Archive
09/14/2016 – Ephemeris – Then there were four… Evening planets that is.
Ephemeris for Wednesday, September 14th. The Sun will rise at 7:21. It’ll be up for 12 hours and 33 minutes, setting at 7:54. The Moon, 2 days before full, will set at 5:49 tomorrow morning.
Tonight we have only four of the bright classical planets in the evening sky. Mercury crossed into the morning sky Monday, Jupiter will follow shortly. Jupiter is impossible to spot being very close to the direction of the Sun. We are left with Venus, Saturn and Mars. Venus is briefly visible after sunset, low in the west. It will set at 8:52 p.m., following the Sun’s earlier setting times. Mars, Saturn and the star Antares start the evening in the southwestern sky in a triangle, with Saturn on top, Mars below and to the left, and Antares below Saturn and right of and below Mars. Saturn, spectacular in telescopes with its rings, will set at 11:18 p.m. And Mars, moving rapidly to the east against the stars will set at 11:39 p.m.
Times are for the Traverse City/Interlochen area of Michigan. They may be different for your location.
Addendum
Looking very low in the west at 8:14 p.m., 20 minutes after sunset, September 14, 2016. Created using Stellarium.
The Moon and the lengthening Mars-Saturn-Antares triangle at 9:30 p.m., September 14, 2016. Created using Stellarium.
Saturn and some of its moons at 9:30 p.m. September 14, 2016. Created using Cartes du Ciel (Sky Charts).
The Moon tonight as it might be seen in binoculars at 9:30 p.m. September 14, 2016. Created using Stellarium.
Planets and Moon at sunset and sunrise of a single night starting with sunset on the right on September 14, 2016. The night ends on the left with sunrise on September 14. Mercury has escaped to the morning sky. If you are using Firefox right-click on the image and select View Image to enlarge the image. That goes for all the large images. Created using my LookingUp program.
09/09/2016 – Ephemeris – There’s a star party tomorrow at the NMC Rogers Observatory
Ephemeris for Friday, September 9th. The Sun will rise at 7:15. It’ll be up for 12 hours and 48 minutes, setting at 8:03. The Moon, at first quarter today, will set at 12:50 tomorrow morning.
For the sixth weekend in a row the Grand Traverse Astronomical Society will host an observing event. Just one this weekend. It will be a star party at Northwestern Michigan College’s Rogers Observatory tomorrow night, Saturday night the 10th from 9 to 11 p.m. The observatory’s and GTAS members telescopes will be used to view the Moon and the planets Saturn and Mars. Some of the brighter deep-sky objects of the summer sky will also be visible. There will be an alternate program available if it’s cloudy. Last weekend’s star party , out at the Sleeping Bear Dunes was a perfectly clear night with and nearly 1800 folks showed up to view the wonders of the Milky Way. The society and the park thank all who attended.
Times are for the Traverse City/Interlochen area of Michigan. They may be different for your location.
09/07/2016 – Ephemeris – Then there was one in the west and two in the southwest
Ephemeris for Wednesday, September 7th. The Sun will rise at 7:12. It’ll be up for 12 hours and 54 minutes, setting at 8:07. The Moon, 2 days before first quarter, will set at 11:29 this evening.
Tonight we still have all the bright classical planets in the evening sky, barely. Venus, Mercury, Jupiter are very low in the west, but only Venus is briefly visible after sunset. It will set at 9:03 p.m. Later this month Mercury and Jupiter will pass the Sun to become visible in the morning sky. Venus alone will remain in the evening sky, slowly pulling away from the Sun. Mars, Saturn and the star Antares start the evening in the southwestern sky in a triangle, with Saturn on top, Mars below and to the left, and Antares below and right of Mars. Saturn, spectacular in telescopes with its rings, will set at 11:45 p.m. And Mars, moving rapidly to the east against the stars will set at 11:50 p.m.
Times are for the Traverse City/Interlochen area of Michigan. They may be different for your location.
Addendum
Looking very low in the west at 8:30 p.m., 20 minutes after sunset, September 7, 2016. Created using Stellarium.
