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11/29/2019 – Ephemeris – Previewing December skies

November 29, 2019 Comments off

Ephemeris for Friday, November 29th. Today the Sun will be up for 9 hours and 7 minutes, setting at 5:04, and it will rise tomorrow at 7:58. The Moon, 3 days past new, will set at 7:54 this evening.

December is the month with the shortest daylight hours. Winter will officially arrive at the winter solstice on the 21st at 11:19 p.m. There will be little movement in the sunset times: In the Traverse City/Interlochen area this will be from 5:03 Sunday, down to 5:02 and then advancing to 5:11 at the end of the month. There is more movement in the sunrise times which will advance from 7:59 Sunday to 8:20 on the 31st. There is also little movement of daylight hours. The noontime Sun will hang around 22 to 23 degrees above the southern horizon all month. The Geminid meteors on the 14th will have competition with the nearly full moon. And to change the subject, tonight the planet Saturn will appear just above the crescent Moon.

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

Addendum

December Evening Star Chart

December Evening Star Chart

Star Chart for December 2019 (9 p.m. EST December 15, 2019). Click on image to enlarge.Created using my LookingUp program. Click on image to enlarge.
Credit my LookingUp program.

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, West 75° longitude. (An hour 45 minutes behind our daylight saving time meridian during EDT).

December Morning Star Chart

December Morning Star Chart

Star Chart for December mornings 2019 (6 a.m. EST December 15, 2019). Click on image to enlarge. Created using my LookingUp program. Credit my LookingUp program.

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.
  • The leaky bowl of the Big Dipper drips on Leo.
  • Follow the arc of the handle of the Big Dipper to the star Arcturus, then
  • Follow the spike to Spica.
  • The Summer Triangle is in red.
  • GemR on the star charts is the radiant of the Geminid meteor shower which peaks on the 14th.

Twilight Limits, Nautical and Astronomical

EST
Traverse City Morning twilight Evening twilight Dark night Moon
Date Astro. Nautical Nautical Astro. Start End Illum.
2019-12-01 6h20m 6h55m 18h16m 18h51m 21h56m 6h20m 0.28
2019-12-02 6h21m 6h56m 18h15m 18h51m 22h58m 6h21m 0.38
2019-12-03 6h22m 6h57m 18h15m 18h50m 0h00m 6h22m 0.47
2019-12-04 6h23m 6h58m 18h15m 18h50m – 6h23m 0.57
2019-12-05 6h24m 6h59m 18h15m 18h50m 1h01m 6h24m 0.66
2019-12-06 6h25m 7h00m 18h15m 18h50m 2h02m 6h25m 0.75
2019-12-07 6h25m 7h01m 18h15m 18h50m 3h03m 6h25m 0.83
2019-12-08 6h26m 7h02m 18h15m 18h50m 4h05m 6h26m 0.9
2019-12-09 6h27m 7h02m 18h15m 18h50m 5h09m 6h27m 0.95
2019-12-10 6h28m 7h03m 18h15m 18h50m 6h15m 6h28m 0.99
2019-12-11 6h29m 7h04m 18h15m 18h50m – – 0.99
2019-12-12 6h29m 7h05m 18h15m 18h51m – – 1
2019-12-13 6h30m 7h06m 18h15m 18h51m – – 0.99
2019-12-14 6h31m 7h06m 18h15m 18h51m 18h51m 19h36m 0.95
2019-12-15 6h32m 7h07m 18h16m 18h51m 18h51m 20h46m 0.89
2019-12-16 6h32m 7h08m 18h16m 18h52m 18h52m 21h59m 0.8
2019-12-17 6h33m 7h08m 18h16m 18h52m 18h52m 23h14m 0.7
2019-12-18 6h30m 7h05m 18h13m 18h48m 18h48m – 0.59
2019-12-19 6h30m 7h06m 18h13m 18h49m 18h49m 0h28m 0.47
2019-12-20 6h31m 7h06m 18h14m 18h49m 18h49m 1h42m 0.35
2019-12-21 6h31m 7h07m 18h14m 18h50m 18h50m 2h55m 0.24
2019-12-22 6h32m 7h07m 18h15m 18h50m 18h50m 4h09m 0.15
2019-12-23 6h32m 7h08m 18h15m 18h51m 18h51m 5h22m 0.08
2019-12-24 6h33m 7h08m 18h16m 18h51m 18h51m 6h33m 0.03
2019-12-25 6h33m 7h09m 18h16m 18h52m 18h52m 6h33m 0
2019-12-26 6h33m 7h09m 18h17m 18h52m 18h52m 6h33m 0
2019-12-27 6h34m 7h09m 18h18m 18h53m 18h53m 6h34m 0.03
2019-12-28 6h34m 7h10m 18h18m 18h54m 19h40m 6h34m 0.07
2019-12-29 6h34m 7h10m 18h19m 18h54m 20h43m 6h34m 0.13
2019-12-30 6h35m 7h10m 18h20m 18h55m 21h46m 6h35m 0.21
2019-12-31 6h35m 7h10m 18h20m 18h56m 22h47m 6h35m 0.29

