Bob Moler's Ephemeris Blog

This is Ephemeris for Friday, February 27th. Today the Sun will be up for 11 hours and 4 minutes, setting at 6:28, and it will rise tomorrow at 7:21. The Moon, 3 days past first quarter, will set at 6:06 tomorrow morning.

Let’s look at the skies for the month of March, which will begin Sunday. The Sun will cross the celestial equator in March as the promising season of spring will begin. Daylight hours in the Interlochen/Traverse City area and will increase from 11 hours and 10 minutes Sunday to 12 hours 43 minutes on the 31st. The altitude, or angle, of the Sun above the southern horizon at local noon will be just under 38 degrees Sunday and will ascend to nearly 50 degrees on the 31st. Local apparent noon at mid-month, when the Sun passes due south, will be about 1:51 PM after Daylight Saving Time starts on the 8th. Spring will begin on the 20th at 10:46 AM. The big event of the month will be the total lunar eclipse early next Tuesday morning the 3rd.

The astronomical event times given in this blog are for the Traverse City/Interlochen area of Michigan (Lat 44.7° N, Long 85.7° W; EST, UT – 5 hours) unless stated otherwise. Times will be different for other locations.

Addendum

March Evening Star Chart

The planets and stars are plotted for the 15th at 10 p.m. EDT in the evening and 6 a.m. on the 16th for the morning chart. These are the chart times. Note that Traverse City is located approximately 45 minutes behind our time meridian. (An hour and 45 minutes behind our Daylight Saving Time meridian during EDT). To duplicate the star positions on a planisphere (rotating star finder) you may have to set it to 45 minutes or 1 hour 45 minutes earlier than your current time.

Note the chart times of 10 PM on the 15th, and 6 AM on the 16th. To find planet positions on dates other than the dates here, check the Wednesday planet posts on this blog.

March Morning Star Chart

Twilight Limits, Nautical and Astronomical

			EST
	Morning	Twilight	Evening	Twilight	Dark	Night	Moon
Date	Astro.	Nautical	Nautical	Astro.	Start	End	Illum.
2026-03-01	5h44m	6h18m	19h36m	20h10m	–	–	98%
2026-03-02	5h42m	6h16m	19h37m	20h11m	–	–	100%
2026-03-03	5h40m	6h14m	19h39m	20h13m	–	–	99%
2026-03-04	5h39m	6h13m	19h40m	20h14m	20h14m	20h14m	97%
2026-03-05	5h37m	6h11m	19h41m	20h15m	20h15m	21h23m	92%
2026-03-06	5h35m	6h09m	19h43m	20h17m	20h17m	22h31m	86%
2026-03-07	5h33m	6h07m	19h44m	20h18m	20h18m	23h39m	79%
			EDT
2026-03-08	6h31m	7h05m	20h45m	21h19m	21h19m	0h39m	70%
2026-03-09	6h30m	7h04m	20h46m	21h21m	21h21m	1h46m	61%
2026-03-10	6h28m	7h02m	20h48m	21h22m	21h22m	2h50m	52%
2026-03-11	6h26m	7h00m	20h49m	21h23m	21h23m	3h50m	43%
2026-03-12	6h24m	6h58m	20h50m	21h25m	21h25m	4h42m	33%
2026-03-13	6h22m	6h56m	20h52m	21h26m	21h26m	5h26m	24%
2026-03-14	6h20m	6h54m	20h53m	21h27m	21h27m	6h01m	16%
2026-03-15	6h18m	6h53m	20h54m	21h29m	21h29m	6h18m	9%
2026-03-16	6h16m	6h51m	20h56m	21h30m	21h30m	6h16m	4%
2026-03-17	6h14m	6h49m	20h57m	21h32m	21h32m	6h14m	1%
2026-03-18	6h12m	6h47m	20h58m	21h33m	21h33m	6h12m	0%
2026-03-19	6h10m	6h45m	21h00m	21h35m	21h35m	6h10m	2%
2026-03-20	6h08m	6h43m	21h01m	21h36m	22h22m	6h08m	6%
2026-03-21	6h06m	6h41m	21h02m	21h37m	23h44m	6h06m	13%
2026-03-22	6h04m	6h39m	21h04m	21h39m	–	6h04m	22%
2026-03-23	6h02m	6h37m	21h05m	21h40m	1h06m	6h02m	32%
2026-03-24	6h00m	6h35m	21h06m	21h42m	2h24m	6h00m	43%
2026-03-25	5h58m	6h33m	21h08m	21h43m	3h32m	5h58m	55%
2026-03-26	5h56m	6h31m	21h09m	21h45m	4h26m	5h56m	66%
2026-03-27	5h54m	6h29m	21h10m	21h46m	5h08m	5h54m	76%
2026-03-28	5h51m	6h27m	21h12m	21h48m	5h39m	5h51m	84%
2026-03-29	5h49m	6h25m	21h13m	21h49m	–	–	91%
2026-03-30	5h47m	6h23m	21h15m	21h51m	–	–	96%
2026-03-31	5h45m	6h21m	21h16m	21h52m	–	–	99%

