Archive
04/01/2016 – Ephemeris – Let’s preview April skies
Ephemeris for April Fools Day, Friday, April 1st. The Sun will rise at 7:22. It’ll be up for 12 hours and 48 minutes, setting at 8:11. The Moon, 1 day past last quarter, will rise at 4:23 tomorrow morning.
The 4th month of the year begins today. Daylight hours in the Interlochen/Traverse City area and will increase from 12 hours and 48 minutes today to 14 hours 13 minutes on the 30th. The altitude, or angle, of the sun above the southern horizon at local noon will be 50 degrees today and will ascend to 60 degrees on the 30th. The altitude of the sun in the Straits area will be a degree lower. The actual time of local apparent noon this month for the Interlochen/Traverse City area, when the sun passes due south, will be about 1:43 p.m. Jupiter and Mercury are the evening planets this month, with Mercury making its brief appearance away from the Sun’s sunset glow around mid-month.
Times are for the Traverse City/Interlochen area of Michigan. They may be different for your location.
Addendum
April Star Chart
Star Chart for April 2016. Created using my LookingUp program. To enlarge in Firefox Right-click on image then click View image.
Star Chart for April 2016. Created using my LookingUp program. To enlarge in Firefox Right-click on image then click View image.
The planets and stars are plotted for the 15th at 10 p.m. EDT. That is chart time. Note, Traverse City is located approximately 45 minutes behind our time meridian. (An hour 45 minutes behind our daylight saving time meridian.) To duplicate the star positions on a planisphere you may have to set it to 1:45 earlier than the current time.
Evening nautical twilight ends at 9:15 p.m. EDT on the 1st, increasing to 9:59 p.m. EDT on the 30th.
Morning nautical twilight starts at 5:21 a.m. EDT on the 1st, and decreasing to 4:37 a.m. EDT on the 31st.
Add a half hour to the chart time every week before the 15th and subtract a half hour for every week after the 15th. Before the 13th also subtract an hour for Standard Time.
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
- A leaky Big Dipper drips on Leo
- Follow the arc of the handle of the Big Dipper to the star Arcturus
- Extend the ac to a spike to point to Spica
Calendar of Planetary Events
Credit: Sky Events Calendar by Fred Espenak and Sumit Dutta (NASA’s GSFC)
To generate your own calendar go to http://eclipse.gsfc.nasa.gov/SKYCAL/SKYCAL.html
Times are Eastern Time. Some additions made to aid clarity.
Date Time(EDT) Event Apr 01 Fr Venus: 17.4° W 05 Tu 1:27 p.m. Moon Descending Node 06 We 4:30 a.m. Moon-Venus: 0.7° S 07 Th 7:24 a.m. New Moon 07 Th 1:36 p.m. Moon Perigee: 357200 km 09 Sa 5:28 p.m. Uranus Conjunction 10 Su 6:05 p.m. Moon-Aldebaran: 0.4° S Occultation* 12 Tu 8:12 a.m. Moon North Dec.: 18.3° N 13 We 11:59 p.m. First Quarter 16 Sa 8:46 p.m. Moon-Regulus: 2.7° N 18 Mo 12:42 a.m. Moon-Jupiter: 2.4° N 18 Mo 9:59 a.m. Mercury Elongation: 19.9° E 18 Mo 2:04 a.m. Moon Ascending Node 21 Th 12:05 p.m. Moon Apogee: 406400 km 22 Fr 1:24 a.m. Full Moon 22 Fr 1:30 a.m. Lyrid Shower: ZHR = 20 25 Mo 3:28 p.m. Moon-Saturn: 3.7° S 27 We 12:44 a.m. Moon South Dec.: 18.4° S 27 We 12:33 p.m. Mars-Antares: 4.9° N 28 Th 4:32 a.m. Mercury-Pleiades: 6.5° S 29 Fr 11:29 p.m. Last Quarter May 01 Su Venus: 9.8° W * Occultation 6:29 - 7:38 p.m. In daylight - Grand Traverse Area See Friday April 9th post.
03/31/2015 – Ephemeris – Previewing April skies
Ephemeris for Tuesday, March 31st. The Sun will rise at 7:25. It’ll be up for 12 hours and 42 minutes, setting at 8:08. The Moon, half way from first quarter to full, will set at 6:02 tomorrow morning.
