Bob Moler's Ephemeris Blog

This is Ephemeris for Indigenous Peoples Day, Monday, October 9th. Today the Sun will be up for 11 hours and 18 minutes, setting at 7:09, and it will rise tomorrow at 7:51. The Moon, 3 days past last quarter, will rise at 3:26 tomorrow morning.

Today, the second Monday in October, is, by many, celebrated as Indigenous Peoples Day alongside of, or instead of Columbus Day. It’s funny that with all the memorials to Columbus in the United States, Columbus himself had never set foot onto what would become the United States or even North America for that matter. On his first voyage to what had later been called the New World, Columbus was clearly lost, thinking he was at the islands off the coast of India, so he called the inhabitants Indians, where they retain that confusing title to this day. Maybe we should change the name of North America to what the indigenous peoples call it: Turtle Island.

The astronomical event times given are for the Traverse City/Interlochen area of Michigan (EDT, UT –4 hours). They may be different for your location.

Addendum