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10/01/2020 – Ephemeris – Previewing October Skies

October 1, 2020 Comments off

This is Ephemeris for Thursday, October 1st. Today the Sun will be up for 11 hours and 40 minutes, setting at 7:22, and it will rise tomorrow at 7:42. The Moon, at full today, the Harvest Moon, will rise at 7:45 this evening.

Let’s look at the skies for the month of October. The Sun will still be moving south rapidly. Daylight hours in the Interlochen/Traverse City area and will drop from 11 hours and 40 minutes today to 10 hours, 11 minutes at month’s end. The altitude of the Sun above the southern horizon at local noon will be 42 degrees today, and will descend to 31 degrees on Halloween, also in the Interlochen area. The Straits area will have the Sun a degree lower. Local noon, when the Sun is due south will be about 1:30 p.m. Sunrise times will increase from 7:41 today all the way to 8:20 a.m. in Interlochen and Traverse City on the 31st. Sunset times will decrease from 7:22 p.m. today to 6:32 on Halloween.

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

Addendum

October Evening Star Chart

October 2020 evening star chart

Star Chart for October 2020 (9 p.m. EDT October 15, 2020). Click on image to enlarge.Created using my LookingUp program. Click on image to enlarge.

The planets and stars are plotted for the 15th at 9 p.m. EDT 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). To duplicate the star positions on a planisphere you may have to set it to 1 hour 45 minutes earlier than the current time.

October Morning Star Chart

October Morning Star Chart

Star Chart for October mornings 2020 (6 a.m. EDT October 15, 2020). Click on image to enlarge. Created using 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.
  • Leaky dipper drips on Leo.
  • Follow the arc of the handle of the Big Dipper to the star Arcturus.
  • The Summer Triangle is in red.
  • DracR – Draconid Radiant – Peak 7/8th – Zenithal Hourly Rate = 10+
  • OriR – Orionid Radiant – Peak 22nd – Zenithal Hourly Rate = 20

Twilight Limits, Nautical and Astronomical

      EDT        
Traverse
City, MI
 Morning twilight Evening twilight Dark night Moon
Date Astro. Nautical Nautical Astro. Start End Illum.
2020-10-01 6h09m 6h43m 20h28m 21h02m – – 1
2020-10-02 6h10m 6h45m 20h26m 21h01m – – 1
2020-10-03 6h12m 6h46m 20h25m 20h59m – – 0.98
2020-10-04 6h13m 6h47m 20h23m 20h57m – – 0.95
2020-10-05 6h14m 6h48m 20h21m 20h55m 20h55m 21h15m 0.9
2020-10-06 6h15m 6h49m 20h19m 20h53m 20h53m 21h46m 0.83
2020-10-07 6h17m 6h51m 20h17m 20h51m 20h51m 22h23m 0.75
2020-10-08 6h18m 6h52m 20h15m 20h49m 20h49m 23h09m 0.66
2020-10-09 6h19m 6h53m 20h14m 20h48m 20h48m – 0.56
2020-10-10 6h21m 6h54m 20h12m 20h46m 20h46m 0h03m 0.45
2020-10-11 6h22m 6h56m 20h10m 20h44m 20h44m 1h06m 0.34
2020-10-12 6h23m 6h57m 20h09m 20h42m 20h42m 2h17m 0.24
2020-10-13 6h24m 6h58m 20h07m 20h41m 20h41m 3h32m 0.15
2020-10-14 6h25m 6h59m 20h05m 20h39m 20h39m 4h50m 0.07
2020-10-15 6h27m 7h00m 20h03m 20h37m 20h37m 6h10m 0.02
2020-10-16 6h28m 7h02m 20h02m 20h36m 20h36m 6h28m 0
2020-10-17 6h29m 7h03m 20h00m 20h34m 20h34m 6h29m 0.01
2020-10-18 6h30m 7h04m 19h59m 20h32m 20h32m 6h30m 0.06
2020-10-19 6h32m 7h05m 19h57m 20h31m 20h58m 6h32m 0.13
2020-10-20 6h33m 7h07m 19h55m 20h29m 21h45m 6h33m 0.22
2020-10-21 6h34m 7h08m 19h54m 20h28m 22h39m 6h34m 0.33
2020-10-22 6h35m 7h09m 19h52m 20h26m 23h41m 6h35m 0.44
2020-10-23 6h37m 7h10m 19h51m 20h25m – 6h37m 0.55
2020-10-24 6h38m 7h12m 19h49m 20h23m 0h46m 6h38m 0.65
2020-10-25 6h39m 7h13m 19h48m 20h22m 1h52m 6h39m 0.75
2020-10-26 6h40m 7h14m 19h47m 20h20m 2h58m 6h40m 0.83
2020-10-27 6h41m 7h15m 19h45m 20h19m 4h01m 6h41m 0.89
2020-10-28 6h43m 7h16m 19h44m 20h18m 5h04m 6h43m 0.95
2020-10-29 6h44m 7h18m 19h42m 20h16m 6h05m 6h44m 0.95
2020-10-30 6h45m 7h19m 19h41m 20h15m – – 0.98
2020-10-31 6h46m 7h20m 19h40m 20h14m – – 1