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/2019/09/27/

NASA Calendar of Planetary Events

Mar  1  Su            Venus: 13° E
     2  Mo   7:00 AM  Moon-Regulus: 0.4° S
     2  Mo  11:35 PM  Moon Descending Node
     3  Tu   6:35 AM  Total Lunar Eclipse
     3  Tu   6:38 AM  Full Moon
     6  Fr  12:24 PM  Moon-Spica: 2° N
     7  Sa   6:01 AM  Mercury Inferior Conj.
    10  Tu   7:32 AM  Moon-Antares: 0.8° N
    10  Tu   9:43 AM  Moon Apogee: 404400 km
    11  We   5:39 AM  Last Quarter
    11  We   5:12 PM  Moon South Dec.: 28.4° S
    15  Su   3:13 PM  Mercury-Mars: 3.4° N
    17  Tu  11:22 AM  Moon Ascending Node
    18  We   9:23 PM  New Moon
    20  Fr   8:39 AM  Moon-Venus: 4.7° S
    20  Fr  10:46 AM  Vernal Equinox
    22  Su   6:16 AM  Neptune Conjunction
    22  Su   7:40 AM  Moon Perigee: 366900 km
    23  Mo   4:32 AM  Moon-Pleiades: 1.1° S
    25  We  12:46 AM  Moon North Dec.: 28.4° N
    25  We   4:27 AM  Saturn Conjunction
    25  We   3:18 PM  First Quarter
    26  Th   8:13 AM  Moon-Jupiter: 4° S
    27  Fr  10:15 PM  Moon-Beehive: 1.3° S
    29  Su   3:00 PM  Moon-Regulus: 0.4° S
    30  Mo   7:34 AM  Moon Descending Node
Apr  1  We            Venus: 20.5° E

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
March, 2026    Local time zone: EST
+-----------------------------------------------------------------------+
| DATE |  SUN     SUN  DAYLIGHT|   TWILIGHT*    |MOON  RISE OR    ILLUM |
|      |  RISE    SET    HOURS |  END    START  |PHASE SET** TIME FRACTN|
+=======================================================================+
|Sun  1| 07:20a  06:30p  11:10 | 07:33p  06:17a |      Set  06:59a   97%|
|Mon  2| 07:18a  06:32p  11:13 | 07:35p  06:15a |      Set  07:19a  100%|
|Tue  3| 07:16a  06:33p  11:16 | 07:36p  06:13a |Full  Rise 07:04p  100%|
|Wed  4| 07:14a  06:34p  11:19 | 07:37p  06:12a |      Rise 08:14p   97%|
|Thu  5| 07:13a  06:36p  11:22 | 07:39p  06:10a |      Rise 09:22p   93%|
|Fri  6| 07:11a  06:37p  11:25 | 07:40p  06:08a |      Rise 10:30p   87%|
|Sat  7| 07:09a  06:38p  11:29 | 07:41p  06:06a |      Rise 11:38p   80%|
+------+-----------------------+----------------+-----------------------+
| EDT  |      Time Change      |                |                       |
|Sun  8| 08:07a  07:39p  11:32 | 08:42p  07:04a |      Rise 01:45a   72%|
|Mon  9| 08:06a  07:41p  11:35 | 08:44p  07:03a |      Rise 02:50a   63%|
|Tue 10| 08:04a  07:42p  11:38 | 08:45p  07:01a |      Rise 03:50a   54%|
|Wed 11| 08:02a  07:43p  11:41 | 08:46p  06:59a |L Qtr Rise 04:42a   44%|
|Thu 12| 08:00a  07:45p  11:44 | 08:48p  06:57a |      Rise 05:25a   35%|
|Fri 13| 07:58a  07:46p  11:47 | 08:49p  06:55a |      Rise 06:01a   26%|
|Sat 14| 07:56a  07:47p  11:50 | 08:50p  06:53a |      Rise 06:29a   18%|
+------+-----------------------+----------------+-----------------------+
|Sun 15| 07:55a  07:49p  11:54 | 08:52p  06:52a |      Rise 06:53a   11%|
|Mon 16| 07:53a  07:50p  11:57 | 08:53p  06:50a |      Rise 07:14a    5%|
|Tue 17| 07:51a  07:51p  12:00 | 08:54p  06:48a |      Rise 07:33a    1%|
|Wed 18| 07:49a  07:52p  12:03 | 08:56p  06:46a |New   Set  07:46p    0%|
|Thu 19| 07:47a  07:54p  12:06 | 08:57p  06:44a |      Set  09:02p    1%|
|Fri 20| 07:45a  07:55p  12:09 | 08:58p  06:42a |      Set  10:21p    5%|
|Sat 21| 07:43a  07:56p  12:12 | 09:00p  06:40a |      Set  11:43p   11%|
+------+-----------------------+----------------+-----------------------+
|Sun 22| 07:42a  07:57p  12:15 | 09:01p  06:38a |      Set  01:05a   20%|
|Mon 23| 07:40a  07:59p  12:19 | 09:02p  06:36a |      Set  02:23a   30%|
|Tue 24| 07:38a  08:00p  12:22 | 09:04p  06:34a |      Set  03:31a   41%|
|Wed 25| 07:36a  08:01p  12:25 | 09:05p  06:32a |F Qtr Set  04:26a   52%|
|Thu 26| 07:34a  08:03p  12:28 | 09:07p  06:30a |      Set  05:07a   63%|
|Fri 27| 07:32a  08:04p  12:31 | 09:08p  06:28a |      Set  05:39a   74%|
|Sat 28| 07:30a  08:05p  12:34 | 09:09p  06:26a |      Set  06:03a   83%|
+------+-----------------------+----------------+-----------------------+
|Sun 29| 07:29a  08:06p  12:37 | 09:11p  06:24a |      Set  06:24a   90%|
|Mon 30| 07:27a  08:08p  12:40 | 09:12p  06:22a |      Set  06:42a   95%|
|Tue 31| 07:25a  08:09p  12:43 | 09:13p  06:20a |      Set  07:00a   99%|
+-----------------------------------------------------------------------+
* Nautical Twilight
** Moonrise or moonset, whichever occurs between sunset and sunrise

Created using my LookingUp for MS-DOS app.