11/01/2018 – Ephemeris – November preview

November 1, 2018 Comments off

Ephemeris for Thursday, November 1st. The Sun will rise at 8:20. It’ll be up for 10 hours and 10 minutes, setting at 6:31. The Moon, 1 day past last quarter, will rise at 2:14 tomorrow morning.

Let’s look ahead at the skies for the month of November. The Sun is still moving south rapidly. Daylight hours in the Interlochen/Traverse City area and will drop from 10 hours and 10 minutes today to 9 hours 5 minutes on the 30th. The altitude, or angle, of the Sun above the southern horizon at local noon will be at 30 degrees today and will descend to 23 and a half degrees on the 30th. The altitude of the Sun in the Straits area will be a degree lower. Local noon, this month, will be about 12:30 p.m. once we’re on standard time. The Leonid meteor shower will reach multiple peaks from the 16th through the 21st and is expected to be lackluster and may only produce 10 to 15 meteors per hour. But the Leonids can be surprising.

The times given are for the Traverse City/Interlochen area of Michigan. They may be different for your location.

Addendum

November Evening Star Chart

November evening star chart
Star Chart for November 2018 (9 p.m. EST November 15, 2018). 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. (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 9 p.m. and 6 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.

November Morning Star Chart

November Morning star chart

Star Chart for November moprnings 2018 (6 a.m. EST November 15, 2018). Created using my LookingUp program. Click on image to enlarge.  The original morning chart uploaded November 1st was outdated.  This corrected chart was uploaded November 6th.

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

Time zone=EDT
Morning twilight Evening twilight Dark night Moon
Date Astronomical Nautical Nautical Astronomical Start End Illum.
2018-11-01 6h47m 7h21m 19h39m 20h13m 20h13m 1h02m 0.41
2018-11-02 6h48m 7h22m 19h38m 20h12m 20h12m 2h14m 0.29
2018-11-03 6h49m 7h23m 19h37m 20h11m 20h11m 3h27m 0.19
2018-11-04 5h50m 6h24m 18h36m 19h10m 19h10m 3h39m 0.11
2018-11-05 5h52m 6h26m 18h34m 19h08m 19h08m 4h50m 0.05
2018-11-06 5h53m 6h27m 18h33m 19h07m 19h07m 5h53m 0.01
2018-11-07 5h54m 6h28m 18h32m 19h06m 19h06m 5h54m 0.00
2018-11-08 5h55m 6h29m 18h31m 19h05m 19h05m 5h55m 0.01
2018-11-09 5h56m 6h30m 18h30m 19h04m 19h04m 5h56m 0.05
2018-11-10 5h57m 6h32m 18h29m 19h03m 19h46m 5h57m 0.10
2018-11-11 5h59m 6h33m 18h28m 19h02m 20h33m 5h59m 0.17
2018-11-12 6h00m 6h34m 18h27m 19h01m 21h25m 6h00m 0.26
2018-11-13 6h01m 6h35m 18h26m 19h00m 22h20m 6h01m 0.35
2018-11-14 6h02m 6h36m 18h25m 19h00m 23h18m 6h02m 0.44
2018-11-15 6h03m 6h38m 18h24m 18h59m – 6h03m 0.54
2018-11-16 6h04m 6h39m 18h24m 18h58m 0h18m 6h04m 0.63
2018-11-17 6h05m 6h40m 18h23m 18h57m 1h19m 6h05m 0.73
2018-11-18 6h07m 6h41m 18h22m 18h57m 2h21m 6h07m 0.81
2018-11-19 6h08m 6h42m 18h21m 18h56m 3h24m 6h08m 0.89
2018-11-20 6h09m 6h43m 18h21m 18h55m 4h30m 6h09m 0.95
2018-11-21 6h10m 6h45m 18h20m 18h55m 5h38m 6h10m 0.99
2018-11-22 6h11m 6h46m 18h19m 18h54m – – 0.99
2018-11-23 6h12m 6h47m 18h19m 18h54m – – 1.00
2018-11-24 6h13m 6h48m 18h18m 18h53m – – 0.99
2018-11-25 6h14m 6h49m 18h18m 18h53m 18h53m 19h38m 0.94
2018-11-26 6h15m 6h50m 18h17m 18h52m 18h52m 20h43m 0.88
2018-11-27 6h16m 6h51m 18h17m 18h52m 18h52m 21h52m 0.79
2018-11-28 6h17m 6h52m 18h16m 18h51m 18h51m 23h05m 0.68
2018-11-29 6h18m 6h53m 18h16m 18h51m 18h51m – 0.56
2018-11-30 6h19m 6h54m 18h16m 18h51m 18h51m 0h17m 0.44
2018-10-31 6h45m 7h19m 19h40m 20h14m 20h14m – 0.53