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

Oct 1  Th            Venus: 40.3° W
    1  Th  11:59 am  Mercury Greatest Elongation: 25.8° E
    1  Th  05:05 pm  Full Moon
    2  Fr  01:09 pm  Venus-Regulus: 0.1° S
    2  Fr  11:21 pm  Moon-Mars: 0.8° N
    3  Sa  01:22 pm  Moon Apogee: 406,300 km
    6  Tu  10:19 am  Mars nearest: 62,070,000 km
    6  Tu  09:25 pm  Draconid 1704 trail
    6  Tu  09:57 pm  Draconid 1711 trail
    7  We  08:29 pm  Moon Ascending Node
    8  Th  08:30 am  Draconid Meteor Shower: ZHR 10+
    9  Fr  09:07 am  Moon North Dec.: 24.6° N
    9  Fr  08:39 pm  Last Quarter
   11  Su  08:27 am  Moon-Beehive: 2.2° S
   13  Tu  07:10 pm  Mars Opposition
   13  Tu  07:57 pm  Moon-Venus: 4.4° S
   16  Fr  03:31 pm  New Moon
   16  Fr  07:46 pm  Moon Perigee: 356,900 km
   20  Tu  11:53 am  Moon Descending Node
   21  We  01:21 am  Orionid Meteor Shower: ZHR = 20
   21  We  10:00 pm  Moon South Dec.: 24.7° S
   22  Th  01:10 pm  Moon-Jupiter: 2.1° N
   22  Th  11:49 pm  Moon-Saturn: 2.7° N
   23  Fr  09:23 am  First Quarter
   25  Su  01:14 pm  Mercury Inferior Solar Conjunction
   29  Th  11:13 am  Moon-Mars: 3.3° N
   30  Fr  01:46 pm  Moon Apogee: 406,400 km
   31  Sa  09:49 am  Full Moon
   31  Sa  11:05 am  Uranus Opposition
Nov 1  Su            Venus: 34.2° W

All event times are given for UTC-4 hr: Eastern Daylight Saving Time.

