Bob Moler's Ephemeris Blog

This is Bob Moler with Ephemeris for Wednesday, September 27th. Today the Sun will be up for 11 hours and 55 minutes, setting at 7:31, and it will rise tomorrow at 7:36. The Moon, 2 days before full, will set at 6:22 tomorrow morning.

Let’s find out where the naked-eye planets have wandered off to this week. Four of those five planets are now visible, but Mars is too close to the Sun to be seen. Saturn is the sole evening planet visible. It can be spotted in the southeast in the evening. And it will still be visible throughout the morning hours until it sets at 4:44 am. Saturn is in retrograde or westward motion now, against the stars of Aquarius. Jupiter, Venus and Mercury are the morning planets. Jupiter will rise at 9:02 pm. It, like Saturn is moving retrograde, which will last the rest of this year. Venus is our brilliant morning star, at its brightest, and will rise in the east-northeast at 3:59 am. Tiny Mercury will rise at 6:10 am, and be visible in the east by around 6:30.

The astronomical event times given are for the Traverse City/Interlochen area of Michigan (EDT, UT –4 hours). They may be different for your location.

Addendum

This is Ephemeris for Wednesday, August 30th. Today the Sun will be up for 13 hours and 20 minutes, setting at 8:23, and it will rise tomorrow at 7:03. The Moon, is the full Blue Moon today, and it will rise at 8:39 this evening. No, it’s not really blue in color. The Blue Moon is the second full moon in a particular month.

Let’s find out where the naked-eye planets are. Three of those five planets are now visible. Mars and Mercury are too close to the Sun to be seen. Saturn is the sole evening planet visible. Jupiter and Venus are officially the only visible morning planets. Saturn can be spotted in the southeast in the evening. And it will still be visible throughout the morning hours until just before sunrise. Tonight Saturn will appear above and right of the full moon, though it might be difficult to spot in the Moon’s glare. Saturn is in retrograde or westward motion now, against the stars of Aquarius. Jupiter will rise at 10:54pm. It is slowing its eastward motion and will become stationary on September 7th. Venus is making an appearance in the morning sky now as our brilliant morning star. It will rise at 5:13 tomorrow morning.

The astronomical event times given are for the Traverse City/Interlochen area of Michigan (EDT, UT –4 hours). They may be different for your location.

Addendum

The naked-eye planets and the Moon at sunset and sunrise on a single night, starting with sunset on the right on August 30, 2023. The night ends on the left with sunrise on the 31st. Click or tap on the image to enlarge it. Created using my LookingUp app and GIMP.

This is Ephemeris for Wednesday, August 23rd. Today the Sun will be up for 13 hours and 41 minutes, setting at 8:35, and it will rise tomorrow at 6:55. The Moon, 1 day before first quarter, will set at 11:36 this evening.

Let’s find out where the naked-eye planets have wandered off to this week. Three of the five planets are now visible. Mars and Mercury are too close to the Sun to be seen. Jupiter, Saturn and Venus are all officially morning planets now, although Saturn does rise in the evening shortly after sunset. It will become an evening planet in four days, when it will rise at sunset. It can be spotted in the southeast in the evening. And it will still be visible throughout the morning hours. Saturn is in retrograde or westward motion now, against the stars of Aquarius. Jupiter will rise at 11:21pm. Venus is making an appearance in the morning sky now. It will rise at 5:53 tomorrow morning in the east.

The astronomical event times given are for the Traverse City/Interlochen area of Michigan (EDT, UT –4 hours). They may be different for your location.

Addendum

Finding Saturn in the evening for tonight at 10 pm, August 23, 2023. The unlabeled partial constellation on the left is part of Pisces, and the five stars in a circle is an asterism (informal constellation) called the Circlet. Another asterism is composed of the four stars in a small triangle with another in the center, above and a bit left of the Aquarius label is the Water Jar with water streaming from it to the right. Click or tap on the image to enlarge it. Created using Stellarium and GIMP.

The morning planets at 6:10 am tomorrow morning, August 24, 3023, after Venus rises, with the bright stars of winter slowly disappearing in the advancing morning twilight. Click or tap on the image to enlarge it. Created using Stellarium and GIMP.

Telescopic Saturn, Jupiter and Venus (north up) as they would be seen in a small telescope, with the same magnification at 10 pm August 23, 2023, for Saturn and 6:10 am August 24, 2023, for Jupiter and Venus. Apparent diameters: Saturn 18.96″, its rings 44.17″; Jupiter 42.90″; and Venus 54.66″ and is 5.0% illuminated. The ” symbol means seconds of arc (1/3600th of a degree.) Click or tap on the image to enlarge it. Created using Cartes du Ciel (Sky Charts).