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

      Time  
Nov 1 Th Venus: 10.6° W
1 Th 11:16:00 PM Moon-Regulus: 2.1° S
5 Mo 12:31:00 PM South Taurid Shower: ZHR = 10
6 Tu 09:59:00 AM Mercury Elongation: 23.3° E
7 We 11:02:00 AM New Moon
8 Th 11:56:00 PM Mercury-Antares: 1.8° N
11 Su 10:46:00 AM Moon-Saturn: 1.6° S
11 Su 09:21:00 PM Moon South Dec.: 21.4° S
12 Mo 11:48:00 AM North Taurid Shower: ZHR = 15
13 Tu 09:04:00 AM Moon Descending Node
14 We 10:57:00 AM Moon Apogee: 404300 km
14 We 06:23:00 PM Venus-Spica: 1.5° S
15 Th 09:54:00 AM First Quarter
15 Th 11:16:00 PM Moon-Mars: 1.1° N
17 Sa 06:05:00 PM Leonid Shower: ZHR = 15
23 Fr 12:39:00 AM Full Moon
23 Fr 04:11:00 PM Moon-Aldebaran: 1.7° S
25 Su 08:48:00 PM Moon North Dec.: 21.5° N
26 Mo 01:25:00 AM Jupiter Conjunction
26 Mo 07:10:00 AM Moon Perigee: 366600 km
27 Tu 12:18:00 AM Moon Ascending Node
27 Tu 04:10:00 AM Mercury Inferior Conj.
27 Tu 03:57:00 PM Moon-Beehive: 0.8° N
29 Th 04:27:00 AM Moon-Regulus: 2.4° S
29 Th 07:19:00 PM Last Quarter
All event times are given for UTC-5:00: Eastern Standard or 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