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

     Date     Time    Event
Dec  1  Su            Venus: 27.9° E
     4  We   1:58 am  First Quarter
     4  We  11:09 pm  Moon Apogee: 404400 km
    11  We   6:03 am  Venus-Saturn: 1.8° N
    12  Th  12:12 am  Full Moon
    13  Fr   9:15 am  Moon Ascending Node
    13  Fr   3:57 pm  Moon North Dec.: 23.2° N
    14  Sa   1:25 pm  Geminid Shower: ZHR = 120
    15  Su  10:54 am  Moon-Beehive: 1° S
    18  We   3:30 pm  Moon Perigee: 370300 km
    18  We  11:57 pm  Last Quarter
    21  Sa  11:19 pm  Winter Solstice
    22  Su   8:49 pm  Moon-Mars: 3.6° S
    22  Su  10:00 pm  Ursid Shower: ZHR = 10
    26  Th  12:13 am  New Moon
    26  Th  12:18 am  Annular Solar Eclipse  (Asia, Australia)
    26  Th   8:01 am  Moon Descending Node
    26  Th   3:11 pm  Moon South Dec.: 23.2° S
    27  Fr   1:06 pm  Jupiter Conjunction
    28  Sa   8:32 pm  Moon-Venus: 1.1° N
Jan  1  We            Venus: 34.6° E

All event times are given for UTC-5 Eastern Standard 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

LU                  Ephemeris of Sky Events for Interlochen/TC
December, 2019    Local time zone: EST
+-----------------------------------------------------------------------+
| DATE |  SUN     SUN  DAYLIGHT|   TWILIGHT*    |MOON  RISE OR    ILLUM |
|      |  RISE    SET    HOURS |  END    START  |PHASE SET** TIME FRACTN|
+=======================================================================+
|Sun  1| 07:59a  05:03p  09:04 | 06:13p  06:50a |      Set  09:56p   29%|
|Mon  2| 08:00a  05:03p  09:02 | 06:12p  06:51a |      Set  10:58p   38%|
|Tue  3| 08:01a  05:03p  09:01 | 06:12p  06:52a |      Set  12:00a   47%|
|Wed  4| 08:02a  05:02p  08:59 | 06:12p  06:53a |F Qtr Set  01:01a   57%|
|Thu  5| 08:04a  05:02p  08:58 | 06:12p  06:54a |      Set  02:01a   66%|
|Fri  6| 08:05a  05:02p  08:57 | 06:12p  06:55a |      Set  03:02a   75%|
|Sat  7| 08:06a  05:02p  08:56 | 06:12p  06:56a |      Set  04:05a   82%|
+------+-----------------------+----------------+-----------------------+
|Sun  8| 08:07a  05:02p  08:55 | 06:12p  06:56a |      Set  05:09a   89%|
|Mon  9| 08:07a  05:02p  08:54 | 06:12p  06:57a |      Set  06:15a   95%|
|Tue 10| 08:08a  05:02p  08:53 | 06:12p  06:58a |      Set  07:22a   98%|
|Wed 11| 08:09a  05:02p  08:52 | 06:12p  06:59a |      Set  08:28a  100%|
|Thu 12| 08:10a  05:02p  08:51 | 06:12p  07:00a |Full  Rise 05:38p   99%|
|Fri 13| 08:11a  05:02p  08:50 | 06:12p  07:01a |      Rise 06:33p   96%|
|Sat 14| 08:12a  05:02p  08:50 | 06:13p  07:01a |      Rise 07:36p   91%|
+------+-----------------------+----------------+-----------------------+
|Sun 15| 08:13a  05:02p  08:49 | 06:13p  07:02a |      Rise 08:46p   83%|
|Mon 16| 08:13a  05:03p  08:49 | 06:13p  07:03a |      Rise 09:59p   74%|
|Tue 17| 08:14a  05:03p  08:48 | 06:13p  07:03a |      Rise 11:14p   64%|
|Wed 18| 08:15a  05:03p  08:48 | 06:14p  07:04a |      Rise 12:28a   52%|
|Thu 19| 08:15a  05:04p  08:48 | 06:14p  07:05a |L Qtr Rise 01:42a   41%|
|Fri 20| 08:16a  05:04p  08:48 | 06:15p  07:05a |      Rise 02:55a   30%|
|Sat 21| 08:16a  05:04p  08:48 | 06:15p  07:06a |      Rise 04:09a   20%|
+------+-----------------------+----------------+-----------------------+
|Sun 22| 08:17a  05:05p  08:48 | 06:16p  07:06a |      Rise 05:22a   12%|
|Mon 23| 08:17a  05:05p  08:48 | 06:16p  07:07a |      Rise 06:34a    6%|
|Tue 24| 08:18a  05:06p  08:48 | 06:17p  07:07a |      Rise 07:41a    2%|
|Wed 25| 08:18a  05:07p  08:48 | 06:17p  07:07a |      Rise 08:42a    0%|
|Thu 26| 08:18a  05:07p  08:48 | 06:18p  07:08a |New   Set  05:40p    1%|
|Fri 27| 08:19a  05:08p  08:49 | 06:19p  07:08a |      Set  06:38p    3%|
|Sat 28| 08:19a  05:09p  08:49 | 06:19p  07:08a |      Set  07:40p    8%|
+------+-----------------------+----------------+-----------------------+
|Sun 29| 08:19a  05:10p  08:50 | 06:20p  07:09a |      Set  08:43p   14%|
|Mon 30| 08:19a  05:10p  08:50 | 06:21p  07:09a |      Set  09:45p   22%|
|Tue 31| 08:20a  05:11p  08:51 | 06:22p  07:09a |      Set  10:47p   30%|
+-----------------------------------------------------------------------+
* Nautical Twilight
** Moonrise or moonset, whichever occurs between sunrise and sunset

Generated using my LookingUp for DOS program.

Categories: Ephemeris Program, Month preview Tags: