11/09/2017 – Ephemeris – Cassiopeia the queen and her husband
Ephemeris for Thursday, November 9th. The Sun will rise at 7:31. It’ll be up for 9 hours and 49 minutes, setting at 5:20. The Moon, 1 day before last quarter, will rise at 10:59 this evening.
The stars of the autumn skies hold forth now, but one prominent autumn constellation never leaves us, here in northern Michigan. Look high in the northeastern sky by 8 p.m. and you can find the W shaped constellation of Cassiopeia the queen. It is opposite the pole star Polaris from the Big Dipper, slinking low in the north-northwest. There’s a dim star that appears above the middle star of the W which turns the W into a very crooked backed chair. Above and left of Cassiopeia is a dim upside down church steeple shaped constellation of Cepheus the king. The Milky Way flows through a corner of Cepheus and Cassiopeia toward the northeastern horizon and through the constellation of Perseus the hero, and the bright star Capella in Auriga the Charioteer.
The times given are for the Traverse City/Interlochen area of Michigan. They may be different for your location.
Addendum
Cassiopeia and constellations along the Milky Way in the northeast these autumn evenings. (8 p.m. November 9, 2017). Click on image to enlarge. Created using Stellarium and GIMP.
11/08/2017 – Ephemeris – Jupiter becomes visible in the morning (The bright planets this week)
Ephemeris for Wednesday, November 8th. The Sun will rise at 7:30. It’ll be up for 9 hours and 51 minutes, setting at 5:21. The Moon, 2 days before last quarter, will rise at 9:52 this evening.
Let’s take our weekly look at the bright planets. Saturn is sinking low in the southwestern sky in the evening. Saturn’s rings are still spectacular in telescopes, but since Saturn is so low in the sky the turbulence of the thick atmosphere makes Saturn fuzzy and seemingly to go in and out of focus. Saturn will set at 7:37 p.m. Tomorrow in the morning sky, Mars, heading away from the Sun will rise in the east at 4:20 a.m., Venus, is heading closer to the Sun, will rise at 6:11 in the east-southeast. Jupiter is in the morning sky but lower than Venus, rising in the east-southeast at 6:33. Mercury has moved into the evening sky and will reach it’s greatest elongation from the Sun in 15 days, but will not be easily visible even then.
The times given are for the Traverse City/Interlochen area of Michigan. They may be different for your location.
Addendum
Saturn with Mercury (unlabeled) at the horizon at 6 p.m., November 8, 2017. Click on the image to enlarge. Create using Stellarium.
Saturn and its brightest moon Titan in the evening November 8, 2017. Created using Cartes du Ciel (Sky Charts).
The Moon as it might be seen in binoculars at 10:30 p.m., November 8, 2017. Created using Stellarium.
Mars, Venus and Jupiter at 7 a.m., November 9, 2017. Jupiter will come abreast of Venus on the morning of the 13th. when they will be less than the width of the Moon apart. Created using Stellarium.
Planets at sunset and sunrise of a single night starting with sunset on the right on November 8, 2017. The night ends on the left with sunrise on the 9th. Click on the image to enlarge. Created using my LookingUp program.
11/07/2017 – Ephemeris Extra – G2 Geomagnetic Storm in progress
There an enhanced chance for auroras (northern lights) tonight.
check out http://spaceweather.com/ or http://www.swpc.noaa.gov/.
11/07/2017 – Ephemeris – The autumn constellations are all visible in the early evening
Ephemeris for Election Day for some folks, Tuesday, November 7th. The Sun will rise at 7:28. It’ll be up for 9 hours and 54 minutes, setting at 5:23. The Moon, 3 days before last quarter, will rise at 8:49 this evening.
We’ll have about an hour and a half of reasonably dark skies between 6:30 and nearly 9 p.m. – At 8 p.m. all the autumn constellations are visible. The Zodiacal constellations from Capricornus in the southwest through Aquarius, Pisces and Aries, all relatively faint to Taurus rising in the east northeast. Pegasus the flying horse is seen in the high south-southeast. It and the connected constellation of Andromeda the chained princess are seen above Aquarius through Aries. The bright star Fomalhaut holds a lonely vigil low in the south, High in the northeast is the W shaped constellation of Cassiopeia the queen, under which is Perseus, her son-in-law and hero down to the bright star Capella.