Ephemeris of Sky Events for Interlochen/TC
November 2018 – Local time zone: EDT/EST
Date Sun Twilight* Moon Illum
Rise Set Hours End Start Phase R/S** Time Fract
Thu 1 08:20a 06:31p 10:11 07:36p 07:15a Rise 02:14a 35
Fri 2 08:21a 06:29p 10:08 07:34p 07:16a Rise 03:27a 25
Sat 3 08:22a 06:28p 10:05 07:33p 07:17a Rise 04:39a 16
*** Time Change – EST – Time Change ***
Sun 4 07:24a 05:27p 10:02 06:32p 06:19a Rise 04:50a 9
Mon 5 07:25a 05:25p 10:00 06:31p 06:20a Rise 06:00a 3
Tue 6 07:27a 05:24p 09:57 06:30p 06:21a Rise 07:09a 1
Wed 7 07:28a 05:23p 09:55 06:29p 06:22a New Set 05:52p 0
Thu 8 07:29a 05:22p 09:52 06:28p 06:23a Set 06:26p 2
Fri 9 07:31a 05:21p 09:49 06:26p 06:25a Set 07:03p 6
Sat 10 07:32a 05:19p 09:47 06:25p 06:26a Set 07:46p 11
Sun 11 07:33a 05:18p 09:44 06:25p 06:27a Set 08:33p 18
Mon 12 07:35a 05:17p 09:42 06:24p 06:28a Set 09:25p 26
Tue 13 07:36a 05:16p 09:40 06:23p 06:29a Set 10:20p 35
Wed 14 07:37a 05:15p 09:37 06:22p 06:31a Set 11:18p 44
Thu 15 07:39a 05:14p 09:35 06:21p 06:32a F Qtr Set 12:18a 54
Fri 16 07:40a 05:13p 09:33 06:20p 06:33a Set 01:18a 63
Sat 17 07:41a 05:12p 09:30 06:19p 06:34a Set 02:20a 72
Sun 18 07:43a 05:11p 09:28 06:19p 06:35a Set 03:24a 80
Mon 19 07:44a 05:10p 09:26 06:18p 06:36a Set 04:29a 88
Tue 20 07:45a 05:10p 09:24 06:17p 06:38a Set 05:37a 94
Wed 21 07:47a 05:09p 09:22 06:17p 06:39a Set 06:47a 98
Thu 22 07:48a 05:08p 09:20 06:16p 06:40a Set 07:58a 100
Fri 23 07:49a 05:07p 09:18 06:15p 06:41a Full Rise 05:55p 99
Sat 24 07:50a 05:07p 09:16 06:15p 06:42a Rise 06:42p 96
Sun 25 07:52a 05:06p 09:14 06:14p 06:43a Rise 07:39p 90
Mon 26 07:53a 05:06p 09:12 06:14p 06:44a Rise 08:43p 82
Tue 27 07:54a 05:05p 09:10 06:14p 06:45a Rise 09:52p 72
Wed 28 07:55a 05:04p 09:09 06:13p 06:46a Rise 11:05p 61
Thu 29 07:56a 05:04p 09:07 06:13p 06:47a L Qtr Rise 12:17a 50
Fri 30 07:58a 05:04p 09:06 06:13p 06:48a Rise 01:28a 39
* Nautical Twilight
** Rise or set whichever occurs between sunset and sunrise
Categories: Ephemeris Program, Month preview Tags:

10/31/2018 – Ephemeris – The bright planets tonight

October 31, 2018 Comments off

Ephemeris for Halloween, Wednesday, October 31st. The Sun will rise at 8:19. It’ll be up for 10 hours and 13 minutes, setting at 6:32. The Moon, at last quarter today, will rise at 1:02 tomorrow morning.

Let’s look at the bright planets for tonight. Three of them are visible in the evening sky. Jupiter will be barely visible very low in the west-southwest after sunset. It will set at 7:30 p.m. Saturn, the ringed planet, will start the evening low in the south-southwestern sky and will set at 9:49 p.m. Mars will be low in the south-southeast as the skies darken tonight. and is now 73.2 million miles (117.9 million km) away. Mars will be due south at 8:39 p.m., and it will set at 1:33a.m. Mars is picking up speed moving eastward, crossing the constellation of Capricornus this month. It’s currently in eastern Capricornus. Venus, now a morning planet, will rise at 7:45 tomorrow morning, 34 minutes after the Sun.

The times given are for the Traverse City/Interlochen area of Michigan. They may be different for your location.

Addendum

Evening planets
Evening planets at 8 p.m. October 31, 2018.  Click on image to enlarge.  Created using Stellarium.

Binocular Moon
The waning crescent Moon as it should appear tomorrow morning in binoculars. Created using Stellarium.
Saturn and Mars with the same magnification at 8 p.m. Created using Cartes du Ciel (Sky Charts).
Stars and planets from sunset to sunrise
Planets and the Moon at sunset and sunrise of a single night starting with sunset on the right on October 31, 2018. The night ends on the left with sunrise on November 1st. Click on the image to enlarge. Created using my LookingUp program.

 

Update

I know, the content above isn’t very spooky for Halloween.  However, NASA came to the rescue with their Halloween Special: Universe of Monsters.  Fitting with our theme today, it’s about planets… of the Exo variety.  Click here!