The Moon and the Mars-Saturn-Antares triangle at 9:30 p.m., September 7, 2016. Created using Stellarium.
The Moon tonight as it might be seen in binoculars at 9:30 p.m. September 7, 2016. Created using Stellarium.
Saturn and some of its moons at 9:30 p.m. September 7, 2016. Created using Cartes du Ciel (Sky Charts).
Planets and Moon at sunset and sunrise of a single night starting with sunset on the right on September 7, 2016. The night ends on the left with sunrise on September 8. Actually all the naked eye planets are in the evening sky. If you are using Firefox right-click on the image and select View Image to enlarge the image. That goes for all the large images. Created using my LookingUp program.
08/31/2016 – Ephemeris – Two of the evening planets are easily visible, the other three, not so much
Ephemeris for Wednesday, August 31st. The Sun will rise at 7:04. It’ll be up for 13 hours and 15 minutes, setting at 8:20. The Moon, 1 day before new, will rise at 7:17 tomorrow morning.
Tonight we still have all the bright classical planets in the evening sky, barely. Mercury, Jupiter and Venus are very low in the west and will set at 9:02, 9:05 and 9:13 p.m. respectively. They are all but invisible. Next month Mercury and Jupiter will pass the Sun to become visible in the morning sky. Venus alone will remain in the evening sky, slowly pulling away from the Sun. Mars, Saturn and the star Antares start the evening in the southwestern sky in a triangle, with Saturn on tip, Mars below and to the left, and Antares below and right of Mars. Mars, moving rapidly to the east against the stars will set at 12:15 a.m. Saturn, spectacular in telescopes with its rings, will set at 12:39 a.m.
Times are for the Traverse City/Interlochen area of Michigan. They may be different for your location.
Addendum
Looking very low in the west at 8:40 p.m., 20 minutes after sunset, August 31, 2016. Created using Stellarium.
Mars-Saturn-Antares triangle at 9:30 p.m., August 31, 2016. Created using Stellarium.
Saturn and some of its moons at 9:30 p.m. August 31, 2016. Created using Cartes du Ciel (Sky Charts).
Planets at sunset and sunrise of a single night starting with sunset on the right on August 31, 2016. The night ends on the left with sunrise on September 1. Actually all the naked eye planets are in the evening sky. If you are using Firefox right-click on the image and select View Image to enlarge the image. That goes for all the large images. Created using my LookingUp program.
08/24/2016 – Ephemeris – Planets gather into two groups this evening
Ephemeris for Wednesday, August 24th. The Sun rises at 6:56. It’ll be up for 13 hours and 36 minutes, setting at 8:32. The Moon, at last quarter today, will rise at 12:31 tomorrow morning.
Tonight we still have all the bright classical planets in the evening sky, barely. Mercury, Venus and Jupiter are very low in the west and will set at 9:08, 9:24 and 9:29 p.m. respectively. Saturday evening, right after sunset, Venus will be passing very close to Jupiter while they are low in the west, well within a low power telescope field. Mars, Saturn and the star Antares start the evening in the southwestern sky in a nearly perfect line. Antares, whose name means Rival of Mars is On the bottom with brighter Mars just above it, with Saturn above. Mars, moving rapidly to the east against the stars will set at 12:15 a.m. Saturn, spectacular in telescopes with its rings, will set at 12:39 a.m.
Times are for the Traverse City/Interlochen area of Michigan. They may be different for your location.
Addenda
The Planets Tonight
Looking very low in the west at 9 p.m., 28 minutes after sunset, August 24, 2016. For scale, Jupiter is a bit less than 5 degrees above the horizon, Mercury a bit lass than 2. Created using Stellarium.
Mars breaks out the Saturn-Antares lineup at 9:30 p.m., August 24, 2016. Created by Stellarium.using Stellarium.
Saturn and some of its moons at 9:30 p.m. August 24, 2016. Created using Cartes du Ciel (Sky Charts).
Planets at sunset and sunrise of a single night starting with sunset on the right on August 24, 2016. The night ends on the left with sunrise on August 25. Actually all the naked eye planets are in the evening sky. If you are using Firefox right-click on the image and select View Image to enlarge the image. That goes for all the large images. Created using my LookingUp program.
