.
Addendum
“These color images of Eros were taken by the NEAR probe on February 12, 2000, at a distance of 1,800 kilometers, during the final approach imaging sequence before insertion into orbit. The images show the approximate color of Eros as it would be seen with the naked eye.” Click on the image to enlarge it. Credit
NASA/JPL/JHUAPL. Caption from: https://eros2019.imcce.fr/eros.html via Google Translate.
By the way, the Roman equivalent to Eros was the god Cupid, whose love dart is the constellation Sagitta, which resides within the Summer Triangle of bright stars, to be seen in the evening sky four months from now.
I’ll end with a Valentine heart. The red color is real, it’s due to hydrogen.
IC 1805 (Heart Nebula) Credit: s58y [CC BY 2.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0)%5D, via Wikimedia Commons.
02/11/2022 – Ephemeris – The Sun Rises on the Moon’s Bay of Rainbows
This is Ephemeris for Friday, February 11th. Today the Sun will be up for 10 hours and 16 minutes, setting at 6:05, and it will rise tomorrow at 7:47. The Moon, 3 days past first quarter, will set at 5:34 tomorrow morning.
On the moon tonight, the gibbous phase and the terminator on the left side of the moon is revealing a large semicircular mountain range called the Jura Mountains that encloses a flat lava plain that looks like a bay in the margin of the Sea of Showers or Mare Imbrium. It is easily visible in binoculars this evening, when the sunrise line is crossing the bay. The Jura Mountains will appear as a hook out of the upper left edge of the moon. That’s about the coolest sight that’s visible on the moon that can be seen with binoculars. It’s especially striking if seen in a small telescope.
Also, related to the Moon: The Artemis-1 uncrewed mission to orbit the Moon has been pushed off at least one month or more, to this April or even May.
Addendum
Sunrise at Sinus Iridium, full Moon disc with annotations. Click on the image to enlarge it. Moon image created using Stellarium.
Sinus Iridium at sunrise. Photo by “Seb2003” on http://forums.futura-sciences.com/materiel-astronomique-photos-damateurs/5809-images-de-lune.html.
02/10/2022 – Ephemeris – The waxing gibbous Moon is revealing more seas and craters
This is Ephemeris for Thursday, February 10th. Today the Sun will be up for 10 hours and 14 minutes, setting at 6:04, and it will rise tomorrow at 7:48. The Moon, 2 days past first quarter, will set at 4:38 tomorrow morning.
The Moon tonight is a waxing gibbous phase. More gray lunar seas are appearing near the terminator, the sunrise line. From north to south these seas, most only partially in sunlight, are: At the far north, the Cold Sea, Sea of Showers, The sea where the famous crater Copernicus is, the Sea of Islands. The southernmost sea at the terminator is the Sea of Clouds. Some large and prominent craters can be seen with binoculars or a small telescope can be seen in the south, the striking and relatively fresh Tycho, with its Moon girdling ejecta rays, though the rays are best seen at full moon. And the huge crater Clavius, with an arc of 5 smaller craters, one on its wall and the others on its floor, in ever diminishing sizes.
The astronomical event times given are for the Traverse City/Interlochen area of Michigan (EST, UT – 5 hours). They may be different for your location.
Addendum
2 days past first quarter Moon as it would be seen in a small telescope or even binoculars, annotated. For this evening, February 10, 2022. Click on the image to enlarge it. Created using Virtual Moon Atlas. Annotations in white are from the app, mine are in green. Translations of the sea names are below.
Translations
Mare Crisium – Sea of Crises
Mare Fecunditatis – Sea of Fertility
Mare Frigoris – Sea of Cold
Mare Imbrium – Sea of Showers
Mare Insularum – Sea of Islands
Mare Nectaris – Sea of Nectar
Mare Nubium – Sea of Clouds
Mare Serenitatis – Sea of Serenity
Mare Tranquilitatis – Sea of Tranquility
A closer look
A montage of Clavius as photographed by one of the Lunar Orbiter spacecraft in the 1960s From Digital Lunar Orbital Photographic Atlas. Credit Jeff Gillis, Lunar and Planetary Institute.
