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07/16/2013 – Ephemeris – The red giant star Antares
Ephemeris for Tuesday, July 16th. Today the sun will be up for 15 hours and 11 minutes, setting at 9:23. The moon, 1 day past first quarter, will set at 1:24 tomorrow morning. Tomorrow the sun will rise at 6:13.
Low in the south is the red giant star Antares. It lies at the heart of Scorpius the scorpion. Its name means Rival of Mars, because it has the same hue as the red planet. In Mars case the color comes from iron oxide, rust. In Antares case it has a cool surface temperature, relatively speaking of 5,700 degrees Fahrenheit. As a red giant star Antares is near the end of its life, though for a star Antares is young, possibly 12 million years old. That that age the sun was just getting started. But Antares with around 15 to 17 the sun’s mass has already run out of fusible hydrogen in its core and bloated out to over Mars orbit in size. Antares is 450 light years away and has a companion star in its system that looks greenish in contrast to Antares red. However when Antares A, the red giant’s light is blocked, the companion looks bluish.
Times are for the Traverse City/Interlochen area of Michigan. They may be different for your location.
Addendum
The constellation Scorpius and the star Antares. Created using Stellarium.
07/09/2013 – Ephemeris – Thank goodness this is as close as scorpions get to northern Michigan
Ephemeris for Tuesday, July 9th. Today the sun will be up for 15 hours and 21 minutes, setting at 9:28. The moon, 1 day past new, will set at 9:58 this evening. Tomorrow the sun will rise at 6:07.
Crawling just above the southern horizon at 11 p.m. is the zodiacal constellation of Scorpius the scorpion. His heart is the red giant star Antares. Its facing the west or right with a short arc of three stars as its head. His body and tail drop to the left and scrape the horizon before curving up to the critter’s poisonous stinger of two stars. It really makes a great scorpion. One story of the scorpion concerns Orion the hunter the great winter constellation. In that story Orion was killed by the sting of a scorpion. Therefore Orion and Scorpius are never seen in the sky at the same time. That is certainly true around here and for the Greeks, whose legend it is. However if one travels far enough south that is no longer true.
Times are for the Traverse City/Interlochen area of Michigan. They may be different for your location.
Addendum
Scorpius at 11 p.m. on July 9, 2013. Credit Stellarium. I don’t agree with the artist’s drawing of the scorpion. To me it’s larger. The arc of three stars in the drawing’s right claw to me is its head and start of the claw appendages. I’ve added two star names from the constellation of Libra to the right. The Arabic translation of Zubeneschamali and Zubenelgenubi is North Claw and South Claw respectively. At one time Scorpius was larger than it is depicted today. Click on the image to enlarge.
07/17/2012 – Ephemeris – Scorpius and Orion
Ephemeris for Tuesday, July 17th. Today the sun will be up for 15 hours and 9 minutes, setting at 9:22. The moon, 2 days before new, will rise at 5:50 tomorrow morning. Tomorrow the sun will rise at 6:14.
Crawling just above the southern horizon at 11 p.m. is the zodiacal constellation of Scorpius the scorpion. His heart is the red giant star Antares. Its facing the west or right with a short arc of three stars as its head. His body and tail drop to the left and scrape the horizon before curving up to the critter’s poisonous stinger of two stars. One story of the scorpion concerns Orion the hunter the great winter constellation. In that story Orion was supposedly killed by the sting of a scorpion. Therefore Orion and Scorpius are never seen in the sky at the same time. That is certainly true around here and for the Greeks, whose legend it is. However if one travels far enough south that is no longer true.
Times are for the Traverse City/Interlochen area of Michigan. They may be different for your location.
Addendum
The constellation Scorpius at 10:30 p.m. on July 17, 2012. Created using Stellarium.
07/09/2012 – Ephemeris – The constellation of Scorpius the scorpion
Ephemeris for Monday, July 9th. Today the sun will be up for 15 hours and 21 minutes, setting at 9:28. The moon, 1 day before last quarter, will rise at 12:23 tomorrow morning. Tomorrow the sun will rise at 6:07.
There’s a large constellation located low in the south at about about 11 tonight. It’s Scorpius the scorpion. Its brightest star is Antares in its heart, a red giant star, that I get calls about from time to time as being a UFO. It’s due south at 11 this evening. From Antares to the right is a star then a vertical arc of three stars that is its head. The Scorpion’s tail is a line of stars running down to the left of Antares swooping to the horizon before coming back up and ending in a pair of stars that portray his poisonous stinger. There is a beautiful star cluster seen in binoculars at that first bend in the tail that is unfortunately too low to appreciate from this far north. I was very impressed with it when spotting it from the Florida Keys.
Times are for the Traverse City/Interlochen area of Michigan. They may be different for your location.
Addendum
The constellation Scorpius at 11 p.m. on July 9, 2012. Created using Stellarium.
In the Traverse City area the bottom stars just barely clear the horizon. farther north the constellation will not fully rise above the southern horizon.
The star cluster mentioned is near the star closest to the south compass point in the view above.
NGC6231 – a great binocular star cluster visible from south of Michigan. Created using Stellarium.
In this view there is a hint of ever more stars visible in a small telescope. This recreation doesn’t do it justice.
02/13/2012 – Ephemeris – Orion and Scorpius
Ephemeris for Monday, February 13th. The sun will rise at 7:46. It’ll be up for 10 hours and 21 minutes, setting at 6:07. The moon, 1 day before last quarter, will rise at 1:34 tomorrow morning.
The most prominent constellation of the winter sky is Orion, and is most astronomer’s favorite. It seems odd that such a minor personage of Greek myth would have such a prominent constellation named for him. He is even mentioned twice in the book of Job, though in the the original Hebrew the word for Orion means fool. And that pretty much sums Orion’s life up. A luckless fool. One of several contradictory stories of his death has Orion dying of a Scorpion sting. And when placing Orion in the heavens the gods made sure that Orion and Scorpius are never in the sky at the same time. This however doesn’t work in the southern hemisphere. Orion can be found in the south at 9 p.m. an upright rectangle of bright stars framing the three stars as his belt.
* Times are for the Traverse City/Interlochen area of Michigan. They may be different for your location.
Addendum
Orion upright and due south. Created using Stellarium.
08/18/11 – Ephemeris – The constellation of Scorpius the scorpion
Thursday, August 18th. The sun rises at 6:48. It’ll be up for 13 hours and 55 minutes, setting at 8:43. The moon, 3 days before last quarter, will rise at 10:25 this evening.
There’s a large constellation located low in the south as it starts to get dark about 10 tonight It’s Scorpius the scorpion. Its brightest star is Antares in its heart, a red giant star, that I get calls about from time to time as being a UFO. From Antares to the right is a star then a vertical arc of three stars that is its head. The Scorpion’s tail is a line of stars running down to the left of Antares swooping to the horizon before coming back up and ending in a pair of stars that portray his poisonous stinger. Scorpius looks huge lying on the southern horizon. But if you go south Scorpius will be higher in the sky, and will look smaller. Being close to the horizon from here, Scorpius shares with the rising and setting sun and moon the illusion of increased size.
* Times are for the Traverse City/Interlochen area of Michigan. They may be different for your location.
Addendum
Scorpius at 10 p.m. tonight from near 45 degrees north. Created using Stellarium.
Bob Moler's Ephemeris Blog 