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07/29/11 – Ephemeris – Viewing night at Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore
Friday, July 29th. The sun rises at 6:25. It’ll be up for 14 hours and 46 minutes, setting at 9:11. The moon, 1 day before new, will rise at 6:20 tomorrow morning.
The Grand Traverse Astronomical Society will hold a viewing night in cooperation with the rangers of the Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore tomorrow night starting at 9 p.m. It will be held at stop 3, the Dunes Overlook on Pierce Stocking Drive. It’s best to park at Picnic Mountain and walk over. The short cul-de-sac running to he observation platform will be closed to preserve the darkness of the spot. The viewing will take place only if we’re not completely clouded up. On tap early will be the planet Saturn, which we’ll probably pick up around 9:45. We’ll then go for some of the brighter sky objects like binary stars, then fainter star clusters and nebulae in the summer Milky Way. Sleeping Bear is one of the top 10 darkest national parks.
* Times are for the Traverse City/Interlochen area of Michigan. They may be different for your location.
06/17/11 – Ephemeris – Viewing at the Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore
Friday, June 17th. Today the sun will be up for 15 hours and 33 minutes, setting at 9:30. The moon, 2 days past full, will rise at 11:02 this evening. Tomorrow the sun will rise at 5:56.
Tomorrow, that’s Saturday night the 18th, Grand Traverse Astronomical Society will host the first of five viewing nights at the Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore. This one will be held at Platte River Point, at the mouth of the Platte River. We’ll be setting up telescopes around 8:30. Sunset will be about 9:30 and we expect to see Saturn and the first stars about 10 to 10:15 p.m. We’ll be there up to midnight depending on the crowds, and clear skies. Our next viewing opportunity at the Dunes will be July 30th at the Dunes overlook, stop 3 on Pierce Stocking Drive. We’ll also have evenings in August at the Port Oneida Fair, September, and October for the Lakeshore’s 41st Anniversary.
* Times are for the Traverse City/Interlochen area of Michigan. They may be different for your location.
Note: Platte River Point can be googled for the location.
Bob Moler's Ephemeris Blog 