09/20/2018 – Autumn will fall on us Saturday night
Ephemeris for Thursday, September 20th. The Sun will rise at 7:27. It’ll be up for 12 hours and 16 minutes, setting at 7:43. The Moon, half way from first quarter to full, will set at 3:44 tomorrow morning.
Welcome to the last few days of summer. The weather has stayed summery thus far through September. The Sun will reach the autumnal equinox point in the sky at 9:54 Saturday evening. At that moment the Sun will cross the celestial equator, a projection of the Earth’s equator, heading southward. All locations on the Earth except two will experience 12 hours of daylight and 12 hours of night. Well they would if the Earth didn’t have an atmosphere and sunset and sunrise were defined differently. The two locations that don’t experience equal night, which is what equinox means, are the north pole where the Sun will be setting and the south pole where the Sun will be rising. For us in the northern hemisphere daylight hours will be shorter and the Sun will peak lower in the south each day until the December solstice.
The times given are for the Traverse City/Interlochen area of Michigan. They may be different for your location.
09/19/2018 – Ephemeris – Wednesday is bright planet day on Ephemeris
Ephemeris for Talk Like a Pirate Day, Wednesday, September 19th. The Sun will rise at 7:26. It’ll be up for 12 hours and 19 minutes, setting at 7:45. The Moon, 3 days past first quarter, will set at 2:47 tomorrow morning.
Let’s look at the bright planets for this week. Four of them are visible in the evening sky. The brilliant Venus will be visible in the western twilight from about 8 p.m. until it sets at 8:40 p.m. Jupiter will be in the southwest as it gets dark. It is only outshone by Venus, and the Moon. The big planet will set at 9:40 p.m. Saturn will start the evening low in the southern sky and will stay relatively low, above the Teapot of Sagittarius. It will be due south at 7:59 p.m. and will set at 12:24 a.m. Mars will be low in the south-southeast as the skies darken tonight. and is now 49.5 million miles (79.7 million km) away. Mars will be due south at 10:09 p.m., and it will set at 2:27 a.m.
The times given are for the Traverse City/Interlochen area of Michigan. They may be different for your location.
Addendum
09/18/2018 – Ephemeris – Moon and planet party tomorrow night
Ephemeris for Tuesday, September 18th. The Sun will rise at 7:25. It’ll be up for 12 hours and 22 minutes, setting at 7:47. The Moon, 2 days past first quarter, will set at 1:53 tomorrow morning.
Tomorrow evening the Grand Traverse Astronomical Society will set up their telescopes at the Traverse Area District Library Central Library on Woodmere Avenue from 7 to 8:30 p.m. weather permitting for a star party, though it won’t actually feature stars. It will feature the Moon in its gibbous phase and the planets Jupiter, Saturn and Mars after 7:30 p.m. The evening will start with a twilight talk by yours truly about the Moon. Also Mars is showing some features now that it is still relatively close to the Earth at 49 and a half million miles away, and the global dust storm on the planet has subsided. On the face of Mars tomorrow night is the large formation Syrtis Major, sounds nice, but it means the Great Swamp.
The times given are for the Traverse City/Interlochen area of Michigan. They may be different for your location.
09/17/2018 – Ephemeris – The Moon Tonight and the Jade Rabbit
Ephemeris for Monday, September 17th. The Sun will rise at 7:24. It’ll be up for 12 hours and 25 minutes, setting at 7:49. The Moon, 1 day past first quarter, will set at 1:03 tomorrow morning.
Now is a good time to point that small telescope or binoculars toward the Moon. The gray seas on the right side of the moon depict the neck, head and ears of the Jade Rabbit. It’s curled up body is on the night side of the Moon to the left. The rabbit is upside down as we see him with the naked eye or binoculars. The Sea of Serenity is the upper part of his body, the head is the Sea of Tranquility. A bay south of Tranquility and the Sea of Nectar is one ear and the Sea of Fertility is the other ear. The Jade Rabbit is related to the Chinese Mid-Autumn Festival which occurs at our Harvest Moon. It’s on September 24th this year. Another amateur astronomer and myself brought telescopes to the local festival last year to view the Jade Rabbit on the Moon.
The times given are for the Traverse City/Interlochen area of Michigan. They may be different for your location.