Mars, Antares and Saturn Last Night
Saturn, Mars and Antares and the setting Scorpius to the right of the tree, and the Sagittarius Teapot with the Milky Way boiling out of the spout at 11:03 p.m. EDT, August 24, 2016. Credit Bob Moler from my back yard.
08/23/2016 – Ephemeris – Mars, Antares and Saturn line up
Ephemeris for Tuesday, August 23rd. The Sun rises at 6:55. It’ll be up for 13 hours and 39 minutes, setting at 8:34. The Moon, 1 day before last quarter, will rise at 11:49 this evening.
Tonight if you look out to the southwest, you will see a nearly perfect, nearly vertical line of bright stars. But two of these are planets. The brightest is the red planet Mars. Below is it’s rival, the red giant star Antares. Above is the ringed planet Saturn. Tonight Mars will be just to the right of the Saturn Antares line. After they set tonight and before we see them tomorrow night Mars will have moves to be just out of the line to the left. I hope it’s clear tonight so I can get a picture of them. A digital camera on a tripod with a low f-stop, and a high ISO speed with a shutter open for maybe 15 seconds ought to do it. Manually focus on infinity. Dark skies confuse auto focusers. And turn the flash off. Try it again tomorrow night.
Times are for the Traverse City/Interlochen area of Michigan. They may be different for your location.
Addendum
Animation of Mars approaching Antares from August 4 to the 24th, 2016 at 10 p.m. Created using Stellarium and GIMP.
The lineup is forming. Saturn, Mars and Antares at 10:20 p.m., August 22, 2016. The globular cluster M 4 is also barely visible. Credit: Bob Moler.
75 mm focal length, 5 Seconds, F/4, ISO 6400
08/10/2016 – Ephemeris – The planets tonight
Ephemeris for Wednesday, August 10th. The Sun rises at 6:39. It’ll be up for 14 hours and 15 minutes, setting at 8:55. The Moon, at first quarter today, will set at 12:55 tomorrow morning.
Today we turn from the small meteoroids that orbit the Sun that are producing the Perseid Meteor Shower to the larger members of the solar family, namely the bright planets. Venus and Mercury are very low in the west-northwest and will set at 9:44 and 9:50 p.m. respectively. Jupiter is in the west in the evening. It will set at 10:19 p.m. Mars, Saturn and the star Antares start the evening in the south-southwestern sky as a tightening triangle, moving to the southwest during the evening. Antares, whose name means Rival of Mars is below Saturn with brighter Mars to the right. The Red Planet is back in Scorpius. It will set at 12:46 a.m. Mars is moving rapidly to the east against the stars. Saturn is spectacular in telescopes, with its rings. Saturn will set at 1:34 a.m.
Times are for the Traverse City/Interlochen area of Michigan. They may be different for your location.
Addendum
Venus, Mercury and Jupiter at 9:25 p.m. (30 minutes after sunset), August 10, 2016. Created using Stellarium.
The planets, Moon and constellations at 10 p.m., August 10, 2016. Created using Stellarium.
The Moon as it might appear in binoculars tonight, August 10, 2016 at 10 p.m. Created using Stellarium.
Saturn and its moons at 10 p.m. August 10, 2016. Created using Cartes du Ciel (Sky Charts).
Planets at sunset and sunrise of a single night starting with sunset on the right on August 10, 2016. The night ends on the left with sunrise on August 11. Actually all the naked eye planets are in the evening sky. Also shown is the Perseid meteor shower radiant. If you are using Firefox right-click on the image and select View Image to enlarge the image. That goes for all the large images. Created using my LookingUp program.
Also shown is the Perseid meteor shower radiant.
08/05/2016 – Ephemeris – Star party at NMC’s Rogers Observatory tonight
Ephemeris for Friday, August 5th. The Sun rises at 6:34. It’ll be up for 14 hours and 28 minutes, setting at 9:02. The Moon, 3 days past new, will set at 10:31 this evening.