Categories: Ephemeris Program, Planets Tags: , , , , , ,

10/30/2018 – Ephemeris – Algol the spookiest star in the sky

October 30, 2018 Comments off

Ephemeris for Tuesday, October 30th. The Sun will rise at 8:18. It’ll be up for 10 hours and 16 minutes, setting at 6:34. The Moon, 1 day before last quarter, will rise at 11:53 this evening.

Not all the ghosts and goblins out tomorrow night will be children. One will be out every night because it’s a star. Its name is Algol, from the Arabic for Ghoul Star or Demon Star. The Chinese had a name for it that meant “piled up corpses”. It’s normally the second brightest star in the constellation Perseus the hero, visible in the northeast this evening. The star is located where artists have drawn the severed head of Medusa, whom he had slain. Medusa was so ugly that she turned all who gazed upon her to stone. Algol is her still glittering eye. The star got these names before astronomers found out what was wrong with it. They found out that it does a slow wink every two days, 21 hours.  That’s because Algol is two stars that eclipse each other. Her next evening wink will be dimmest at 8:10 p.m. November 13th.

The times given are for the Traverse City/Interlochen area of Michigan. They may be different for your location.

Addendum

Algol Finder
Perseus, Cassiopeia, Andromeda with Algol finder animation for Autumn evenings. Created using Stellarium and GIMP
.
Eclipsing Binary Star
Animation of an eclipsing binary star like Algol. Credit: Wikimedia Commons h/t Earth and Sky
Categories: Ephemeris Program, Stars Tags: , ,

10/29/2018 – Ephemeris – Perseus the hero

October 29, 2018 Comments off

Ephemeris for Monday, October 29th. The Sun will rise at 8:16. It’ll be up for 10 hours and 18 minutes, setting at 6:35. The Moon, 2 days before last quarter, will rise at 10:48 this evening.

bout a third the way from the east northeastern horizon to the zenith at 9 p.m. and below the letter W shaped constellation of Cassiopeia the queen is Perseus the hero. It’s kind of a odd shape for a hero, To me it looks like the cartoon roadrunner. To those who’s imagination doesn’t run to cartoons, its shape is also like the Greek letter pi. It’s two brightest stars are Mirfak and Algol the demon star. Look at the area around Mirfak with binoculars and you will see a large group of stars just below naked eye visibility. It’s called the Alpha Persei association. That because Mirfak is Alpha Persei. The group is about 560 light years away, which means, though close, are farther away than the Pleiades, below and right of them.

The times given are for the Traverse City/Interlochen area of Michigan. They may be different for your location.

Addendum

Perseus and Algol Finder
Perseus, Cassiopeia, Andromeda with Algol finder animation for Autumn evenings. Created using Stellarium and GIMP.

Alpha Persei Association
Alpha Persei Association.  Mirphak or Mirfak is Alpha Persei, Created using Stellarium.
Categories: Constellations, Ephemeris Program Tags: , , , ,

10/26/2018 – Ephemeris – Venus passes inferior conjunction with the Sun today

October 26, 2018 Comments off

Ephemeris for Friday, October 26th. The Sun will rise at 8:12. It’ll be up for 10 hours and 27 minutes, setting at 6:40. The Moon, 2 days past full, will rise at 8:19 this evening.

Later this morning the planet Venus will pass in inferior conjunction with the Sun, moving officially from the evening sky to the morning sky. Inferior conjunctions are when Venus is between the Earth and the Sun. We haven’t seen Venus for over a month, it setting too soon after the Sun to be spotted. It’s appearance in the morning sky will be much more sudden. On fall mornings the ecliptic, the path of the Sun and most planets is more vertical in the sky, opposite that of the evning sky, so that Venus will suddenly appear. Being south of the Sun, it will take 3 days, next Monday morning to rise with the Sun, but after that Venus will rise 8 minutes earlier each morning for a while. It should be easily visible in two weeks as the bright Morning Star

The times given are for the Traverse City/Interlochen area of Michigan. They may be different for your location.