Addendum
09/14/2018 – Ephemeris – Local astronomy activities Saturday the 15th
Note: I’m a bit late with this post due to unscheduled star party last night for Greenspire School at Leelanau Outdoor Center near Pyramid Point. Then I had a sail this morning for Inland Seas. I came home absolutely pooped out. Anyway the events described except for the first paragraph below are for tomorrow.
Ephemeris for Friday, September 14th. The Sun will rise at 7:20. It’ll be up for 12 hours and 34 minutes, setting at 7:55. The Moon, 2 days before first quarter, will set at 11:00 this evening.
There are two local astronomical events tomorrow. The Leland Heritage Celebration will take place from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. at Fishtown in Leland. The Grand Traverse Astronomical Society will be there to show the Sun through member’s telescopes, maybe spot the Moon and the planet Venus plus give out NASA items for the kids. We’ll exhibit pictures gained from last year’s total solar eclipse. Then starting at 9 p.m. the crew will be at Northwestern Michigan College’s Rogers Observatory for a star party, viewing Mars, Saturn, Jupiter and the Moon, plus some brighter objects beyond the solar system. Rain will affect the Leland event. The observatory is located on south of Traverse City on Birmley Road between Keystone and Garfield roads.
The times given are for the Traverse City/Interlochen area of Michigan. They may be different for your location.
Addendum
09/13/2018 – Ephemeris – The Man in the Moon’s eye
Ephemeris for Thursday, September 13th. The Sun will rise at 7:19. It’ll be up for 12 hours and 37 minutes, setting at 7:57. The Moon, 3 days before first quarter, will set at 10:27 this evening.
The Moon tonight is a 4 day old moon, and appears near the planet Jupiter. Day one is its first appearance in the evening after disappearing from the morning sky. The ancients called it the new moon, but astronomers treat the conjunction of the Moon and the Sun as the new moon. In this program I note the days before or after the nearest quarter phase, as a better representation of the actual appearance of the Moon’s phase. The Moon will be a beautiful crescent tonight. Binoculars will reveal a dark area just above the fattest part of the crescent. It serves as one of the Man in the Moon’s eyes. Its official name is Mare Crisium, or Sea of Crises. Most of the Moon’s seas are connected, or appear to be. This one is definitely not.
The times given are for the Traverse City/Interlochen area of Michigan. They may be different for your location.
Addendum
The 4 day old Moon showing Mare Crisium, the Sea of Crises. 9 p.m. September 13, 2018. Created using Virtual Moon Atlas.
09/12/2018 – Ephemeris – Wednesday is bright planet day on Ephemeris
Ephemeris for Wednesday, September 12th. The Sun will rise at 7:18. It’ll be up for 12 hours and 40 minutes, setting at 7:59. The Moon, 3 days past new, will set at 9:56 this evening.
It’s Wednesday again and time to look at the bright planets. Four of them are visible in the evening sky. The brilliant Venus will be visible in the western twilight from about 8:20 p.m. until it sets at 9:03 p.m. Jupiter will be in the southwest as it gets dark. It is only outshone by Venus, and the Moon, and is again brighter than Mars. Jupiter will set at 10:16 p.m. Saturn will start the evening low in the southern sky and will stay relatively low, above the Teapot of Sagittarius. It will be due south at 8:28 p.m. and will set at 12:51 a.m. Mars will be low in the south-southeast as the skies darken tonight. and is now 46.4 million miles (74.6 million km) away. Mars will be due south at 10:29 p.m., and it will set at 2:43 a.m.
The times given are for the Traverse City/Interlochen area of Michigan. They may be different for your location.
Addendum
The evening planets at 8:30 p.m. September 12, 2018. Click on image to enlarge. Created using Stellarium.
The crescent Moon as it should appear tonight in binoculars. Created using Stellarium.
Venus, Jupiter, Saturn and Mars with the same magnification at 8:30 p.m. September 12, 2018. Yes, your eyes don’t deceive you, Venus is larger than Jupiter. Venus is 34.9 ” (seconds of arc) in diameter, while Jupiter is 33.8″. Venus is approaching us, while Jupiter is being left behind by the Earth. Mars is also shown enlarged. The global dust storm is abating, so the albedo features are beginning to be seen. Created using Cartes du Ciel (Sky Charts).