02/09/2022 – Ephemeris – Let’s search for the naked-eye planets for this week
This is Ephemeris for Wednesday, February 9th. Today the Sun will be up for 10 hours and 11 minutes, setting at 6:02, and it will rise tomorrow at 7:50. The Moon, 1 day past first quarter, will set at 3:37 tomorrow morning.
Let’s search for the naked-eye planets for this week. There is just one planet left in the evening sky now, and it’s going to leave us soon. Jupiter will be visible in the west-southwest around 6:30 pm. It will set at 7:35 pm. Saturn is too close to the Sun to be seen, It crossed behind the Sun last Friday, and has entered the morning sky, where we will lose it for a month or so. Speaking of the morning sky, Venus, our brilliant morning star, Mars and maybe even Mercury can be spotted low in the southeast by 7 o’clock. Mars will be below, right of Venus, while Mercury will be near the horizon left of Venus. Mercury is brighter than Mars, but lower in more intense twilight. Venus will rise at 5:23, with Mars following at 5:53, and Mercury rising last at 6:32.
The astronomical event times given are for the Traverse City/Interlochen area of Michigan (EST, UT – 5 hours). They may be different for your location.
Addendum
Jupiter in evening twilight tonight at 6:30 pm or about a half hour after sunset, February 9, 2022. Created using Stellarium.
The waxing gibbous Moon as it might appear tonight in binoculars or small telescope. Created using Stellarium.
Venus, Mars, and Mercury at 7 am, or about 50 minutes before sunrise in the morning twilight. Created using Stellarium.
Telescopic views of the Jupiter and its moons; and Venus (north up) as they would be seen in a small telescope, with the same magnification, overnight, February 9/10, 2022. As far as Jupiter is concerned, I’m not sure its moons will be visible in the twilight or close to the horizon. I do not show planets less than 10 seconds of arc in diameter. Apparent diameters: Jupiter, 33.34″ at 6:45 pm. Mars is not shown, its apparent diameter is 4.44″. Venus has an apparent diameter of 42.07″ and is 23.8% illuminated at 7 am. Mercury, is also not shown, it has an apparent diameter of 7.73″ and it’s 47.3% illuminated. The ” symbol means seconds of arc (1/3600th of a degree.) Created using Cartes du Ciel (Sky Charts).
The naked-eye planets and the Moon at sunset and sunrise on a single night, starting with sunset on the right on February 9, 2022. The night ends on the left with sunrise on the 10th. Click on the image to enlarge it. Created using my LookingUp program.
02/08/2022 – Ephemeris – The first quarter Moon tonight
This is Ephemeris for Tuesday, February 8th. Today the Sun will be up for 10 hours and 8 minutes, setting at 6:01, and it will rise tomorrow at 7:51. The Moon, at first quarter today, will set at 2:34 tomorrow morning.
The Moon tonight, will be about 12 hours past being exactly first quarter, so it will be showing to be just a bit gibbous, that is a bit more than 50% illuminated by the Sun from our vantage point. In binoculars, the gray lunar seas, which are actually frozen lava filled plains, dominate the upper right quarter of the Moon. At the bottom, or south end of the Moon are the lighter more cratered region of the Moon called the Lunar Highlands. It is near the terminator, the line between day and night on the Moon, where shadows are longest, where craters can be seen by the shadows of the rims. Farther away from the terminator, the Sun is higher in the Moon’s sky, so the shadows get shorter or disappear all together.
The astronomical event times given are for the Traverse City/Interlochen area of Michigan (EST, UT – 5 hours). They may be different for your location.
Addendum
The is what the Moon might look like tonight, hours after first quarter. Just a bit of Mare Imbrium (Sea of Showers) is visible. Mare Serenitatis is the Sea of Serenity, Mare Tranquilitatis is the Sea of Tranquility. The green annotation is mine. BTW, Mare is pronounced Mar-e. It’s Latin, meaning sea. Created using Virtual Moon Atlas, a free app that can be downloaded from a link on the right, or listed under Free Astronomical Software.
