03/31/2017 – Ephemeris – Previewing April Skies

Ephemeris for Friday, March 31st.  The Sun will rise at 7:24.  It’ll be up for 12 hours and 44 minutes, setting at 8:09.  The Moon, 3 days before first quarter, will set at 12:35 tomorrow morning.

The second quarter of the year begins with April Fools Day tomorrow.  Daylight hours in the Interlochen/Traverse City area and will increase from 12 hours and 47 minutes tomorrow to 14 hours 12 minutes on April 30th as spring really takes hold.  The altitude, or angle, of the sun above the southern horizon at local noon will be 50 degrees tomorrow and will ascend to 60 degrees on April 30th.  The altitude of the sun in the Straits area will be a degree lower.  The actual time of local apparent noon this month for the Interlochen/Traverse City area, when the sun passes due south, will be about 1:43 p.m.  Jupiter will reach opposition from the Sun this month, and be a great planet to view in a telescope all night long.

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

Addenda

April Evening Star Chart

Star Chart for April 2017. Created using my LookingUp program. Click on image to enlarge.

The planets and stars are plotted for the 15th at 10 p.m. EDT in the evening and 5 a.m. for the morning chart.  These are the chart times.  Note, Traverse City is located approximately 45 minutes behind our time meridian.  (An hour 45 minutes behind our daylight saving time meridian. during EDT and 45 minutes behind our daylight standard time meridian. during EST).  To duplicate the star positions on a planisphere you may have to set it to 1:45 or 0:45  earlier than the current time if you were near your time meridian.

April Morning Chart

Star Chart for April 2017 mornings. Created using my LookingUp program. Click on image to enlarge.

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
• Follow the arc of the handle of the Big Dipper to the star Arcturus, and
• Straighten to a spike to Spica
• The Summer Triangle is in red
• The Lyrid meteor shower radiant is in yellow and marked LyrR

Evening nautical twilight ends at 9:17 p.m. EDT on the 1st, increasing to 10:01 p.m. EDT on the 30th.
Evening astronomical twilight ends at 9:54 p.m. EDT on the 1st, increasing to 10:45 p.m. EDT on the 30th.
Morning astronomical twilight starts at 5:46 a.m. EDT on the 1st, and increasing to 4:42 a.m. EDT on the 30th.
Morning nautical twilight starts at 6:23 a.m. EDT on the 1st, and Increasing to 5:26 a.m. EDT on the 30th.

NASA Calendar of Planetary Events

Credit:  Sky Events Calendar by Fred Espenak and Sumit Dutta (NASA’s GSFC)

To generate your own calendar go to http://eclipse.gsfc.nasa.gov/SKYCAL/SKYCAL.html

Times are Eastern Time and follow the time change dates.

Date        Time    Event
Apr 01  Sa  Venus: 13.4° W
    01  Sa 04:49 Moon-Aldebaran: 0.3° S
    01  Sa 05:59 Mercury Greatest Eastern Elongation: 19°
    03  Mo 02:12 Moon North Dec.: 19° N
    03  Mo 14:39 First Quarter
    05  We 08:45 Moon-Beehive: 4° N
    07  Fr 00:30 Moon-Regulus: 0.8° N
    07  Fr 05:14 Moon Ascending Node
    07  Fr 16:58 Jupiter Opposition from the Sun
    10  Mo 17:20 Moon-Jupiter: 2.4° S
    11  Tu 02:08 Full Moon
    14  Fr 01:43 Uranus Conjunction with the Sun
    15  Sa 06:05 Moon Apogee: 405500 km
    16  Su 14:39 Moon-Saturn: 3.6° S
    17  Mo 09:12 Moon South Dec.: 19.1° S
    19  We 05:57 Last Quarter
    20  Th 01:46 Mercury Inferior Conjunction with the Sun
    21  Fr 04:16 Mars-Pleiades: 3.5° S
    21  Fr 18:30 Moon Descending Node
    22  Sa 07:40 Lyrid Meteor Shower: ZHR = 20
    23  Su 13:59 Moon-Venus: 5.3° N
    26  We 08:16 New Moon
    27  Th 12:18 Moon Perigee: 359300 km
    28  Fr 13:20 Moon-Aldebaran: 0.5° S
    30  Su 09:33 Moon North Dec.: 19.2° N
May 01  Mo  Venus: 39.9° W

