Archive
08/29/2013 – Ephemeris – Previewing September Skies
Ephemeris for Friday, August 30th. The sun will rise at 7:02. It’ll be up for 13 hours and 19 minutes, setting at 8:22. The moon, 2 days past last quarter, will rise at 2:25 tomorrow morning.
Let’s look at the skies for the month of September. The sun will moving at its greatest speed in its retreat to the south. Daylight hours in the Interlochen/Traverse City area and will drop from 13 hours and 13 minutes Sunday to 11 hours 44 minutes on the 30th. The altitude of the sun above the southern horizon at local noon will be 54 degrees Sunday, and will descend to 42 degrees on the 30th. The season of summer is getting short, so enjoy it while you can. Summer ends and autumn begins at 4:44 p.m. on September 22nd. On the 18th Saturn will be overtaken by Venus as Venus increases its separation from the Sun and Saturn moves around toward the sun. We’ll soon lose Saturn in its glare.
Times are for the Traverse City/Interlochen area of Michigan. They may be different for your location.
Addendum
Star chart for September 15, 2013 at 10 p.m. Created using my program LookingUp.
The constellation abbreviations, names and bright star names are found here.
- The arrow from the pointer stars of the Big Dipper to Polaris the North Star, near the north celestial pole.
- Follow the arc of the handle of the Big Dipper to Arcturus.
- A Leaky Dipper drips on Leo
- The Summer Triangle (in red)
08/29/2013 – Ephemeris – Midwest Space Fest coming in October
Ephemeris for Thursday, August 29th. The sun will rise at 7:01. It’ll be up for 13 hours and 22 minutes, setting at 8:23. The moon, 1 day past last quarter, will rise at 1:33 tomorrow morning.
The first weekend of October Traverse City will play host to the Midwest Space Fest, a celebration of astronomy and space. Venues include the State Theater, The ECCO Event Space and the Open Space. The keynote speaker is the world-renowned astronomer Alex Fillipenko, seen on many science TV programs like the Universe. He’ll talk about a hot topic: Dark Energy and the Runaway Universe. Events kick off Friday evening at the State Theater for a film and star talks explaining the starry ceiling of the theater. This will be followed by a launch party or a star party at the Rogers Observatory. Saturday is Dr. Fillipenko’s talk and observing the sun and stars at the open space. There’s more information at www.magnorth.org.
Times are for the Traverse City/Interlochen area of Michigan. They may be different for your location.
Addendum
Midwest Space Fest card
08/28/2013 – Ephemeris – Where are the bright planets this week?
Ephemeris for Wednesday, August 28th. The sun will rise at 7:00. It’ll be up for 13 hours and 25 minutes, setting at 8:25. The moon, at last quarter today, will rise at 12:45 tomorrow morning.
Lets check out the planets visible now. Venus is now brilliant low in the western sky in evening twilight, It will set at 9:47 p.m. Holding forth in the west southwest will be Saturn this evening, the brightest star-like object in the constellation Virgo appearing yellowish. Venus is gaining on it and will cross paths on September 18th. Saturn will set at 10:50 p.m. In the morning sky before twilight starts Jupiter will rise at 2:29 in the east northeast, with Mars rising later at 3:52. At about 5 a.m. Jupiter will be the brightest star-like object in the east northeast, with Mars barely visible below and left by a bit less than two widths of your fist held at arm’s length. Castor and Pollux of Gemini point down to it.
Times are for the Traverse City/Interlochen area of Michigan. They may be different for your location.
Addendum
Venus and Saturn at 9:15 p.m. August 28, 2013. Created using Stellarium.
Jupiter, Mars and the Moon at 6 a.m. on August 29, 2013. Created using Stellarium.
The actual phase of the Moon at 6 a.m. on August 29, 2013. Created using Stellarium.
08/27/2013 -Ephemeris – It’s August 27th. Do you know where Mars is?
Ephemeris for Tuesday, August 27th. The sun will rise at 6:59. It’ll be up for 13 hours and 28 minutes, setting at 8:27. The moon, 1 day before last quarter, will rise at 12:01 tomorrow morning.
It’s August 27th. Do you know where Mars is? The Mars hoax is back. It’s been 10 years since it was first sent out on the Internet as an email. You know the one that says Mars will appear as big as the Moon? In order to appear as big as the Moon Mars would have to be only a half million miles away. Mars in its orbit can never come closer than 34.6 million miles from earth. It came that close to the earth on August 27th, 2003. Even then it was a tiny orb in telescopes. That’s why we have to send spacecraft, taking many months to reach it to get a close look at it. Right now Mars is 214.9 million miles away, over twice the distance of the sun. It is seen in the east in the early morning below the much brighter Jupiter.
Times are for the Traverse City/Interlochen area of Michigan. They may be different for your location.
Addendum
Mars and Earth relative positions for August 27, 2013. Orbits are to scale, however object sizes are greatly exaggerated. Created using my LookingUp program.
08/26/2013 – Ephemeris – The constellation of Delphinus the dolphin
Ephemeris for Monday, August 26th. The sun rises at 6:58. It’ll be up for 13 hours and 30 minutes, setting at 8:29. The moon, 2 days before last quarter, will rise at 11:22 this evening.
With Nova Delphinus in our skies let’s take a look at this celestial dolphin. Located below the eastern edge of the Summer Triangle of three of the brightest stars in the sky, which is overhead in our sky at 10 p.m., is the tiny constellation of Delphinus the dolphin. Delphinus’ 6 stars in a small parallelogram with a tail, really does look like a dolphin leaping out of the water. The parallelogram itself has the name Job’s Coffin. The origin of this asterism or informal constellation is unknown. Of the dolphin itself: the ancient Greeks appreciated this aquatic mammal as we do, and told stories of dolphins rescuing shipwrecked sailors. The nova can be spotted in binoculars using the chart at http://www.skyandtelescope.com or below.
Times are for the Traverse City/Interlochen area of Michigan. They may be different for your location.
Addendum
My finder chart for Nova Delphinus 2013. Created using Carte du Ceil (Sky Charts)
The dot for the Nova will show it brighter than it is. It should be fading now.
08/23/2013 – Ephemeris – Sidewalk astronomy at Friday Night Live tonight
Ephemeris for Friday, August 23rd. The sun rises at 6:54. It’ll be up for 13 hours and 39 minutes, setting at 8:34. The moon, 3 days past full, will rise at 9:42 this evening.
Tonight the Grand Traverse Astronomical Society will be down on Front Street in Traverse City for the last Friday Night Live of the year. The society sets up in front of Orvis Streamside, just west of the State Theater. The society will be setting up telescopes to view the sun. The society usually stays out until 10 pm or so to view Saturn and tonight possibly the moon. This will wrap up a busy August and summer for the society which saw 17 events since June, and 8 this month alone. The fun isn’t over. The society has five next month, including the Sleeping Bear Dunes at the Dune Climb, the Leland Heritage Celebration at Fish Town and the Acme Fall Festival. We end up October 21st, celebrating the 43rd anniversary of the Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore.
Times are for the Traverse City/Interlochen area of Michigan. They may be different for your location.
Addendum
The Sun in hydrogen alpha light through the Society’s solar telescope.
Looking at the Moon. Friday Night Live after hours.
08/22/2013 – Ephemeris – A new mission to the moon starts next month
Thursday, August 22nd. The sun rises at 6:53. It’ll be up for 13 hours and 42 minutes, setting at 8:36. The moon, 2 days past full, will rise at 9:11 this evening.
Though we all know that the moon is airless, surrounded by a better vacuum that we can pump down on the earth. Nonetheless the moon has a tenuous atmosphere of gas and dust. Next month NASA has scheduled the launch of another unmanned spacecraft to the moon. This one is LADEE, an acronym for Lunar Atmosphere and Dust Environment Explorer. It will take 30 days to reach the moon and will measure the dust and tenuous atmosphere of the moon. It will looking for the high altitude glows seen by the Apollo astronauts above the moon. There is also a demonstration laser communication system, at least six times faster than current radio technology.
Times are for the Traverse City/Interlochen area of Michigan. They may be different for your location.
Addendum
Artist’s depiction of LADEE in orbit of the Moon. Credit: NASA Ames / Dana Berry.
08/21/2013 – Ephemeris – Where are the bright planets this week?
Ephemeris for Wednesday, August 21st. The sun rises at 6:52. It’ll be up for 13 hours and 45 minutes, setting at 8:37. The moon, 1 day past full, will rise at 8:40 this evening.
Lets check out the planets visible now. Venus is now brilliant low in the western sky in evening twilight, It will set at 9:59 p.m. Holding forth in the west southwest will be Saturn this evening, the brightest star-like object in the constellation Virgo appearing yellowish to the left and above the extremely blue-white star Spica. It will set at 11:17 p.m. In the morning sky before twilight starts Jupiter will rise at 2:50 in the east northeast, with Mars rising a bit more than an hour later at 3:56. At about 5 a.m. Jupiter will be the brightest star-like object in the east northeast, with Mars barely visible below and left by about one and a half the width of your fist held at arm’s length. Castor and Pollux of Gemini point down to it.
Times are for the Traverse City/Interlochen area of Michigan. They may be different for your location.
Addendum
Venus and Saturn at 9:30 p.m. on August 21, 2013. Created using Stellarium.
Jupiter and Mars with the rising winter constellations at 5:30 a.m. on August 22, 2013. Created using Stellarium.
08/20/2013 – Ephemeris – A “new” star in Delphinus
Ephemeris for Tuesday, August 20th. The sun rises at 6:51. It’ll be up for 13 hours and 48 minutes, setting at 8:39. The moon, at full today, will rise at 8:07 this evening.
There’s a new nova visible to the unaided eye, well just barely, if the moon wasn’t out. “New nova” is kind of redundant because Nova is Latin for new, The entire Latin term is Nova Stellum or new star. It isn’t really a new star, but one that brightened catastrophically, siphoning gas off a companion red giant star. At least that’s what we think. Detailed analysis will come later. It’s informal name is Nova Delphinus, which lies between the tiny constellation of Delphinus the dolphin and Sagitta the arrow in and near the Summer Triangle. http://www.skyandtelescope.com has a finder chart. It’s best to use binoculars to locate it. The Arrow points right to it, while the two stars that cross the body of the dolphin also point to it. Novae are unusual, but not rare.
Times are for the Traverse City/Interlochen area of Michigan. They may be different for your location.
Addendum
My finder chart for Nova Dephinus 2013. Created using Cartes du Ceil (Sky Charts)
The Summer Triangle with Delphinus and Sagitta. Created using Stellarium and The Gimp.
08/19/2013 – Ephemeris – Comet ISON, final approach!
Ephemeris for Monday, August 19th. The sun rises at 6:50. It’ll be up for 13 hours and 51 minutes, setting at 8:41. The moon, 1 day before full, will set at 6:22 tomorrow morning.
Comet ISON is beginning to become visible from the earth after spending a few month’s behind the sun. It has shown earlier this year that it had not been brightening as predicted, but soon will be visible for better measurements. Tomorrow it the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter will take its first image of ISON. The Curiosity and Opportunity rovers will also soon take photo’s of Comet ISON in the martian sky. When ISON becomes visible from Mercury, the MESSENGER spacecraft orbiting Mercury will get its chance. All available instruments on earth and deployed in the solar system will track the comet to see how it evolves and to see if it will survive its brush with the sun’s corona to become a bright autumn comet.
Times are for the Traverse City/Interlochen area of Michigan. They may be different for your location.
Addendum
Hubble Space Telescope image of Comet ISON against a field of distant galaxies, April 30, 2013. Credit NASA.
Bob Moler's Ephemeris Blog 