The times given are for the Traverse City/Interlochen area of Michigan. They may be different for your location.
The sky at 8 p.m. November 7, 2017 showing the autumn constellations, centered on the southeastern sky. Click on the image to enlarge. The Milky Way has been brightened to show its passage through Perseus better. The red line is the ecliptic, the path of the Sun through the Zodiac. Created using Stellarium.
Addendum
11/06/2017 – Ephemeris – Taurus’ angry red eye, Aldebaran
Ephemeris for Monday, November 6th. The Sun will rise at 7:27. It’ll be up for 9 hours and 57 minutes, setting at 5:24. The Moon, 3 days past full, will rise at 7:52 this evening.
Last night the Moon passed in front of or occulted the bright star Aldebaran. Above right of Moon tonight is Aldebaran the bright orange star with a V shape of other stars in the face of Taurus the bull. Aldebaran appears at the lower left tip of that letter V laying on it’s side. With the bright Moon, it might take binoculars to pull out the faint stars of the V. Aldebaran isn’t actually part of the group, called the Hyades star cluster. The cluster is about 153 light years away, while Aldebaran is 65 light years away. The star has an orange hue because its surface is cooler than the Sun’s. However Aldebaran is 44 times larger in diameter, and shines 425 times brighter than the Sun. The name Aldebaran means “Follower” because it follows the Pleiades star cluster above it.
The times given are for the Traverse City/Interlochen area of Michigan. They may be different for your location.
Addendum
Aldebaran in the Hyades (unlabeled), with also the Pleiades, unlabeled, at the top and the Moon. at 9 p.m., November 6, 2017. Created using Stellarium.
11/05/2017 – Ephemeris Extra – There will be an Occultation of Aldebaran tonight*
This posting will not be broadcast.
* Or tomorrow morning, depending where you are.
Ephemeris extra for Sunday, November 5th. The Sun will rise at 7:25. It’ll be up for 10 hours and 5 minutes, setting at 5:25. The Moon, 2 days past full, will rise at 7:01 this evening.
Tonight just after 8 p.m. the bright star Aldebaran will disappear at the left edge of the Moon. Aldebaran is angry red eye of Taurus the bull. The star will reappear at the dark upper right edge of the Moon. Start looking at 8 p.m. or before. Use binoculars or a small telescope to spot the star against the glare of the bright Moon. The star is nowhere as bright as shown in the illustrations below. Star appearances and disappearances appear instantaneous, unlike what the illustrations show.
Aldebaran Occultation begins at 8:07 p.m. EST (1:07 UTC Nov 6th)
Aldebaran Occultation ends at 9:00 p.m. EST (02:00 UTC Nov 6th)
Note the times are for the Traverse City/Interlochen area. It will vary by a few minutes for northern lower Michigan. The position angles of the entrance and exit points of Aldebaran will also be different.
Otherwise use a planetarium program like Stellarium to preview the event. However, set the program for topocentric coordinates. In Stellarium that’s in the Configuration window, Tools Tab and check the Topocentric coordinates box. Topocentric coordinates are the apparent positions for your location on the Earth. So also make sure your location is correct. The geocentric conjunction of the two bodies will be November 6, 2:42.9 UTC, so it will occur after midnight on the morning of November 6th for locations in northern Europe and Asia.
Addendum
Occultation Map for the occultation of Aldebaran by the Moon . Credit Occult 4 program from IOTA.org.
Aldebaran at the start of the occultation at 8:07 p.m. for the Traverse City/Interlochen area. Created using Stellarium.
Aldebaran at the end of the occultation at 9:00 p.m. for the Traverse City/Interlochen area. Created using Stellarium.
11/03/2017 – Ephemeris – The Sun is the topic at tonight’s GTAS meeting
Ephemeris for Friday, November 3rd. The Sun will rise at 8:23. It’ll be up for 10 hours and 5 minutes, setting at 6:28. The Moon, 1 day before full, will set at 8:35 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 member Don Flegel in a talk about the Sun. Don’s the keeper of our solar telescope and wanted a good excuse to learn more about the Sun, so he decided to study up and give this talk. That’s how I do it.