April 2017 Calendar

     LU                  Ephemeris of Sky Events for Interlochen/TC
April, 2017    Local time zone: EDT
+-----------------------------------------------------------------------+
| DATE |  SUN     SUN  DAYLIGHT|   TWILIGHT*    |MOON  RISE OR    ILLUM |
|      |  RISE    SET    HOURS |  END    START  |PHASE SET** TIME FRACTN|
+=======================================================================+
|Sat  1| 07:23a  08:10p  12:47 | 09:15p  06:18a |      Set  01:43a   30%|
+------+-----------------------+----------------+-----------------------+
|Sun  2| 07:21a  08:12p  12:50 | 09:16p  06:16a |      Set  02:44a   41%|
|Mon  3| 07:19a  08:13p  12:53 | 09:18p  06:14a |F Qtr Set  03:38a   53%|
|Tue  4| 07:17a  08:14p  12:56 | 09:19p  06:12a |      Set  04:25a   63%|
|Wed  5| 07:15a  08:15p  12:59 | 09:21p  06:10a |      Set  05:05a   74%|
|Thu  6| 07:14a  08:17p  13:02 | 09:22p  06:08a |      Set  05:40a   82%|
|Fri  7| 07:12a  08:18p  13:06 | 09:24p  06:06a |      Set  06:11a   90%|
|Sat  8| 07:10a  08:19p  13:09 | 09:25p  06:04a |      Set  06:40a   95%|
+------+-----------------------+----------------+-----------------------+
|Sun  9| 07:08a  08:20p  13:12 | 09:27p  06:02a |      Set  07:08a   98%|
|Mon 10| 07:06a  08:21p  13:15 | 09:28p  06:00a |      Set  07:36a  100%|
|Tue 11| 07:05a  08:23p  13:18 | 09:29p  05:58a |Full  Rise 08:54p   99%|
|Wed 12| 07:03a  08:24p  13:21 | 09:31p  05:56a |      Rise 09:54p   97%|
|Thu 13| 07:01a  08:25p  13:24 | 09:32p  05:54a |      Rise 10:52p   93%|
|Fri 14| 06:59a  08:26p  13:27 | 09:34p  05:52a |      Rise 11:49p   87%|
|Sat 15| 06:58a  08:28p  13:30 | 09:35p  05:50a |      Rise 12:43a   80%|
+------+-----------------------+----------------+-----------------------+
|Sun 16| 06:56a  08:29p  13:33 | 09:37p  05:48a |      Rise 01:34a   72%|
|Mon 17| 06:54a  08:30p  13:36 | 09:38p  05:46a |      Rise 02:22a   64%|
|Tue 18| 06:52a  08:31p  13:39 | 09:40p  05:44a |      Rise 03:05a   54%|
|Wed 19| 06:51a  08:33p  13:41 | 09:41p  05:42a |L Qtr Rise 03:45a   44%|
|Thu 20| 06:49a  08:34p  13:44 | 09:43p  05:40a |      Rise 04:21a   34%|
|Fri 21| 06:47a  08:35p  13:47 | 09:44p  05:39a |      Rise 04:55a   25%|
|Sat 22| 06:46a  08:36p  13:50 | 09:46p  05:37a |      Rise 05:27a   16%|
+------+-----------------------+----------------+-----------------------+
|Sun 23| 06:44a  08:38p  13:53 | 09:48p  05:35a |      Rise 05:59a    9%|
|Mon 24| 06:43a  08:39p  13:56 | 09:49p  05:33a |      Rise 06:33a    3%|
|Tue 25| 06:41a  08:40p  13:59 | 09:51p  05:31a |      Rise 07:08a    1%|
|Wed 26| 06:39a  08:41p  14:01 | 09:52p  05:29a |New   Set  09:01p    1%|
|Thu 27| 06:38a  08:43p  14:04 | 09:54p  05:27a |      Set  10:16p    4%|
|Fri 28| 06:36a  08:44p  14:07 | 09:55p  05:25a |      Set  11:29p    9%|
|Sat 29| 06:35a  08:45p  14:10 | 09:57p  05:23a |      Set  12:35a   17%|
+------+-----------------------+----------------+-----------------------+
|Sun 30| 06:33a  08:46p  14:13 | 09:58p  05:22a |      Set  01:34a   27%|
+-----------------------------------------------------------------------+
* Nautical Twilight
** Moonrise or moonset, whichever occurs between sunset and sunrise