The 4th month of the year begins tomorrow. Daylight hours in the Interlochen/Traverse City area and will increase from 12 hours and 45 minutes tomorrow to 14 hours 11 minutes on the 30th. The altitude, or angle, of the sun above the southern horizon at local noon will be 50 degrees tomorrow and will ascend to 60 degrees on the 30th. The altitude of the Sun in the Straits area will be a degree lower. The actual time of local apparent noon this month for the Interlochen/Traverse City area, when the sun passes due south, will be about 1:43 p.m. For the straits area local noon occurs about 4 minutes earlier. This Saturday morning we’ll see the first part of a lunar eclipse. This month Venus and Jupiter are our evening planets.
Times are for the Traverse City/Interlochen area of Michigan. They may be different for your location.
Addendum
Star Chart for April 2015. Created using my LookingUp program.
The Moon is not plotted. The planets and stars are plotted for the 15th at 10 p.m. EDT. That is chart time.
Evening Astronomical twilight ends at 9:51 p.m. EDT on April 1st, increasing to 10:42 p.m. EDT on the 30th.
Morning astronomical twilight starts at 5:43 a.m. EDT on April 1st, and decreasing to 4:41 a.m. EDT on the 30th.
Add a half hour to the chart time every week before the 15th and subtract and hour for every week after the 15th.
For a list of constellation names to go with the abbreviations click here.
The green pointer from the Big Dipper is:
- Pointer stars at the front of the bowl of the Big Dipper point to Polaris the North Star.
- Drill a hole in the bowl of the Big Dipper and the water will drip on the back of Leo the Lion.
- Follow the arc of the Big Dipper’s handle to Arcturus
- Continue with a spike to Spica
Calendar of Planetary Events
Credit: Sky Events Calendar by Fred Espenak and Sumit Dutta (NASA’s GSFC)
To generate your own calendar go to http://eclipse.gsfc.nasa.gov/SKYCAL/SKYCAL.html
Times are Eastern Daylight Time on a 24 hour clock. Some additions made to aid clarity.
Conjunctions like the Moon-Saturn: 2.3° S means Saturn will appear 2.3° south of the Moon.
| Apr | 01 | We | Venus: 36.6° E | |
| 01 | We | 08:59 | Moon Apogee: 406000 km | |
| 03 | Fr | 23:17 | Moon Ascending Node | |
| 04 | Sa | 08:01 | Partial Lunar Eclipse* | |
| 04 | Sa | 08:06 | Full Moon | |
| 06 | Mo | 09:48 | Uranus Conjunction | |
| 08 | We | 09:08 | Moon-Saturn: 2.3° S | |
| 08 | We | 10:16 | Jupiter-Beehive: 5.4° S | |
| 09 | Th | 23:52 | Mercury Superior Conj. | |
| 10 | Fr | 03:46 | Moon South Dec.: 18.2° S | |
| 11 | Sa | 11:30 | Venus-Pleiades: 2.6° S | |
| 11 | Sa | 23:44 | Last Quarter | |
| 16 | Th | 23:53 | Moon Perigee: 361000 km | |
| 17 | Fr | 09:07 | Moon Descending Node | |
| 18 | Sa | 14:57 | New Moon | |
| 21 | Tu | 12:35 | Moon-Aldebaran: 0.9° S | |
| 21 | Tu | 14:09 | Moon-Venus: 6.8° N | |
| 22 | We | 19:21 | Lyrid Shower: ZHR = 20 | |
| 22 | We | 19:26 | Moon North Dec.: 18.3° N | |
| 25 | Sa | 19:55 | First Quarter | |
| 28 | Tu | 23:55 | Moon Apogee: 405100 km | |
| 30 | Th | 21:29 | Mercury-Pleiades: 1.7° S | |
* For the Grand Traverse area the partial phase of the eclipse will begin at 6:15 a.m. The eclipse will be interrupted by the moon setting at 7:24 a.m. Sunrise will occur at 7:17 a.m. More information will be provided in the Thursday, April 2nd post.
Bob Moler's Ephemeris Blog 