Sky Events Calendar (with some tweaks) 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
October, 2020    Local time zone: EDT
+-----------------------------------------------------------------------+
| DATE |  SUN     SUN  DAYLIGHT|   TWILIGHT*    |MOON  RISE OR    ILLUM |
|      |  RISE    SET    HOURS |  END    START  |PHASE SET** TIME FRACTN|
+=======================================================================+
|Thu  1| 07:41a  07:22p  11:40 | 08:25p  06:38a |Full  Rise 07:45p  100%|
|Fri  2| 07:42a  07:20p  11:37 | 08:23p  06:39a |      Rise 08:05p   99%|
|Sat  3| 07:43a  07:18p  11:34 | 08:21p  06:40a |      Rise 08:26p   96%|
+------+-----------------------+----------------+-----------------------+
|Sun  4| 07:45a  07:16p  11:31 | 08:19p  06:42a |      Rise 08:49p   91%|
|Mon  5| 07:46a  07:14p  11:28 | 08:17p  06:43a |      Rise 09:15p   85%|
|Tue  6| 07:47a  07:13p  11:25 | 08:16p  06:44a |      Rise 09:46p   78%|
|Wed  7| 07:48a  07:11p  11:22 | 08:14p  06:45a |      Rise 10:23p   70%|
|Thu  8| 07:50a  07:09p  11:19 | 08:12p  06:47a |      Rise 11:09p   60%|
|Fri  9| 07:51a  07:07p  11:16 | 08:10p  06:48a |L Qtr Rise 12:03a   50%|
|Sat 10| 07:52a  07:05p  11:13 | 08:08p  06:49a |      Rise 01:06a   40%|
+------+-----------------------+----------------+-----------------------+
|Sun 11| 07:53a  07:04p  11:10 | 08:07p  06:50a |      Rise 02:17a   30%|
|Mon 12| 07:55a  07:02p  11:07 | 08:05p  06:51a |      Rise 03:32a   20%|
|Tue 13| 07:56a  07:00p  11:04 | 08:03p  06:53a |      Rise 04:50a   12%|
|Wed 14| 07:57a  06:58p  11:01 | 08:02p  06:54a |      Rise 06:10a    5%|
|Thu 15| 07:58a  06:57p  10:58 | 08:00p  06:55a |      Rise 07:30a    1%|
|Fri 16| 08:00a  06:55p  10:55 | 07:58p  06:56a |New   Set  07:16p    0%|
|Sat 17| 08:01a  06:53p  10:52 | 07:57p  06:58a |      Set  07:45p    2%|
+------+-----------------------+----------------+-----------------------+
|Sun 18| 08:02a  06:52p  10:49 | 07:55p  06:59a |      Set  08:19p    7%|
|Mon 19| 08:04a  06:50p  10:46 | 07:54p  07:00a |      Set  08:58p   14%|
|Tue 20| 08:05a  06:48p  10:43 | 07:52p  07:01a |      Set  09:44p   24%|
|Wed 21| 08:06a  06:47p  10:40 | 07:50p  07:02a |      Set  10:39p   34%|
|Thu 22| 08:08a  06:45p  10:37 | 07:49p  07:04a |      Set  11:41p   44%|
|Fri 23| 08:09a  06:44p  10:34 | 07:47p  07:05a |F Qtr Set  12:46a   55%|
|Sat 24| 08:10a  06:42p  10:31 | 07:46p  07:06a |      Set  01:52a   65%|
+------+-----------------------+----------------+-----------------------+
|Sun 25| 08:12a  06:40p  10:28 | 07:45p  07:07a |      Set  02:57a   74%|
|Mon 26| 08:13a  06:39p  10:26 | 07:43p  07:09a |      Set  04:01a   82%|
|Tue 27| 08:14a  06:37p  10:23 | 07:42p  07:10a |      Set  05:04a   88%|
|Wed 28| 08:16a  06:36p  10:20 | 07:40p  07:11a |      Set  06:05a   94%|
|Thu 29| 08:17a  06:34p  10:17 | 07:39p  07:12a |      Set  07:06a   98%|
|Fri 30| 08:18a  06:33p  10:14 | 07:38p  07:13a |      Set  08:08a  100%|
|Sat 31| 08:20a  06:32p  10:11 | 07:36p  07:15a |Full  Rise 06:53p  100%|
+-----------------------------------------------------------------------+
* Nautical Twilight
** Moonrise or moonset, whichever occurs between sunrise and sunset

Generated using my LookingUp for DOS program.

Categories: Ephemeris Program, Month preview Tags:

10-01-2019 – Ephemeris – Previewing October skies

October 1, 2019 Comments off

Ephemeris for Tuesday, October 1st. Today the Sun will be up for 11 hours and 43 minutes, setting at 7:23, and it will rise tomorrow at 7:41. The Moon, 3 days past new, will set at 9:28 this evening.

Let’s look at the skies for the month of October. The sun will still be moving south rapidly. Daylight hours in the Interlochen/Traverse City area will drop from 11 hours and 43 minutes today to 10 hours 14 minutes on the 31st. The altitude of the Sun above the southern horizon at local noon will be 42 degrees today, and will descend to 31 degrees on Halloween, also in the Interlochen area. The Straits area will have the Sun a degree lower. Local noon, when the Sun is due south will be about 1:30 p.m. in Interlochen. The planets Saturn and Jupiter will appear low in the southwest in the early evening, and Venus just might be visible low in the west-southwest a half hour after sunset by month’s end.

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

Addendum

October Evening Star Chart

October Evening Star Chart

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

The planets and stars are plotted for the 15th at 9 p.m. EDT 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). To duplicate the star positions on a planisphere you may have to set it to 1 hour 45 minutes earlier than the current time.

October Morning Star Chart

Star Chart for October mornings 2019 (6 a.m. EDT October 15, 2019). Click on image to enlarge. Created using 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.
  • Leaky dipper drips on Leo.
  • Follow the arc of the handle of the Big Dipper to the star Arcturus.
  • The Summer Triangle is in red.
  • DracR – Draconid Radiant – Peak 9th – Zenithal Hourly Rate = 10
  • OriR – Orionid Radiant – Peak 22nd – Zenithal Hourly Rate = 20

Twilight Limits, Nautical and Astronomical

EDT
Traverse
City		 Morning twilight Evening twilight Dark night Moon
Date Astro. Nautical Nautical Astro. Start End Illum.
2019-10-01 6h08m 6h42m 20h30m 21h04m 21h28m 6h08m 0.13
2019-10-02 6h09m 6h44m 20h28m 21h02m 22h04m 6h09m 0.22
2019-10-03 6h11m 6h45m 20h26m 21h00m 22h46m 6h11m 0.32
2019-10-04 6h12m 6h46m 20h24m 20h58m 23h33m 6h12m 0.43
2019-10-05 6h13m 6h47m 20h22m 20h56m – 6h13m 0.53
2019-10-06 6h15m 6h49m 20h20m 20h54m 0h25m 6h15m 0.63
2019-10-07 6h16m 6h50m 20h19m 20h53m 1h22m 6h16m 0.73
2019-10-08 6h17m 6h51m 20h17m 20h51m 2h21m 6h17m 0.81
2019-10-09 6h18m 6h52m 20h15m 20h49m 3h21m 6h18m 0.88
2019-10-10 6h20m 6h53m 20h13m 20h47m 4h22m 6h20m 0.93
2019-10-11 6h21m 6h55m 20h12m 20h45m 5h23m 6h21m 0.93
2019-10-12 6h22m 6h56m 20h10m 20h44m – – 0.97
2019-10-13 6h23m 6h57m 20h08m 20h42m – – 1
2019-10-14 6h25m 6h58m 20h06m 20h40m – – 1
2019-10-15 6h26m 7h00m 20h05m 20h38m – – 0.98
2019-10-16 6h27m 7h01m 20h03m 20h37m 20h37m 20h44m 0.94
2019-10-17 6h28m 7h02m 20h01m 20h35m 20h35m 21h18m 0.89
2019-10-18 6h29m 7h03m 20h00m 20h34m 20h34m 21h59m 0.81
2019-10-19 6h31m 7h04m 19h58m 20h32m 20h32m 22h49m 0.72
2019-10-20 6h32m 7h06m 19h57m 20h30m 20h30m 23h48m 0.62
2019-10-21 6h33m 7h07m 19h55m 20h29m 20h29m – 0.5
2019-10-22 6h34m 7h08m 19h54m 20h27m 20h27m 0h55m 0.39
2019-10-23 6h36m 7h09m 19h52m 20h26m 20h26m 2h08m 0.28
2019-10-24 6h37m 7h11m 19h51m 20h24m 20h24m 3h24m 0.17
2019-10-25 6h38m 7h12m 19h49m 20h23m 20h23m 4h42m 0.09
2019-10-26 6h39m 7h13m 19h48m 20h21m 20h21m 6h00m 0.03
2019-10-27 6h40m 7h14m 19h46m 20h20m 20h20m 6h40m 0
2019-10-28 6h42m 7h15m 19h45m 20h19m 20h19m 6h42m 0
2019-10-29 6h43m 7h17m 19h43m 20h17m 20h17m 6h43m 0.04
2019-10-30 6h44m 7h18m 19h42m 20h16m 20h36m 6h44m 0.09
2019-10-31 6h45m 7h19m 19h41m 20h15m 21h22m 6h45m 0.17