After the talk, at 9 p.m. there will be a star party, if it’s clear, to view the heavens including the Moon. The observatory is located south of Traverse City, on Birmley Road between Garfield and Keystone roads.
It’s time to change our clocks again at 2 a.m. Sunday. Turn your clocks back one hour. That’s Fall Back one hour for a bit of extra sleep.
The times given are for the Traverse City/Interlochen area of Michigan. They may be different for your location.
Addenda
Don Flegel, in the foreground, with the society’s solar telescope assisting a person viewing the Sun at he Leland Heritage Festival 2017 at Fishtown. Man in the background in the blue cap is Gary Carlisle. The telescope in the middle is mine.
Occultation of Aldebaran by the Moon Sunday Night
Occultation Map for the occultation of Aldebaran by the Moon . Credit Occult 4 program from IOTA.org.
For the Traverse City/Interlochen area:
Aldebaran Occultation start 8:07 p.m. Nov 5th (01:07 UT Nov 6th)
Aldebaran Occultation end 9:00 p.m. Nov 5th (02:00 UT Nov 6th)
I’ll have an Ephemeris Extra posting, Sunday November 5th with more information.
11/02/2017 – Ephemeris – Interstellar asteroid discovered passing through the solar system
Ephemeris for Thursday, November 2nd. The Sun will rise at 8:21. It’ll be up for 10 hours and 7 minutes, setting at 6:29. The Moon, 2 days before full, will set at 7:21 tomorrow morning.
Apparently an interloper has entered the solar system. No, it’s not Nibiru, unless Nibiru is only 525 feet (160 meters) across. It’s name, for now, is A/2017 U1. It’s official name, when it gets one, will be given to this new class of asteroids.. It’s on a hyperbolic trajectory, meaning it won’t be back. We know there are rogue planets, kicked out of their star systems, so why not asteroids and comets? It had an interstellar space velocity relative to the Sun of 15.8 miles per second (25.5 km/s) coming from the direction of the constellation of Lyra. Interestingly that’s the direction the Sun is traveling toward relative to our neighboring stars at nearly the same speed. Maybe it didn’t so much as to run into us, but the Sun and our solar system ran into it!
The times given are for the Traverse City/Interlochen area of Michigan. They may be different for your location.
Addendum
Asteroid A/2017 U1 orbit animation. Click to enlarge. Credit NASA/JPL-Caltech.
This body was discovered because it came close to the Earth. There are probably many of them passing through the solar system that never come close enough to be found.
Here’s a link: https://www.nasa.gov/feature/jpl/small-asteroid-or-comet-visits-from-beyond-the-solar-system
11/01/2017 – Ephemeris – Looking at the bright planets for November 1st
Ephemeris for Wednesday, November 1st. The Sun will rise at 8:20. It’ll be up for 10 hours and 10 minutes, setting at 6:30. The Moon, 3 days before full, will set at 6:08 tomorrow morning.
Let’s take our weekly look at the bright planets for this first day of November. Saturn is sinking low in the southwestern sky in the evening. Saturn’s rings are still spectacular in telescopes, but since Saturn is so low in the sky the turbulence of the thick atmosphere makes Saturn fuzzy and seemingly to go in and out of focus. Saturn will set at 9:02 p.m.
Tomorrow in the morning sky, Mars, heading away from the Sun will rise in the east at 5:25 a.m., Venus, is heading closer to the Sun, will rise at 6:53 in the east. Jupiter is in the morning sky but too close to the direction of the Sun to be seen. Mercury has moved into the evening sky and will reach it’s greatest elongation from the Sun in 22 days, but will not be easily visible even then.
The times given are for the Traverse City/Interlochen area of Michigan. They may be different for your location.
Addendum
Saturn and the Moon at 8 p.m. November 1, 2017. Click on the image to enlarge. Create using Stellarium.
Saturn and its brightest moon Titan in the evening of November 1, 2017. Created using Cartes du Ciel (Sky Charts).
The Moon as it might be seen in binoculars at 8 p.m., November 1, 2017. Created using Stellarium.
Mars and Venus at 7:30 a.m. November 2, 2017. Created using Stellarium.
Planets at sunset and sunrise of a single night starting with sunset on the right on November 1, 2017. The night ends on the left with sunrise on the 2nd. Click on the image to enlarge. Created using my LookingUp program.
10/31/2017 – Ephemeris – Previewing November skies
Ephemeris for Halloween, Tuesday, 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, half way from first quarter to full, will set at 4:58 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 tomorrow 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 tomorrow 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, is about 12:30 p.m.
The Leonid meteor shower will reach a peak on the 16th and again on the 17th and is expected to be lackluster and will peak in our afternoon both days, and may only produce 10 meteors per hour.
The times given are for the Traverse City/Interlochen area of Michigan. They may be different for your location.
Addenda
November Evening Sky Chart
Star Chart for November 2017 (9 p.m. November 15, 2017). Created using my LookingUp program. Click on image to enlarge.
The planets and stars are plotted for the 15th at 9 p.m. EDT in the evening and 6 a.m. for the morning chart. These are the chart times. Note that Traverse City is located approximately 45 minutes behind our time meridian. (An hour 45 minutes behind our daylight saving time meridian. during EDT and 45 minutes behind our daylight standard time meridian. during EST). To duplicate the star positions on a planisphere you may have to set it to 1 hour 45 minutes (Daylight Time) or 45 minutes (Standard Time) earlier than the current time if you are near your time meridian.
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. 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
Star Chart for November 2017 mornings based on 6 a.m. November 15th. 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
- Follow the spike to Spica
- The Summer Triangle is in red
- LeoR is the Leonid meteor shower radiant. Peaks on November 16th and 17th.
Twilight
Evening nautical twilight ends at 7:39 p.m. EDT on the 1st, decreasing to 6:16 p.m. EST on the 30th.
Evening astronomical twilight ends at 8:13 p.m. EDT on the 1st, decreasing to 6:51 p.m. EST on the 30th.
Morning astronomical twilight starts at 6:47 a.m. EDT on the 1st, and increasing to 6:19 a.m. EST on the 30th.
Morning nautical twilight starts at 7:21 a.m. EDT on the 1st, and increasing to 6:55 a.m. EST on the 30th.
NASA Calendar of Planetary Events
Date Time Event
Nov 01 We Venus: 16.8° W
02 Th 8:58 am Venus-Spica: 3.5° N
04 Sa 12:23 am Full Moon
05 Su 6:22 am South Taurid Shower: ZHR = 5
05 Su 7:09 am Moon Perigee: 361400 km
05 Su 9:19 pm Moon-Aldebaran: 0.7° S
07 Tu 8:28 pm Moon North Dec.: 19.8° N
09 Th 8:58 pm Moon-Beehive: 2.7° N
10 Fr 3:37 pm Last Quarter
10 Fr 5:40 pm Moon Ascending Node
11 Sa 11:07 am Moon-Regulus: 0.4° S
12 Su 5:39 am North Taurid Shower: ZHR = 5
12 Su 12:48 pm Mercury-Antares: 2.2° N
14 Tu 7:40 pm Moon-Mars: 3.4° S
17 Fr 11:56 am Leonid Shower: ZHR = 10
18 Sa 6:42 am New Moon
20 Mo 7:34 am Moon-Saturn: 3.3° S
21 Tu 1:52 pm Moon Apogee: 406100 km
21 Tu 9:06 pm Moon South Dec.: 20° S
23 Th 6:59 pm Mercury Elongation: 22° E
25 Sa 3:22 am Moon Descending Node
26 Su 12:03 pm First Quarter
29 We 9:27 am Mars-Spica: 3.1° N
Dec 01 Fr Venus: 9.4° W
Sky Events Calendar by Fred Espenak and Sumit Dutta (NASA’s GSFC),
http://eclipse.gsfc.nasa.gov/SKYCAL/SKYCAL.html
If you go to the above site you can print out a list like the above for the entire year
or calendar pages for your time zone.
Sun and Moon Rising and Setting Events
LU Ephemeris of Sky Events for Interlochen/TC November, 2017 Local time zone: EDT +-----------------------------------------------------------------------+ | DATE | SUN SUN DAYLIGHT| TWILIGHT* |MOON RISE OR ILLUM | | | RISE SET HOURS | END START |PHASE SET** TIME FRACTN| +=======================================================================+ |Wed 1| 08:21a 06:31p 10:09 | 07:36p 07:16a | Set 06:08a 93%| |Thu 2| 08:22a 06:29p 10:07 | 07:34p 07:17a | Set 07:21a 98%| |Fri 3| 08:23a 06:28p 10:04 | 07:33p 07:18a | Set 08:36a 100%| |Sat 4| 08:25a 06:27p 10:01 | 07:32p 07:19a |Full Rise 07:18p 99%| +------+-----------------------+----------------+-----------------------+ | EST | Time Change | | | |Sun 5| 07:26a 05:25p 09:59 | 06:31p 06:21a | Rise 07:01p 95%| |Mon 6| 07:27a 05:24p 09:56 | 06:30p 06:22a | Rise 07:52p 89%| |Tue 7| 07:29a 05:23p 09:53 | 06:29p 06:23a | Rise 08:49p 80%| |Wed 8| 07:30a 05:22p 09:51 | 06:27p 06:24a | Rise 09:52p 70%| |Thu 9| 07:32a 05:20p 09:48 | 06:26p 06:25a | Rise 10:59p 60%| |Fri 10| 07:33a 05:19p 09:46 | 06:25p 06:27a |L Qtr Rise 12:07a 48%| |Sat 11| 07:34a 05:18p 09:43 | 06:24p 06:28a | Rise 01:15a 38%| +------+-----------------------+----------------+-----------------------+ |Sun 12| 07:36a 05:17p 09:41 | 06:24p 06:29a | Rise 02:21a 28%| |Mon 13| 07:37a 05:16p 09:38 | 06:23p 06:30a | Rise 03:26a 19%| |Tue 14| 07:38a 05:15p 09:36 | 06:22p 06:31a | Rise 04:30a 12%| |Wed 15| 07:40a 05:14p 09:34 | 06:21p 06:33a | Rise 05:32a 6%| |Thu 16| 07:41a 05:13p 09:31 | 06:20p 06:34a | Rise 06:34a 2%| |Fri 17| 07:42a 05:12p 09:29 | 06:19p 06:35a | Rise 07:34a 0%| |Sat 18| 07:44a 05:11p 09:27 | 06:19p 06:36a |New Set 05:48p 0%| +------+-----------------------+----------------+-----------------------+ |Sun 19| 07:45a 05:10p 09:25 | 06:18p 06:37a | Set 06:24p 2%| |Mon 20| 07:46a 05:09p 09:23 | 06:17p 06:38a | Set 07:04p 6%| |Tue 21| 07:48a 05:09p 09:21 | 06:17p 06:40a | Set 07:50p 11%| |Wed 22| 07:49a 05:08p 09:19 | 06:16p 06:41a | Set 08:39p 17%| |Thu 23| 07:50a 05:07p 09:17 | 06:16p 06:42a | Set 09:33p 25%| |Fri 24| 07:51a 05:07p 09:15 | 06:15p 06:43a | Set 10:31p 34%| |Sat 25| 07:53a 05:06p 09:13 | 06:15p 06:44a | Set 11:31p 43%| +------+-----------------------+----------------+-----------------------+ |Sun 26| 07:54a 05:05p 09:11 | 06:14p 06:45a |F Qtr Set 12:33a 53%| |Mon 27| 07:55a 05:05p 09:09 | 06:14p 06:46a | Set 01:38a 63%| |Tue 28| 07:56a 05:04p 09:08 | 06:13p 06:47a | Set 02:45a 73%| |Wed 29| 07:57a 05:04p 09:06 | 06:13p 06:48a | Set 03:54a 82%| |Thu 30| 07:59a 05:03p 09:04 | 06:13p 06:49a | Set 05:07a 90%| +-----------------------------------------------------------------------+ * Nautical Twilight ** Moonrise or moonset, whichever occurs between sunset and sunrise
