01/05/2018 – Ephemeris – Telescope Clinic tonight (Has been canceled due to weather)

Ephemeris for Friday, January 5th. The Sun will rise at 8:19. It’ll be up for 8 hours and 56 minutes, setting at 5:16. The Moon, 3 days before last quarter, will rise at 9:56 this evening.

If you’ve received a telescope for Christmas and are having trouble setting it up, or have an unused one in a closet, basement or attic, bring them to Northwestern Michigan College’s Rogers Observatory tonight at 8 p.m. The Grand Traverse Astronomical Society will be holding their annual telescope clinic to help you understand and use your telescope. The clinic will extend through the period that will be set aside for a star party if it’s clear, to test the telescopes and show the owners how to use them. Like anything telescopes take some time to learn how to use them and find celestial objects. It took me 15 minutes to find Saturn with a telescope the first time I tried, and I knew where it was in the sky. The observatory is south of Traverse City on Birmley Road.

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

Addendum

Link to my December 26 post on telescope basics to start you off:  https://bobmoler.wordpress.com/2017/12/26/

Can’t make it tonight? Members are generally available at star parties at the observatory when time permits to help folks who bring their telescopes out. See http://www.gtastro.org for our current schedule of events for 2018.

Updated 7:02 p.m.