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
Oct  1 Tu          Venus: 13.1° E
     3 Th  4:23 pm Moon-Jupiter: 2° S
     5 Sa 12:01 pm Moon South Dec.: 22.8° S
     5 Sa 12:47 pm First Quarter
     5 Sa  2:49 pm Moon Descending Node
     5 Sa  4:48 pm Moon-Saturn: 0.3° N
    10 Th  2:29 pm Moon Apogee: 405900 km
    13 Su  5:08 pm Full Moon
    19 Sa 11:59 pm Mercury Elongation: 24.6° E
    20 Su  3:28 am Moon Ascending Node
    20 Su  4:07 am Moon North Dec.: 22.9° N
    21 Mo  8:39 am Last Quarter
    21 Mo  7:12 pm Orionid Shower: ZHR = 20
    22 Tu 12:41 am Moon-Beehive: 0.7° S
    26 Sa  6:41 am Moon Perigee: 361300 km
    27 Su 10:38 pm New Moon
    28 Mo  3:17 am Uranus Opposition
    29 Tu  8:33 am Moon-Venus: 4° S
    30 We 11:22 pm Mercury-Venus: 2.5° N
    31 Th  9:22 am Moon-Jupiter: 1.4° S
Nov  1 Fr          Venus: 20.8° E

All event times are given for UTC-4 hr: Eastern Daylight Saving 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
     October, 2019    Local time zone: EDT
     +-----------------------------------------------------------------------+
     | DATE |  SUN     SUN  DAYLIGHT|   TWILIGHT*    |MOON  RISE OR    ILLUM |
     |      |  RISE    SET    HOURS |  END    START  |PHASE SET** TIME FRACTN|
     +=======================================================================+
     |Tue  1| 07:40a  07:23p  11:43 | 08:26p  06:37a |      Set  09:28p   14%|
     |Wed  2| 07:41a  07:21p  11:40 | 08:24p  06:38a |      Set  10:04p   23%|
     |Thu  3| 07:42a  07:20p  11:37 | 08:22p  06:39a |      Set  10:46p   33%|
     |Fri  4| 07:44a  07:18p  11:34 | 08:21p  06:41a |      Set  11:33p   43%|
     |Sat  5| 07:45a  07:16p  11:30 | 08:19p  06:42a |F Qtr Set  12:25a   53%|
     +------+-----------------------+----------------+-----------------------+
     |Sun  6| 07:46a  07:14p  11:27 | 08:17p  06:43a |      Set  01:21a   63%|
     |Mon  7| 07:47a  07:12p  11:24 | 08:15p  06:44a |      Set  02:21a   72%|
     |Tue  8| 07:49a  07:10p  11:21 | 08:13p  06:46a |      Set  03:21a   80%|
     |Wed  9| 07:50a  07:09p  11:18 | 08:12p  06:47a |      Set  04:22a   87%|
     |Thu 10| 07:51a  07:07p  11:15 | 08:10p  06:48a |      Set  05:23a   92%|
     |Fri 11| 07:52a  07:05p  11:12 | 08:08p  06:49a |      Set  06:24a   97%|
     |Sat 12| 07:54a  07:03p  11:09 | 08:06p  06:50a |      Set  07:25a   99%|
     +------+-----------------------+----------------+-----------------------+
     |Sun 13| 07:55a  07:02p  11:06 | 08:05p  06:52a |Full  Rise 07:25p  100%|
     |Mon 14| 07:56a  07:00p  11:03 | 08:03p  06:53a |      Rise 07:49p   99%|
     |Tue 15| 07:57a  06:58p  11:00 | 08:01p  06:54a |      Rise 08:14p   96%|
