Archive
04/06/2012 – Ephemeris – Meteorites and a Star Party this weekend
Ephemeris for Good Friday, Friday, April 6th. The sun will rise at 7:13. It’ll be up for 13 hours and 3 minutes, setting at 8:16. The moon, at full today, will rise at 8:38 this evening.
The Grand Traverse Astronomical Society will meet tonight at 8 p.m. at the Northwestern Michigan College’s Rogers Observatory. Following will be a public star party featuring the moon, Venus, Jupiter, Mars and Saturn. This year the first viewing night of the month will come at the end of the society meeting at 9 o’clock. Come for both. From April to September there will be a second star party at the observatory, plus other star parties and other events in the area. The presenter for the meeting tonight will be member Joe Brooks. He will bring his extensive meteorite collection and talk about them and where they come from. The observatory is located on Birmley Road between Keystone and Garfield roads.
* Times are for the Traverse City/Interlochen area of Michigan. They may be different for your location.
03/02/2012 – Ephemeris – My talk tonight on Radio Astronomy
Ephemeris for Friday, March 2nd. The sun will rise at 7:17. It’ll be up for 11 hours and 14 minutes, setting at 6:32. The moon, 2 days past first quarter, will set at 4:02 tomorrow morning.
Radio astronomy will be the topic of yours truly this evening at the Grand Traverse Astronomical Society’s monthly meeting at 8 p.m. at Northwestern Michigan College’s Rogers Observatory. Prompted by my recent tour of the National Radio Astronomy Observatory in Green Bank West Virginia, I’ll overview this window on the universe that opened up after World War II. Starting at 9 p.m. will be the monthly viewing night at the observatory. On tap if its clear will be the moon and the planets Venus, Jupiter plus Mars at its closest this time around. The Observatory is located south of Traverse City on Birmley Road off either Garfield or Keystone roads.
* Times are for the Traverse City/Interlochen area of Michigan. They may be different for your location.
Addendum
The Green Bank Telescope (GBT) the largest steerable radio telescope in the world
This is located at the National Radio Astronomy Observatory (NRAO) in Green Bank, WV. I visited there last November.
09/09/11 – Ephemeris – Star party Saturday September 10th, 2011 at the Sleeping Bear Dunes
Friday, September 9th. The sun will rise at 7:14. It’ll be up for 12 hours and 50 minutes, setting at 8:04. The moon, 3 days before full, will set at 5:32 tomorrow morning.
Tomorrow is the Grand Traverse Astronomical Society’s 4th star party of 2011 at the Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore. This time we’ll be at the Dune Climb. The bottom, not the top, in or near the parking lot. We’ll have the bright moon early. We’ll be also looking at binary stars, star clusters and the Ring Nebula. Toward the end of the evening Jupiter will be high enough to view. The event will be canceled if it’s too cloudy. There will be another star party, this one to celebrate the Lakeshore’s 41st anniversary in October, so stay tuned for that one. So far we’ve had no outright cancellations, but two of the nights were hampered by clouds. Our one absolutely clear night cleared just after sunset, and after an earlier rain shower.
* Times are for the Traverse City/Interlochen area of Michigan. They may be different for your location.
Bob Moler's Ephemeris Blog 