There will be a star party this evening at Northwestern Michigan College’s Rogers Observatory hosted by the Grand Traverse Astronomical Society and the NMC Astronomy Club starting at 9 p.m. On tap, if it’s clear, will be Jupiter and the Moon early, then Mars and Saturn. Mars will appear quite small. As it gets darker the stars will appear. Some will show companion stars, while between the stars, what we call deep sky objects will be seen. Clusters of stars, and nebulae which can be either the birthplaces of stars or markers of dying stars. While other galaxies can be spotted our eyes are dazzled by our galaxy, the Milky Way spanning the sky from northeast to the south, in which these other objects dwell. The months of August and September are the months when the heart of the Milky Way is best seen.
Times are for the Traverse City/Interlochen area of Michigan. They may be different for your location.
Addendum
The Milky Way from the Sleeping Bear Dunes last August by Mark Stewart.
This year Saturn and Mars will be in the picture. In this picture Saturn is low and to the right.
08/04/2016 – Ephemeris – Mars’ lookalike star
Ephemeris for Thursday, August 4th. The Sun rises at 6:32. It’ll be up for 14 hours and 30 minutes, setting at 9:03. The Moon, 2 days past new, will set at 10:01 this evening.
As it gets dark this evening a bright reddish star will appear low in the south. It will appear to twinkle mightily. It is not the planet Mars, which is brighter and to the right of it, but its rival the star Antares in Scorpius the scorpion. The star’s name, Antares, notes the rivalry. “Ant” means anti, while “Ares” is the Greek name for the Roman god Mars. Antares literally means “Rival of Mars”. Antares appears red due to its cool surface temperature of 3,600 Kelvin, much cooler than the sun’s 6,000 Kelvin, while Mars is red due to rust. Watch nightly as Mars slowly approaches Antares, and will pass it on the 24th. Being always low in the sky, Antares’ spectacular twinkling has sparked more than a few emails about a strange light in the sky.
Times are for the Traverse City/Interlochen area of Michigan. They may be different for your location.
Addendum
Animation of Mars approaching Antares from August 4 to the 24th, 2016 at 10 p.m. Created using Stellarium and GIMP.
08/03/2016 – Ephemeris – Jupiter is slipping toward the setting Sun
Ephemeris for Wednesday, August 3rd. The Sun rises at 6:31. It’ll be up for 14 hours and 33 minutes, setting at 9:05. The Moon, 1 day past new, will set at 9:29 this evening.
Venus and Mercury are in the evening sky but too close to the Sun to be easily seen. Check below for more information on the apparent interactions between the two. Jupiter will join the fray later this month. Jupiter is in the west in the evening. It will set at 10:44 p.m. Mars starts the evening in the south-southwestern sky, moving to the southwest. It’s right of its dimmer look-a-like star Antares, whose name means Rival of Mars. The Red Planet is back in Scorpius. The planet will set at 1:07 a.m. Mars is resuming its rapid eastward motion against the stars. The ringed planet Saturn is low in the south. It’s to the left of Mars. Saturn will pass due south at 9:25 p.m. and will set at 2:02 a.m.
Times are for the Traverse City/Interlochen area of Michigan. They may be different for your location.
Addendum
Venus, Mercury the day old Moon (not really visible) and Jupiter at 9:25 p.m. (20 minutes after sunset), August 3, 2016. Created using Stellarium.
Spotting the Moon and these planets requires a Lake Michigan horizon and may be futile. The farther one is to the south the greater the angle that the line of planets make with the horizon. This is not a good apparition of Mercury for us, but a good one for folks in the southern hemisphere.
The planets and constellations at 10 p.m., August 3, 2016. Created using Stellarium.
Jupiter and its satellites at 10 p.m., August 3, 2016. It will be close to the horizon and fuzzy in telescopes. Created using Cartes du Ciel (Sky Charts).
Saturn and its moons at 10 p.m. August 3, 2016. Created using Cartes du Ciel (Sky Charts).
Planets at sunset and sunrise of a single night starting with sunset on the right on August 3, 2016. The night ends on the left with sunrise on August 4. Actually all the naked eye planets are in the evening sky. If you are using Firefox right-click on the image and select View Image to enlarge the image. That goes for all the large images. Created using my LookingUp program.