     |Wed 16| 07:59a  06:56p  10:57 | 08:00p  06:55a |      Rise 08:44p   91%|
     |Thu 17| 08:00a  06:55p  10:54 | 07:58p  06:57a |      Rise 09:18p   84%|
     |Fri 18| 08:01a  06:53p  10:51 | 07:56p  06:58a |      Rise 09:59p   76%|
     |Sat 19| 08:03a  06:51p  10:48 | 07:55p  06:59a |      Rise 10:49p   66%|
     +------+-----------------------+----------------+-----------------------+
     |Sun 20| 08:04a  06:50p  10:45 | 07:53p  07:00a |      Rise 11:48p   56%|
     |Mon 21| 08:05a  06:48p  10:42 | 07:52p  07:02a |L Qtr Rise 12:55a   45%|
     |Tue 22| 08:07a  06:46p  10:39 | 07:50p  07:03a |      Rise 02:08a   34%|
     |Wed 23| 08:08a  06:45p  10:36 | 07:49p  07:04a |      Rise 03:24a   23%|
     |Thu 24| 08:09a  06:43p  10:33 | 07:47p  07:05a |      Rise 04:41a   14%|
     |Fri 25| 08:11a  06:42p  10:31 | 07:46p  07:06a |      Rise 06:00a    7%|
     |Sat 26| 08:12a  06:40p  10:28 | 07:44p  07:08a |      Rise 07:18a    2%|
     +------+-----------------------+----------------+-----------------------+
     |Sun 27| 08:13a  06:39p  10:25 | 07:43p  07:09a |New   Set  06:51p    0%|
     |Mon 28| 08:15a  06:37p  10:22 | 07:41p  07:10a |      Set  07:22p    1%|
     |Tue 29| 08:16a  06:36p  10:19 | 07:40p  07:11a |      Set  07:57p    5%|
     |Wed 30| 08:17a  06:34p  10:16 | 07:39p  07:13a |      Set  08:36p   11%|
     |Thu 31| 08:19a  06:33p  10:14 | 07:37p  07:14a |      Set  09:22p   18%|
     +-----------------------------------------------------------------------+
     * Nautical Twilight
     ** Moonrise or moonset, whichever occurs between sunrise and sunset

Generated using my LookingUp for DOS program.

 

 

 

 

Categories: Ephemeris Program, Month preview Tags:

10/01/2015 – Previewing the month of October

October 1, 2015 Comments off

Ephemeris for Thursday, October 1st.  The Sun will rise at 7:40.  It’ll be up for 11 hours and 43 minutes, setting at 7:23.   The Moon, 3 days before last quarter, will rise at 10:04 this evening.

Let’s look at the skies for the month of October.  The sun will still be moving south rapidly.  Daylight hours in the Interlochen/Traverse City area will drop from 11 hours and 43 minutes today to 10 hours 14 minutes on the 31st.  The altitude of the sun above the southern horizon at local noon will be 42 degrees tomorrow, and will descend to 31 degrees on Halloween, also in the Interlochen area.  The Straits area will have the sun a degree lower.  Local noon, when the sun is due south will be about 1:30 p.m. in Interlochen.  The planet Saturn will become harder to spot by the end of the month.  After that the evening sky will be devoid of bright planets for many months.  The outer planets Uranus and Neptune will be available for the telescope.

