Ephemeris: 04/30/2024 – Previewing May Skies
This is Ephemeris for Tuesday, April 30th. Today the Sun will be up for 14 hours and 13 minutes, setting at 8:47, and it will rise tomorrow at 6:31. The Moon, 1 day before last quarter, will rise at 3:34 tomorrow morning.
The merry month of May starts tomorrow. Daylight hours in the Interlochen/Traverse City area will increase from 14 hours and 16 minutes tomorrow to 15 hours 20 minutes on the 31st. The altitude, or angle, of the Sun above the southern horizon at local noon will ascend from 60 degrees tomorrow to 67 degrees at month’s end. The altitude of the Sun in the Straits area will be a degree lower than that, but the daylight hours will be a few minutes longer. The evening sky in May is devoid of the Milky Way which nearly rings the horizon, so during this time we are looking out the thin side of the Milky Way towards intergalactic space. There is the Virgo cluster of galaxies, some of which are visible in decent size amateur telescopes.
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
May Evening Star Chart
The planets and stars are plotted for the 15th at 11 p.m. EDT in the evening and 4 a.m. for the morning chart. These are the chart times. Note that Traverse City is located approximately 45 minutes behind our time meridian, West 75° longitude. (An hour 45 minutes behind our daylight saving time meridian during EDT). To duplicate the star positions on a planisphere you may have to set it to 1 hour 45 minutes earlier than the current time.
Note, the chart times of 11 p.m. and 4 a.m. are for the 15th. For each week before the 15th, add ½ hour (28 minutes if you’re picky). For each week after the 15th, subtract ½ hour or 28 minutes. The planet positions are updated each Wednesday on this blog. For planet positions on dates other than the 15th, check the Wednesday planet posts on this blog for weekly positions.
May Morning Star Chart
For a list of constellation names to go with the abbreviations, click here.
- Pointer stars at the front of the bowl of the Big Dipper point to Polaris, the North Star.
- Leaky dipper drips on Leo
- Follow the arc of the handle of the Big Dipper to the star Arcturus, and
- Extend like a spike to Spica,
- EaqR is the radiant of the Eta Aquariid meteor shower that peaks on the 5th.
Twilight Limits, Nautical and Astronomical
| EDT | |||||||
| Morning | Twilight | Evening | Twilight | Dark | Night | Moon | |
| Date | Astro. | Nautical | Nautical | Astro. | Start | End | Illum. |
| 2024-05-01 | 4h36m | 5h20m | 22h03m | 22h47m | 22h47m | 3h34m | 0.42 |
| 2024-05-02 | 4h34m | 5h19m | 22h04m | 22h49m | 22h49m | 4h03m | 0.31 |
| 2024-05-03 | 4h32m | 5h17m | 22h06m | 22h51m | 22h51m | 4h27m | 0.21 |
| 2024-05-04 | 4h29m | 5h15m | 22h08m | 22h53m | 22h53m | 4h29m | 0.12 |
| 2024-05-05 | 4h27m | 5h13m | 22h09m | 22h55m | 22h55m | 4h27m | 0.05 |
| 2024-05-06 | 4h25m | 5h12m | 22h11m | 22h57m | 22h57m | 4h25m | 0.01 |
| 2024-05-07 | 4h23m | 5h10m | 22h12m | 22h59m | 22h59m | 4h23m | 0.00 |
| 2024-05-08 | 4h21m | 5h08m | 22h14m | 23h01m | 23h01m | 4h21m | 0.02 |
| 2024-05-09 | 4h19m | 5h07m | 22h15m | 23h03m | 23h30m | 4h19m | 0.06 |
| 2024-05-10 | 4h17m | 5h05m | 22h17m | 23h05m | – | 4h17m | 0.12 |
| 2024-05-11 | 4h15m | 5h04m | 22h18m | 23h07m | 0h38m | 4h15m | 0.20 |
| 2024-05-12 | 4h13m | 5h02m | 22h20m | 23h09m | 1h32m | 4h13m | 0.28 |
| 2024-05-13 | 4h11m | 5h01m | 22h21m | 23h11m | 2h13m | 4h11m | 0.38 |
| 2024-05-14 | 4h09m | 4h59m | 22h23m | 23h13m | 2h44m | 4h09m | 0.47 |
| 2024-05-15 | 4h07m | 4h58m | 22h24m | 23h15m | 3h09m | 4h07m | 0.57 |
| 2024-05-16 | 4h05m | 4h56m | 22h26m | 23h17m | 3h28m | 4h05m | 0.66 |
| 2024-05-17 | 4h03m | 4h55m | 22h27m | 23h19m | 3h46m | 4h03m | 0.75 |
| 2024-05-18 | 4h01m | 4h53m | 22h29m | 23h21m | – | – | 0.82 |
| 2024-05-19 | 3h59m | 4h52m | 22h30m | 23h23m | – | – | 0.89 |
| 2024-05-20 | 3h58m | 4h51m | 22h32m | 23h25m | – | – | 0.94 |
| 2024-05-21 | 3h56m | 4h49m | 22h33m | 23h27m | – | – | 0.98 |
| 2024-05-22 | 3h54m | 4h48m | 22h35m | 23h29m | – | – | 1.00 |
| 2024-05-23 | 3h52m | 4h47m | 22h36m | 23h31m | – | – | 1.00 |
| 2024-05-24 | 3h51m | 4h46m | 22h37m | 23h32m | – | – | 0.97 |
| 2024-05-25 | 3h49m | 4h45m | 22h39m | 23h34m | 23h34m | – | 0.92 |
| 2024-05-26 | 3h47m | 4h44m | 22h40m | 23h36m | 23h36m | 0h07m | 0.86 |
| 2024-05-27 | 3h46m | 4h43m | 22h41m | 23h38m | 23h38m | 0h57m | 0.77 |
| 2024-05-28 | 3h44m | 4h42m | 22h43m | 23h40m | 23h40m | 1h36m | 0.67 |
| 2024-05-29 | 3h43m | 4h41m | 22h44m | 23h41m | 23h41m | 2h07m | 0.56 |
| 2024-05-30 | 3h42m | 4h40m | 22h45m | 23h43m | 23h43m | 2h31m | 0.45 |
| 2024-05-31 | 3h40m | 4h39m | 22h46m | 23h45m | 23h45m | 2h53m | 0.33 |
The twilight calendar was generated using Cartes du Ciel (Sky Charts), with some corrections.
See my blog post: Twilight Zone for the definitions of the different periods of twilight here: https://bobmoler.wordpress.com/2018/09/27/.
NASA Calendar of Planetary Events
May 1 We Venus: 9.2° W
1 We 7:27 am Last Quarter
3 Fr 6:26 pm Moon-Saturn: .8° N
4 Sa 3:58 pm Eta Aquarid Shower: ZHR = 60
4 Sa 10:26 pm Moon-Mars: .2° S
5 Su 5:54 pm Moon Ascending Node
5 Su 6:11 pm Moon Perigee: 363200 km
6 Mo 4:25 am Moon-Mercury: 3.8° S
7 Tu 11:22 pm New Moon
9 Th 4:59 pm Mercury Elongation: 26.4° W
11 Sa 3:45 am Moon North Dec.: 28.5° N
12 Su 6:17 pm Moon-Pollux: 1.7° N
13 Mo 6:45 am Uranus Conjunction
13 Mo 6:47 pm Moon-Beehive: 3.7° S
15 We 7:48 am First Quarter
17 Fr 3:00 pm Moon Apogee: 404600 km
18 Sa 2:02 pm Jupiter Conjunction
19 Su 12:35 pm Moon Descending Node
20 Mo 5:20 am Moon-Spica: 1.5° S
23 Th 9:53 am Full Moon
23 Th 10:31 pm Moon-Antares: .4° S
25 Sa 3:58 pm Moon South Dec.: 28.4° S
30 Th 1:13 pm Last Quarter
31 Fr 4:01 am Moon-Saturn: .4° N
Jun 1 Sa Venus: .9° W
Sky Events Calendar by Fred Espenak and Sumit Dutta (NASA’s GSFC),
http://eclipse.gsfc.nasa.gov/SKYCAL/SKYCAL.html.
Sun and Moon Rising and Setting Events
LU Ephemeris of Sky Events for Interlochen/TC
May, 2024 Local time zone: EDT
+-----------------------------------------------------------------------+
| DATE | SUN SUN DAYLIGHT| TWILIGHT* |MOON RISE OR ILLUM |
| | RISE SET HOURS | END START |PHASE SET** TIME FRACTN|
+=======================================================================+
|Wed 1| 06:31a 08:48p 14:16 | 10:00p 05:19a |L Qtr Rise 04:03a 44%|
|Thu 2| 06:30a 08:49p 14:19 | 10:02p 05:18a | Rise 04:27a 33%|
|Fri 3| 06:29a 08:50p 14:21 | 10:04p 05:16a | Rise 04:48a 22%|
|Sat 4| 06:27a 08:52p 14:24 | 10:05p 05:14a | Rise 05:08a 13%|
+------+-----------------------+----------------+-----------------------+
|Sun 5| 06:26a 08:53p 14:27 | 10:07p 05:12a | Rise 05:29a 6%|
|Mon 6| 06:24a 08:54p 14:29 | 10:08p 05:11a | Rise 05:53a 2%|
|Tue 7| 06:23a 08:55p 14:32 | 10:10p 05:09a |New Set 08:50p 0%|
|Wed 8| 06:22a 08:56p 14:34 | 10:11p 05:07a | Set 10:12p 1%|
|Thu 9| 06:21a 08:58p 14:37 | 10:13p 05:06a | Set 11:30p 5%|
|Fri 10| 06:19a 08:59p 14:39 | 10:15p 05:04a | Set 12:37a 10%|
|Sat 11| 06:18a 09:00p 14:41 | 10:16p 05:02a | Set 01:31a 18%|
+------+-----------------------+----------------+-----------------------+
|Sun 12| 06:17a 09:01p 14:44 | 10:18p 05:01a | Set 02:12a 26%|
|Mon 13| 06:16a 09:02p 14:46 | 10:19p 04:59a | Set 02:44a 36%|
|Tue 14| 06:15a 09:03p 14:48 | 10:21p 04:58a | Set 03:08a 45%|
|Wed 15| 06:13a 09:05p 14:51 | 10:22p 04:56a |F Qtr Set 03:28a 55%|
|Thu 16| 06:12a 09:06p 14:53 | 10:24p 04:55a | Set 03:45a 64%|
|Fri 17| 06:11a 09:07p 14:55 | 10:25p 04:53a | Set 04:01a 73%|
|Sat 18| 06:10a 09:08p 14:57 | 10:27p 04:52a | Set 04:17a 81%|
+------+-----------------------+----------------+-----------------------+
|Sun 19| 06:09a 09:09p 14:59 | 10:28p 04:51a | Set 04:33a 88%|
|Mon 20| 06:08a 09:10p 15:01 | 10:29p 04:49a | Set 04:52a 93%|
|Tue 21| 06:07a 09:11p 15:03 | 10:31p 04:48a | Set 05:14a 97%|
|Wed 22| 06:07a 09:12p 15:05 | 10:32p 04:47a | Set 05:42a 100%|
|Thu 23| 06:06a 09:13p 15:07 | 10:34p 04:46a |Full Rise 09:58p 100%|
|Fri 24| 06:05a 09:14p 15:09 | 10:35p 04:44a | Rise 11:06p 98%|
|Sat 25| 06:04a 09:15p 15:10 | 10:36p 04:43a | Rise 12:07a 93%|
+------+-----------------------+----------------+-----------------------+
|Sun 26| 06:03a 09:16p 15:12 | 10:38p 04:42a | Rise 12:57a 87%|
|Mon 27| 06:03a 09:17p 15:14 | 10:39p 04:41a | Rise 01:36a 79%|
|Tue 28| 06:02a 09:18p 15:15 | 10:40p 04:40a | Rise 02:06a 69%|
|Wed 29| 06:01a 09:19p 15:17 | 10:41p 04:39a | Rise 02:31a 58%|
|Thu 30| 06:01a 09:20p 15:18 | 10:43p 04:38a |L Qtr Rise 02:52a 47%|
|Fri 31| 06:00a 09:21p 15:20 | 10:44p 04:37a | Rise 03:12a 35%|
+-----------------------------------------------------------------------+
* Nautical Twilight
** Moonrise or moonset, whichever occurs between sunset and sunrise
Bob Moler's Ephemeris Blog 
