02/24/2017 – Ephemeris – Winter star party at the Sleeping Near Dunes tomorrow night
Ephemeris for Friday, February 24th. The Sun will rise at 7:27. It’ll be up for 10 hours and 56 minutes, setting at 6:23. The Moon, 2 days before new, will rise at 6:53 tomorrow morning.
Tomorrow night the Grand Traverse Astronomical Society and the Rangers of the Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore will hold a star party at the Dune Climb parking lot from 7 to 9 p.m. but only if it is clear. Last Saturday night it happened to be clear, so I went out there to do some photography of the heavens, and the sky was spectacular with the brilliant constellation Orion dominating the southern sky. Its great star forming region, the Great Orion Nebula displaying its bright heart and wispy outer tendrils of gas and dust heading away from that nest of bright baby stars that are illuminating it. Venus is a shining beacon in the west until it sets into the dune. We might even be able to spot the faint Zodiacal Light in the west.
Times are for the Traverse City/Interlochen area of Michigan. They may be different for your location.
Addendum
Orion in a 30 second exposure taken at the Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore Dune Climb February, 18, 2017 by Bob Moler. Click on image to enlarge a bit.
Area of the sky from the Hyades and Pleiades on the left to the Double Cluster on the right. While processing the image for this post I discovered two possible meteor trails on the left and below center. A 2 minute exposure taken at the Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore Dune Climb February, 18, 2017 by Bob Moler. Click on image to enlarge and see all the deep sky goodies in it..
Bob Moler's Ephemeris Blog 
Both are great pictures. I like the double cluster one the best. What type of camera?
Here’s the specs on the photographs
For both images:
Camera: Canon EOS REBEL T5
f/3.5
focal length 18mm
ISO 3200
Orion Photo:
800 x 905 (Reduced and cropped from 3454 x 5184 pixels)
80 second exposure, tracking
Taken February 18, 2017 8:53 p.m. EST
Processed in GIMP to increase contrast
Pleiades to Double Cluster photo
2000 x 1333 pixels (Reduced from 5184 x 3454 pixels)
121 second exposure, tracking
Taken February 18, 2017 9:33 p.m. EST
Processed in GIMP to increase contrast
Contains two meteor trails
The fact the sky of the lower left of the image is brighter than the upper right is probably due to zodiacal light. The direction of the photograph is approximately due west. The largest city west of the Dune Climb is 60 miles away, Sturgeon Bay, WI. The center of the image is approximately 50 degrees altitude.