Venus near solar conjunction
Venus and the Sun recorded by the Solar & Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO) LASCO C3 coronagraph less than 24 hours before the actual instant of Inferior conjunction. Credit: ESA/NASA.
Categories: Conjunction, Ephemeris Program, Venus Tags:

10/25/2018 – Ephemeris – Europe and Japan launch a joint mission to Mercury

October 25, 2018 Comments off

Ephemeris for Thursday, October 25th. The Sun will rise at 8:11. It’ll be up for 10 hours and 30 minutes, setting at 6:41. The Moon, 1 day past full, will rise at 7:44 this evening.

A joint mission to Mercury by the Europeans and the Japanese called BepiColumbo was launched late Friday night October 19th our time (EDT), 20th (UT). It will take 7 years to be able to drop into orbit of the innermost planet to make only the second spacecraft to do so. To drop into Mercury’s orbit from the Earth’s orbit the spacecraft will need to lose a whole lot of velocity. The trip there will entail one flyby of the Earth, two of Venus, and six of Mercury itself. Planetary flybys have been used since the 1970s to use a planet’s velocity to add to or subtract from a spacecraft’s velocity, depending on how it approaches the planet. If crossing in front of a planet some velocity is subtracted from the spacecraft, allowing it to drop closer to the Sun. If coming up from behind the spacecraft gets to add to its velocity relative to the Sun.

The times given are for the Traverse City/Interlochen area of Michigan. They may be different for your location.

Addendum

Orbits
Animation of BepiColombo’s trajectory from 20 October 2018 to 2 November 2025. Earth’s orbit Blue, Cyan Venus, Green Mercury, Purple BepiColumbo.
BepiColumbo
BepiColumbo spacecraft separates into two acitve satellites at Mercury. ESA’s MPO, Mercury Planetary Orbiter; and JAXA’s MMO, Mercury Magnetospheric Orbiter. Credit DLR/ESA
Categories: Ephemeris Program, ESA, Mercury Tags:

10/24/2018 – Ephemeris – Looking for the bright planets tonight

October 24, 2018 Comments off

Ephemeris for Wednesday, October 24th. The Sun will rise at 8:10. It’ll be up for 10 hours and 33 minutes, setting at 6:43. The Moon, at full today, will rise at 7:13 this evening.

Let’s look at the bright planets for tonight. Three of them are visible in the evening sky. Venus, though still officially an evening planet for two more days sets before the Sun because it is south of the Sun’s path. Jupiter will be very low in the west-southwest after sunset. It will set at 7:53 p.m. Saturn, the ringed planet, will start the evening low in the southwestern sky and will set at 10:14 p.m. Mars will be low in the south as the skies darken tonight. and is now 68.9 million miles (111.0 million km) away. Mars will be due south at 8:51 p.m., and it will set at 1:39 a.m. Mars is picking up speed moving eastward, crossing the constellation of Capricornus this month. It’s currently in eastern Capricornus.

The times given are for the Traverse City/Interlochen area of Michigan. They may be different for your location.

Addendum

Evening Planets
Mars and Saturn in the evening with the full moon at 8 p.m. October 24, 2018. Click on image to enlarge. Created using Stellarium.
Binocular Moon
The full Moon as it should appear tonight in binoculars. Created using Stellarium.
Telescopic Planets
Saturn and Mars with the same magnification at 8 p.m. Created using Cartes du Ciel (Sky Charts).
Planets and the Moon on a single night
Planets and the Moon at sunset and sunrise of a single night starting with sunset on the right on October 24, 2018. The night ends on the left with sunrise on the 25th. Click on the image to enlarge. Created using my LookingUp program.
Categories: Ephemeris Program, Planets Tags: , , , ,

10/23/2018 – Ephemeris – Uranus is at opposition from the Sun today

October 23, 2018 Comments off

Ephemeris for Tuesday, October 23rd. The Sun will rise at 8:08. It’ll be up for 10 hours and 36 minutes, setting at 6:44. The Moon, 1 day before full, will set at 7:48 tomorrow morning.