Planets and the Moon at sunset and sunrise of a single night starting with sunset on the right on September 12, 2018. The night ends on the left with sunrise on the 13th. Click on the image to enlarge. Created using my LookingUp program.
09/11/2018 – Ephemeris – Earth shine on the Moon
Ephemeris for Tuesday, September 11th. The Sun will rise at 7:16. It’ll be up for 12 hours and 43 minutes, setting at 8:00. The Moon, 2 days past new, will set at 9:27 this evening.
At around 8:30 this evening Venus will be in the southwest only 9 degrees above the horizon, about the width of a fist held at arm’s length. While viewing Venus the Moon will be to the right and above our evening star. It will be a thin sliver of a crescent and in the twilight there will be the suggestion that there is more than the thin sliver of the Moon visible. Binoculars will confirm that the entire disk of the Moon will be visible. The effect is called earth shine. The nearly full Earth is illuminating the Moon to a much greater degree than the full Moon illuminates the Earth. The Earth is about 4 times the Moons diameter and its surface is about twice as bright and the Moon’s. The ancients called it: “The old Moon in the new Moon’s arms.”
The times given are for the Traverse City/Interlochen area of Michigan. They may be different for your location.
Addendum
Venus, the Moon and Jupiter at 8:30 p.m. September 11, 2018. Created using Stellarium.
An overly colored Moon to bring out Earth shine on thye evening of September 11, 2018. Created by Stellarium. Overly processed in GIMP.
09/10/2018 -Ephemeris – The Coathanger in the sky
Ephemeris for Monday, September 10th. The Sun will rise at 7:15. It’ll be up for 12 hours and 47 minutes, setting at 8:02. The Moon, 1 day past new, will set at 8:57 this evening.
Just about every amateur astronomer knows a little asterism or informal constellation called the Coathanger. It’s stars are mostly below naked eye visibility, but it is a great sight in binoculars. It’s located along a line from Altair in Aquila the eagle to Vega in Lyra the harp. These are two star of the Summer Triangle. It is also just west of, or right of, the constellation Sagitta the arrow. It consists of six stars in just about a perfectly straight line with four stars in a tight group south of them making the hook. In telescope finders which invert the image the Coathanger appears right-side-up. Arab astronomer Al Sufi discovered it and described it in 964 AD. It has the catalog designation of Collinder 399. It is also known as Brocchi’s Cluster.
The times given are for the Traverse City/Interlochen area of Michigan. They may be different for your location.
Addendum
How to find the Coathanger. Look for the Summer Triangle. On the line from Altair to Vega the Coathanger can be found. Star imaged by Bob Moler.
Binocular view of the Coathanger. From the original resolution of the above photograph.
Telescope finder view of the Coathanger. Telescope finders usually invert the image, so it looks like a proper coat hanger.
09/07/2018 – Ephemeris – Two astronomy events in the Grand Traverse region this weekend
Ephemeris for Friday, September 7th. The Sun will rise at 7:12. It’ll be up for 12 hours and 56 minutes, setting at 8:08. The Moon, 2 days before new, will rise at 5:35 tomorrow morning.
This evening the Grand Traverse Astronomical Society will hold its monthly meeting at the Northwestern Michigan College’s Rogers Observatory at 8 p.m. with a program featuring Dr. David Penney and his talk Large Impacts on the Earth. After watching the impacts of Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 into Jupiter in 1994 the public and space agencies began to take the possibility of an asteroid or comet impact on the Earth seriously. Dr. Penney will talk about evidence of such impacts on the Earth in the past. After the talk, at 9 p.m. there will be a star party to view the heavens including Saturn and Mars and wonders of the Milky Way. The observatory is located south of Traverse City, on Birmley Road between Garfield and Keystone roads.
The times given are for the Traverse City/Interlochen area of Michigan. They may be different for your location.
Addendum
Telescopes set up by members of the Grand Traverse Astronomical Society at the back of Northwestern Michigan College’s Joseph H. Rogers Observatory on August 3, 2018. Credit mine.
This in the beginning of setup for the October 21, 2917 star party at the dune climb. Taken early while there was enough light. The dune blocks up to 12 degrees from the southwest to northwest, but the rest of the horizon is quite low.