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

Addendum

October Star Chart

Star Chart for October 2015. Created using my LookingUp program. Click on image to enlarge.

The planets and stars are plotted for the 15th at 8 p.m. EDT.  That is chart time.  Note, Traverse City is located 1 hour 45 minutes behind our time meridian.  To duplicate the star positions on a planisphere you may have to set it to 1 hour 45 minutes earlier than the current time.

Evening astronomical twilight ends at 9 p.m. EDT on October 1st, decreasing to 8:11 p.m. EDT on the 31st..

Morning astronomical twilight starts at 6:02 a.m. EDT on October 1st, and increasing to 6:40 a.m. EDT on the 31st.

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.
  • Follow the arc of the Big Dipper’s handle to Arcturus.
  • The Summer Triangle is shown in red.

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 Venus-Regulus: 2.5° S means Venus will appear 2.5° South of Regulus.

Oct 01 Th Venus: 43.6° W
02 Fr 08:51 Moon-Aldebaran: 0.5° S, Occultation*
03 Sa 19:55 Moon North Dec.: 18.1° N
04 Su 17:06 Last Quarter
08 Th 16:32 Moon-Venus: 0.8° N
08 Th 20:26 Venus-Regulus: 2.5° S
09 Fr 12:51 Moon-Mars: 3.8° N
09 Fr 19:30 Moon-Jupiter: 3° N
11 Su 06:54 Moon Ascending Node
11 Su 09:17 Moon Apogee: 406400 km
11 Su 23:14 Uranus Opposition
12 Mo 20:06 New Moon
15 Th 22:59 Mercury Elongation: 18.1° W
16 Fr 09:20 Moon-Saturn: 3.2° S
17 Sa 17:01 Mars-Jupiter: 0.4° N
18 Su 14:31 Moon South Dec.: 18.2° S
20 Tu 16:31 First Quarter
21 We 18:35 Orionid Shower: ZHR = 20
25 Su 03:36 Moon Descending Node
25 Su 17:40 Venus-Jupiter: 1° N
26 Mo 01:59 Venus Elongation: 46.4° W
26 Mo 07:59 Moon Perigee: 358500 km
27 Tu 07:05 Full Moon
29 Th 17:45 Moon-Aldebaran: 0.6° S, occultation**
31 Sa 04:02 Moon North Dec.: 18.2° N
Nov 01 Su Venus: 46.3° W
* Visible in N. Pacific and Alaska in the US.  During the daytime in the rest of the US except Hawai’i.  Check it out here.

** Visible in Europe, parts of northern Africa and western Asia.   Check it out here.
Categories: Ephemeris Program, Month preview Tags: ,

09/30/2014 – Ephemeris – Previewing October skies and events

September 30, 2014 Comments off

Ephemeris for Tuesday, September 30th.  The sun will rise at 7:39.  It’ll be up for 11 hours and 45 minutes, setting at 7:24.   The moon, 1 day before first quarter, will set at 11:43 this evening.

Let’s look at the skies for the month of October.  The sun will still be moving south rapidly.  Daylight hours in the Interlochen/Traverse City area and will drop from 11 hours and 42 minutes tomorrow to 10 hours, 14 minutes at month’s end.  The altitude of the sun above the southern horizon at local noon will be 42 degrees tomorrow in the Interlochen area, and will descend to 31 degrees on Halloween.  This month will see two eclipses visible from our area plus a close encounter that a comet will have near Mars and our assets on and around Mars.  We will be able to see, weather permitting a total lunar eclipse in the morning a week from today, the 8th and a partial solar eclipse on the 23rd, just before sunset.

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

Addendum

Star Chart

Star Chart for October 2014. Created using my LookingUp program.

The Moon is not plotted.  The planets and stars are plotted for the 15th at 8 p.m.  That is chart time.