The naked-eye planets and the Moon at sunset and sunrise on a single night, starting with sunset on the right on August 23, 2023. The night ends on the left with sunrise on the 24th. Click or tap on the image to enlarge it. Created using my LookingUp app and GIMP.

This is Ephemeris for Wednesday, August 16th. Today the Sun will be up for 14 hours and 1 minute, setting at 8:47, and it will rise tomorrow at 6:47. The Moon is new today, and won’t be visible.

Let’s find out where the naked-eye planets have wandered off to this week. Only two of these five planets are visible. Mars, Mercury and Venus are all too close to the Sun to be seen. Jupiter and Saturn are officially morning planets, although Saturn does rise in the evening shortly after sunset. It will become an evening planet on the 27th, when it will rise at sunset. It can be spotted in the southeastern part pf the sky in the evening. It will also be visible throughout the morning hours. Saturn is in retrograde or westward motion against the stars of Aquarius now. Jupiter, still moving slowly eastward against the stars of Aries the ram, also rises in the evening, but barely, rising just before midnight. It will be stationary, that is, it will stop its eastward motion against the stars, and will begin its retrograde or westward motion on September 7th.

The astronomical event times given are for the Traverse City/Interlochen area of Michigan (EDT, UT –4 hours). They may be different for your location.

Addendum

Saturn can be seen low in the east-southeast around 10 pm, or an hour or so after sunset. Created using Stellarium.

Morning planets and the winter stars are still visible about 45 minutes before sunrise. In the Interlochen/Traverse City Area, that would be about 5:45 am. Large images can be truncated on the right. Click or tap on the image to enlarge and display the complete image. Created using Stellarium.

Telescopic Saturn and Jupiter (north up) as they would be seen in a small telescope, with the same magnification, Saturn at 11 pm, tonight, August 16, 2023, and Jupiter at 5:45 am on the 17th. Apparent diameters: Saturn 18.93″, its rings 44.10″; Jupiter 41.94″. Saturn and Jupiter are approaching us, so their apparent diameters are growing. The ” symbol means seconds of arc (1/3600th of a degree). Click or tap on the image to enlarge it. Created using Cartes du Ciel (Sky Charts).

The naked-eye planets and the Moon at sunset and sunrise on a single night, starting with sunset on the right on August 16, 2023. The night ends on the left with sunrise on the 17th. Click or tap on the image to enlarge and display the complete image. Created using my LookingUp app and GIMP.

This is Bob Moler with Ephemeris for Wednesday, August 2nd. Today the Sun will be up for 14 hours and 37 minutes, setting at 9:07, and it will rise tomorrow at 6:31. The Moon, 1 day past full, will rise at 10:15 this evening.

Let’s find out where the naked-eye planets have wandered off to this week. Venus is gone, setting too close to sunset. It will pass between the Earth and the Sun on the 13th, and be visible before sunrise by the end of the month. Mars and Mercury, though technically in the evening sky and like Venus, appear too close to the Sun to be spotted. Mars will pass behind the Sun in November. The other two naked eye planets are in the morning sky. Appearing at 5:45 am, which is roughly 45 minutes before sunrise, tomorrow morning, Jupiter will be high in the southeast, while Saturn will be lower in the southwest. And tomorrow morning Saturn will be just above the bright waning gibbous Moon.

The astronomical event times given are for the Traverse City/Interlochen area of Michigan (EDT, UT –4 hours). They may be different for your location.

Addendum

Large images like this are sometimes truncated to the right. Enlarging the image will restore the whole image.

This is Ephemeris for Wednesday, July 19th. Today the Sun will be up for 15 hours and 7 minutes, setting at 9:22, and it will rise tomorrow at 6:16. The Moon, 2 days past new, will set at 10:55 this evening.

Let’s find out where the naked-eye planets have wandered off to this week. Venus is our blazing Evening Star, seen very low in the west in evening twilight. It will set at 10:31 pm, and by four minutes earlier each night. The red planet Mars is now pretty much lost in the evening twilight. We’ll see it in the morning sky in a few months. Venus too will soon leave the evening sky. Saturn will rise shortly after 11 pm. And by 5:15 am, or an hour before sunrise, it will appear in the south-southwest, the brightest “star” in that direction. It’s above the bright star Fomalhaut, normally the loneliest bright star in the sky. Jupiter will be in the east-southeast at that hour. Jupiter is the brightest star-like object in the morning sky now.

The astronomical event times given are for the Traverse City/Interlochen area of Michigan (EDT, UT –4 hours). They may be different for your location.

Addendum