07/03/2015 – Ephemeris – Astronomy in the Grand Traverse Region tonight

Ephemeris for Friday, July 3rd.  Today the Sun will be up for 15 hours and 29 minutes, setting at 9:31.   The Moon, 2 days past full, will rise at 10:33 this evening and tomorrow the Sun will rise at 6:02.

Dr. David Penney will investigate the structure of the Milky Way at this evening’s meeting of the Grand Traverse Astronomical Society at 8 p.m. at Northwestern Michigan College’s Rogers Observatory.  The Milky Way is the band of light we see in the sky especially on summer and winter evenings.  But it is more than a band of dim stars, it is what we can see of the huge disk of maybe 200 billion stars with an embedded pin wheel structure.  Everyone is welcome.  Also at 9 p.m. there will be a star party at the observatory.  The astronomical objects of the evening will be the planets Venus, Jupiter and Saturn and the Moon later in the evening.  The observatory is located south of Traverse City on Birmley Road.

Times are for the Traverse City/Interlochen area of Michigan. They may be different for your location.

Addendum

Dr. Penney has a Ph.D. in Physiology and Biochemistry, and is pretty much retired spending his time between Michigan in the summer and northern Florida in the winter, where he is a member of several astronomy clubs.  He gives many talks there also.