02/07/2022 – Ephemeris – The Moon tonight
This is Ephemeris for Monday, February 7th. Today the Sun will be up for 10 hours and 5 minutes, setting at 6:00, and it will rise tomorrow at 7:53. The Moon, 1 day before first quarter, will set at 1:29 tomorrow morning.
Tonight, let’s take a look at the nearly first quarter Moon. The small, nearly circular gray spot is the sea of Crises. A diagonal chain of larger seas run from the terminator, the sunrise line, to below the Sea of Crises. They are, from the terminator, the seas of Serenity, Tranquility and Fertility. NASA is hoping to launch its uncrewed mission to the Moon, Artemis-1, next month with a large block of launch dates. The launch window begins on March 12th and ends on the 27th, with two blackout dates. Two lengths of missions are possible, a long 38 to 42 day mission is possible in the first part of the launch window, and a shorter 26 to 28 day mission is possible in the latter part of the window.
The astronomical event times given are for the Traverse City/Interlochen area of Michigan (EST, UT – 5 hours). They may be different for your location.
Addendum
The Moon as it might appear tonight in binoculars or a small telescope at 7 pm tonight, February 7, 2022. I labeled the lunar seas with their English names, translated from the Latin. Also labeled is the Sea of Nectar, which wasn’t mentioned in the program. Moon image created using Stellarium.
02/02/2022 – Ephemeris – Let’s search for the naked-eye planets for this week
This is Bob Moler with Ephemeris for Ground Hog Day, Wednesday, February 2nd. Today the Sun will be up for 9 hours and 52 minutes, setting at 5:52, and it will rise tomorrow at 7:59. The Moon, 1 day past new, will set at 7:42 this evening.
Let’s search for the naked-eye planets for this week. There is just one planet left in the evening sky now. Jupiter will be visible in the west-southwest by 6:30 pm. The thin crescent Moon will appear below and left of it tonight. It’s kind of hard to tell which will be brighter. Jupiter will set at 7:54 pm. Saturn is too close to the Sun to be seen, and will cross behind the Sun on Friday, and will then enter the morning sky, where we will lose it for a month or so. Speaking of the morning sky, Venus, our brilliant morning star, will be in the southeast by 7 o’clock with the much dimmer Mars to the right and below it. Venus will rise at 5:40, with Mars following at 5:59. Antares is Mars’ rival in color and brightness, the red giant star Antares will be in the south-southeast at 7. Mars is speeding away from it.
The astronomical event times given are for the Traverse City/Interlochen area of Michigan (EST, UT – 5 hours). They may be different for your location.
Addendum
Jupiter and the Moon in twilight at 6:30 pm tonight, February 2, 2022. Created using Stellarium.
This is what tonight’s one-day old Moon might look like in a pair of binoculars at 6:30 pm, February 2, 2022. The image shows earth shine, the reflected light of a nearly full Earth on The Moon’s night side. Created using Stellarium.
Venus and Mars in the morning at 7:00 tomorrow morning, February 2, 2022. Created using Stellarium.
Telescopic views of the bright planets and their brighter moons (north up) as they would be seen in a small telescope, with the same magnification, overnight, February 2/3, 2022. I do not show planets less than 10 seconds of arc in diameter. Apparent diameters: Jupiter, 33.56″ at 7 pm. Mars is not shown, its apparent diameter is 4.35″. Venus has an apparent diameter of 47.25″ and is 17.5% illuminated at 7 am. The ” symbol means seconds of arc (1/3600th of a degree.) Created using Cartes du Ciel (Sky Charts).
The naked-eye planets and the Moon at sunset and sunrise on a single night, starting with sunset on the right on February 2, 2022. The night ends on the left with sunrise on the 3rd. Click on the image to enlarge it. Created using my LookingUp program.
