09/27/2016 – Ephemeris – The princess Pegasus helped save

Ephemeris for Tuesday, September 27th.  The Sun will rise at 7:36.  It’ll be up for 11 hours and 53 minutes, setting at 7:29.  The Moon, 3 days before new, will rise at 5:08 tomorrow morning.

In the east at 9 this evening can be found a large square of stars standing on one corner, the Great Square of Pegasus the flying horse.  What look like its hind legs stretching to the left from the left corner star is another constellation, Andromeda the chained princess.  She is seen in the sky as two diverging upward curving strings of three stars each.  She was rescued by the hero Perseus, a nearby constellation, riding Pegasus.  Andromeda’s claim to astronomical fame is the large galaxy seen with the unaided eye just above the upper line of stars, the Great Andromeda Galaxy, 2.5 million light years away.  To the unaided eye the galaxy appears as a small smudge of light.  In binoculars the galaxy is a delicate spindle of light.

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

Addendum

Andromeda, Pegasus and Perseus in the east. Created using Stellarium.

I added some constellation lines to Andromeda since yesterday to match the transcript and how I see her.  Looks like I have some work to do with Perseus, before I talk about him later on.  He doesn’t look like a chicken enough.  I’m going for laughs here.

Andromeda. Pegasus and Perseus in the east. Created using Stellarium, art by Johan Meuris.