Astronomical twilight ends at 9:00 p.m. on October 1st, decreasing to 8:11 on the 31st.

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.

Also shown is the Summer Triangle in red. Clockwise from the top star is Deneb in Cygnus, Vega in  Lyra and Altair in Aquila.

The green pointers from the Big Dipper are:

  • Pointer stars at the front of the bowl of the Big Dipper point to Polaris the North Star.
  • The arc of the dipper’s handle points to Arcturus.

Information on the total lunar eclipse on the 8th will be posted starting Monday October 6th.

Categories: Constellations, Ephemeris Program, Month preview, NASA/JPL Solar System Ambassador Tags: , ,

10/01/2013 – Ephemeris – Let’s Preview October Skies

September 30, 2013 Comments off

Ephemeris for Tuesday, October 1st.  The sun will rise at 7:40.  It’ll be up for 11 hours and 41 minutes, setting at 7:22.   The moon, 3 days before new, will rise at 5:10 tomorrow morning.

Let’s look at the skies for the month of October.  The sun will still be moving south rapidly.  Daylight hours in the Interlochen/Traverse City area will drop from 11 hours and 41 minutes today to 10 hours 13 minutes on the 31st.  The altitude of the sun above the southern horizon at local noon will be 42 degrees today, and will descend to 31 degrees on Halloween, also in the Interlochen/Traverse City area.  The Straits area will have the sun a degree lower.  Local noon, when the sun is due south will be about 1:30 p.m. in Interlochen/Traverse City.  Comet ISON is currently about a sixth as bright as original estimates would predict.  However comets can unpredictable in their brightness.  So we will know for sure in two months.

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

Addendum

Star Chart

Star Chart for October 15th, 2013 at 9 p.m. Created by my LookingUp program.

Categories: Ephemeris Program, Month preview Tags: ,

10-01-2012 – Ephemeris – Previewing October daylight changes

October 1, 2012 Comments off

Ephemeris for Monday, October 1st.  The sun will rise at 7:40.  It’ll be up for 11 hours and 41 minutes, setting at 7:22.   The moon, 2 days past full, will rise at 7:51 this evening.  |   Let’s look at the skies for the month of October.  The sun will still be moving south rapidly.  Daylight hours in the Interlochen/Traverse City area and will drop from 11 hours and 41 minutes today to 10 hours, 12 minutes at months end..  The altitude of the sun above the southern horizon at local noon will be 42 degrees today, and will descend to 31degrees on Halloween, also in the Interlochen area.  The Straits area will have the sun a degree lower.  Local noon, when the sun is due south will be about 1:30 p.m. in Interlochen.  Sunrise times will increase all the way to 8:19 a.m. in Interlochen on the 31st.  Sunset times will decrease from 7:22 p.m. today to 6:32 when the trick or treaters haunt our neighborhoods.

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

Categories: Ephemeris Program, Month preview Tags:

09/30/11 – Ephemeris – Previewing October skies

September 30, 2011 Comments off

Friday, September 30th.  The sun will rise at 7:38.  It’ll be up for 11 hours and 46 minutes, setting at 7:25.   The moon, half way from new to first quarter, will set at 9:14 this evening.

Let’s look at the skies for the month of October which starts tomorrow.  The sun will still be moving south rapidly.  Daylight hours in the Interlochen/Traverse City area will drop from 11 hours and 43 minutes tomorrow to 10 hours 14 minutes on the 31st.  The altitude of the sun above the southern horizon at local noon will be 42 degrees tomorrow, and will descend to 31degrees on Halloween, also in the Interlochen area.  The Straits area will have the sun a degree lower.  Local noon, when the sun is due south will be about 1:30 p.m. in Interlochen.  The planet Jupiter will move higher in the southeast in the evening next month.  I’m hoping with the sun’s activity increasing we’ll get a shot at seeing some northern lights next month.

* Times are for the Traverse City/Interlochen area of Michigan.  They may be different for your location.

Categories: Ephemeris Program, Month preview Tags: