05/08/2013 – Ephemeris – Where are the bright planets tonight?
Ephemeris for Wednesday, May 8th. The sun rises at 6:22. It’ll be up for 14 hours and 33 minutes, setting at 8:55. The moon, 1 day before new, will rise at 6:06 tomorrow morning.
It’s time to check out the bright planets for this week. Venus is starting to make an appearance in the western twilit sky after sunset, competing with the bright twilight glow. It will set in the west northwest at 9:48. Jupiter is located in the constellation of Taurus, above the V shape of stars, the face of the bull and is in the west during the evening. It will set at 11:28 p. m. In the west northwest. Jupiter is still high enough as it gets dark to get a very good view of its cloud bands and satellites. Saturn will be low in the east southeast when it gets dark in the evening. It’s located in eastern Virgo, but is moving back a bit toward the bright star Spica to its right. Saturn will move past due south at 12:58 a.m., and set at 6:14 a.m.
Times are for the Traverse City/Interlochen area of Michigan. They may be different for your location.
Addendum
Venus, Jupiter and the fading stars of winter at 9:45 p.m. May 8, 2013. Created using Stellarium.
Saturn and the constellations of spring at 10:30 p.m. May 8, 2013. Created using Stellarium.
05/07/2013 – Ephemeris – Berenice’s celestial hairdo
Ephemeris for Tuesday, May 7th. The sun rises at 6:24. It’ll be up for 14 hours and 30 minutes, setting at 8:54. The moon, 2 days before new, will rise at 5:33 tomorrow morning.
High in the south southeast at 10 p.m. is a tiny and faint constellation of Coma Berenices, or Berenice’s hair. In it are lots of faint stars arrayed to look like several strands of hair. The whole group will fit in the field of a pair of binoculars, which will also show many more stars. The story behind it was that Berenice was the Queen of Egypt, whose husband was away at war. This was in the days when the Greeks ruled Egypt after Alexander conquered it. She offered her golden tresses to the gods for the king’s safe return. The hair, was placed in a temple. However the offering disappeared when the king returned. Ever since then the constellation of Coma Berenices has been seen to commemorate the queen’s sacrifice.
Times are for the Traverse City/Interlochen area of Michigan. They may be different for your location.
Addendum
Coma Berenices via Stellarium
05/06/2013 – Ephemeris – The Constellation Leo the Lion and its meaning to the ancients
Ephemeris for Monday, May 6th. The sun rises at 6:25. It’ll be up for 14 hours and 28 minutes, setting at 8:53. The moon, 3 days before new, will rise at 5:03 tomorrow morning.
Leo the lion’s image as displayed by Stellarium for May 6, at 10 p.m. due south.
The constellation of Leo the lion is seen in the south at 10:30 p.m. Regulus lies at the bottom of a backwards question mark of stars that are his head and mane. This backwards question mark is also known as the asterism or informal constellation of the Sickle. To the left of the Sickle is a triangle of stars that are his haunches. As the lion is the king of beasts it is fitting that its brightest star Regulus means “Little King Star”. It was thought in ancient Egypt that the heat of summer, when the sun was in Leo drove the lions to drink the waters of the Nile. The lion was also the symbol of the Israelite tribe of Judah, from Jacob’s prophesy in Genesis, and as such may have played a part in the origin of the Star of Bethlehem.
Times are for the Traverse City/Interlochen area of Michigan. They may be different for your location.
05/03/2013 – Ephemeris – Explore the sun and the stars tonight
Ephemeris for Friday, May 3rd. The sun rises at 6:29. It’ll be up for 14 hours and 20 minutes, setting at 8:49. The moon, 1 day past last quarter, will rise at 3:39 tomorrow morning.
Yours truly will present a talk about the sun and its effects on the earth at this evening’s meeting of the Grand Traverse Astronomical Society at Northwestern Michigan College’s Rogers Observatory starting at 8 p.m. This is a talk that is prepared to be given to the Friendly Garden Club later this month. It explores how the sun gets its energy and it emphases the life-giving radiation we receive from the sun and how plants, especially use it to create our green oxygenated world. Starting at 9 p.m. Is our first of our star parties for May at the observatory. Highlights, if its clear will be the planets Jupiter and Saturn, plus some of the bright wonders of the spring skies and maybe a star cluster or two. All are welcome.
Times are for the Traverse City/Interlochen area of Michigan. They may be different for your location.
05/02/2013 – Ephemeris – The Eta Aquarid meteors will reach peak this weekend
Ephemeris for Thursday, May 2nd. The sun rises at 6:30. It’ll be up for 14 hours and 17 minutes, setting at 8:48. The moon, at last quarter today, will rise at 3:09 tomorrow morning.
Monday morning will see the expected peak of the Eta Aquarid meteor shower. The meteors will seem to come from the southeast. This shower has a very long peak and can be seen tomorrow morning. This shower’s claim to fame is that the meteoroids that produce this shower are bits shed by Halley’s Comet. The orbits of Halley’s comet and the earth nearly intersect at two points. The inbound Halley’s comet crosses the earth’s orbit where the earth is on October 20th., when we have the Orionid meteor shower. The comet’s orbit then passes between the orbits of Venus and Mercury then crosses the earth’s orbit again near where the earth is on May 6th. The shower has 12 year fluctuations of peak numbers, probably caused by Jupiter.
Times are for the Traverse City/Interlochen area of Michigan. They may be different for your location.
Eta Aquarid radiant
05/01/2013 – Ephemeris – Where are the bright planets this week?
Ephemeris for Wednesday, May 1st. The sun rises at 6:32. It’ll be up for 14 hours and 15 minutes, setting at 8:47. The moon, 1 day before last quarter, will rise at 2:35 tomorrow morning.
It’s time to check out the two remaining bright planets for this week. Jupiter is located in the constellation of Taurus, above the V shape of stars, the face of the bull and is in the west during the evening. It will set at 11:49 p. m. In the west northwest. Jupiter is still high enough as it gets dark to get a very good view of its cloud bands and satellites. The four moons that Galileo found are easy targets for small telescopes or even sharp eyed binocular observers. The other bright planet Saturn will be low in the east southeast when it gets dark in the evening. It’s located in eastern Virgo, but us moving back a bit toward the bright star Spica to its right. Saturn will move past due south at 1:28 a.m. An event called transiting the meridian.
Times are for the Traverse City/Interlochen area of Michigan. They may be different for your location.
Addendum
I’m including Venus in this image at 9:20 p.m., May 1, 2013. I’ll start talking about it on the program next week. Created using Stellarium.
Jupiter and the setting stars of winter at 10 p.m. on may 1, 2013. Created using Stellarium.
Saturn is seen low in the southeast at 10 p.m. on May 1, 2013. Created using Stellarium.
04/30/2013 – Ephemeris – Previewing May sunshine
Ephemeris for Tuesday, April 30th. The sun rises at 6:33. It’ll be up for 14 hours and 12 minutes, setting at 8:46. The moon, 2 days before last quarter, will rise at 1:57 tomorrow morning.
Tomorrow we’ll start the month of May when the promise of spring is finally fulfilled. Daylight hours in the Interlochen/Traverse City area will increase from 14 hours and 15 minutes tomorrow to 15 hours 19 minutes on May 31st. The altitude, or angle, of the sun above the southern horizon at local noon will ascend from 60 degrees now to 67 degrees at month’s end. The altitude of the sun in the Straits area will be a degree lower than that but your daylight will be a few minutes longer. Local apparent noon this month, when the sun passes due south, will be about 1:38 p.m. This is the month of the Eta Aquarid meteor shower which will reach its peak next Monday morning. They will be best seen around 5 a.m.
Times are for the Traverse City/Interlochen area of Michigan. They may be different for your location.
Addendum
May Stars, centered at 11 p.m. on the 15th. Created using my program Looking Up for Windows.
04/29/2013 – Ephemeris – Saturn at opposition from the sun
Ephemeris for Monday, April 29th. The sun rises at 6:35. It’ll be up for 14 hours and 9 minutes, setting at 8:45. The moon, 3 days before last quarter, will rise at 1:11 tomorrow morning.
This past weekend Saturn was in opposition to the sun. That simply means the earth was more or less directly between the sun and Saturn. That means Saturn’s at its closest to us at 821 million miles. The Cassini spacecraft that’s still orbiting Saturn, when it sends pictures and data back to earth still takes about an hour and a quarter for the signals to get here. Shadows of the rings on the planet and planet on the rings are minimal. Saturn and the earth have some coincidental properties as seen from the sun. Saturn is 9.5 times the earth’s distance from the sun. And Saturn is about 9.5 times the diameter as the earth, so from the sun both the earth and Saturn would appear to be the same apparent size. Cool huh?
Times are for the Traverse City/Interlochen area of Michigan. They may be different for your location.
Addendum
Saturn rising in the evening in May, 2013 as rendered by Cartes du Ciel (Sky Charts)
04/26/2013 – Ephemeris – First star party of the year at Sleeping Bear Dunes tomorrow night.
Ephemeris for Arbor Day, Friday, April 26th. The sun rises at 6:39. It’ll be up for 14 hours and 1 minute, setting at 8:41. The moon, 1 day past full, will rise at 10:06 this evening.
Tomorrow the Grand Traverse Astronomical Society will hold a star party at the Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore. It will be held at Platte River Point, west of Honor starting at about 8:30 p.m. The point is located at the end of Lake Michigan Road, off M22, less than a mile south of where Deadstream road meets M22. This is a very dark location and we have a little time near 11 p.m. When it will be quite dark before moonrise. The sequester has affected the park, but hasn’t so far affected our schedule. We have monthly star parties from now until October at various locations in the park. Next month the star we’ll be observing will be the sun, which we’ll do from the grounds of park headquarters in Empire. So come on out.
Times are for the Traverse City/Interlochen area of Michigan. They may be different for your location.
04/25/2013 – Ephemeris – Two new exoplanets in the same star’s habitable zone discovered
Ephemeris for Thursday, April 25th. The sun rises at 6:41. It’ll be up for 13 hours and 58 minutes, setting at 8:40. The moon, at full today, will rise at 8:52 this evening.
Last week came the announcement that an international team, analyzing data from the Kepler satellite had found a star system with two near earth sized planets in the habitable zone for that star. The two planets around the star Kepler-62 The planets e and f are in the habitable zone for the star and are in the class called super earths 1.6 and 1.4 time the diameter of the earth. They will require more study to determine their densities, and the composition of their atmospheres. Exoplanet discoveries continue to mount up, but so far a planet the size of the earth, in the habitable zone of its star has eluded astronomers. Closer to home, but visible on the other side of the earth there will be a slight partial eclipse of the moon this afternoon our time.
Times are for the Traverse City/Interlochen area of Michigan. They may be different for your location.
Addendum
The Kepler-62 stellar system. Credit: JPL/NASA.