Later tonight the planet Uranus will reach opposition from the Sun. This is also about the time it is closest to the Earth at 18.9 Astronomical Units, or 18.9 times the Earth’s distance from the Sun, or 1.8 billion miles away. Uranus now is just barely visible to the naked eye by those with perfect vision at magnitude 5.7. It is fairly easy to spot in binoculars as a blue-green star. There are no blue-green stars. However it is in a rather star poor part of the sky. It is close to the bright Moon tonight, so I’d wait until Sunday night to try to spot it in dark skies. Then Uranus will be in the east at 9 p.m. below and right of the rightmost star of the three brightest stars of the constellation Aries. About half way from that star to the bottom leftmost star of Pisces. Uranus was the first new planet found since antiquity by William Herschel in 1781.

The times given are for the Traverse City/Interlochen area of Michigan. They may be different for your location.

Addendum

Wide view of Uranus finder chart
Wide view of Uranus finder chart looking east at 9 p.m. Sunday October 28, 2018. Created using Cartes du Ciel (Sky Charts).
Narrow view of Uranus finder chart
Narrow view of Uranus finder chart looking east at 9 p.m. Sunday October 28, 2018. It shows stars down to 9th magnitude. Created using Cartes du Ciel (Sky Charts).
Categories: Ephemeris Program, Planets Tags: ,

10/22/2018 – Ephemeris – The Hubble Space Telescope is on the mend

October 22, 2018 Comments off

Ephemeris for Monday, October 22nd. The Sun will rise at 8:07. It’ll be up for 10 hours and 39 minutes, setting at 6:46. The Moon, 2 days before full, will set at 6:42 tomorrow morning.

Some of this news is a week old, but on October 5th the Hubble Space Telescope went into safe mode due to the loss of a functioning gyroscope. It needs three for fine stabilization for normal operation. Six new ones were installed by a servicing mission in 2009. In a worse case scenario, it can hobble along with just one. When a backup gyro was brought on-line it was showing anomalous readings. That was the status as of a week ago. Apparently, a workaround for the wonky gyro was found, and Hubble will go back into full operation soon.  Another servicing mission is impossible because the Space Shuttle program has ended and all the surviving shuttle orbiters are in museums. With the James Web Space Telescope delayed until at least 2021, there may well be a gap in the reception of those exquisite images from space.

The times given are for the Traverse City/Interlochen area of Michigan. They may be different for your location.

Addendum

The Hubble Space Telescope
The Hubble Space Telescope after a servicing mission. Credit: NASA.
Categories: Ephemeris Program Tags:

10/19/2018 – Ephemeris – Last 2018 outings for the GTAS this weekend

October 19, 2018 Comments off

Ephemeris for Friday, October 19th. The Sun will rise at 8:03. It’ll be up for 10 hours and 47 minutes, setting at 6:51. The Moon, 3 days past first quarter, will set at 3:32 tomorrow morning.

Clouds willing, the Grand Traverse Astronomical Society will host two events this weekend. The first is Saturday night on the sidewalk on the 200 block of Front Street in Traverse City. It’s the International Observe the Moon Night, celebrated around the world. The event will begin at 8 p.m. Again the sky has to be at least partially clear for this event to happen.

Sunday night, again skies willing, members of the society will be at the Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore Dune Climb for the final star party of the year celebrating the 48th anniversary of the establishment of the park. On tap will be the Moon, Mars and Saturn plus some of the brighter wonders of the heavens including colorful binary stars and star clusters.

The times given are for the Traverse City/Interlochen area of Michigan. They may be different for your location.

Categories: Ephemeris Program, GTAS Outreach Event Tags: ,