03/01/2018 – Ephemeris – Previewing March skies

Ephemeris for Thursday, March 1st. The Sun will rise at 7:20. It’ll be up for 11 hours and 10 minutes, setting at 6:30. The Moon, at full today, will rise at 6:16 this evening.

Let’s look at the skies for the month of March. The Sun will pass the celestial equator in March as the promising season of spring will begin. Daylight hours in the Interlochen/Traverse City area and will increase from 11 hours and 10 minutes today to 12 hours 43 minutes on the 31st. The altitude, or angle, of the Sun above the southern horizon at local noon will be just under 38 degrees today and will ascend to nearly 50 degrees on the 31st. The altitude of the Sun in the Straits area will be a degree lower. Local apparent noon this month, when the Sun passes due south, will be about 12:49 p.m. and an hour later when daylight time starts. Spring will begin on the 20th at 12:15 p.m. Daylight Time, which now rules most of the year will start on the 11th.

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

Addendum

March Evening Sky Chart

Star Chart for March 2018 (10 p.m. EDT March 15, 2018). Created using my LookingUp program. Click on image to enlarge.

The planets and stars are plotted for the 15th at 9 p.m. EDT in the evening and 6 a.m. for the morning chart. These are the chart times. Note that 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 hour 45 minutes (Daylight Time) or 45 minutes (Standard Time) earlier than the current time if you are near your time meridian.  Note that Daylight time starts at 2 a.m. Sunday March 11th for most US states.

Note the chart times of 10 p.m. and 6 a.m. are for the 15th. For each week before the 15th add ½ hour (28 minutes if you’re picky). Watch out for the time change. For each week after the 15th subtract ½ hour. The planet positions are updated each Wednesday on this blog. For planet positions on dates other than the 15th, check the Wednesday planet posts on this blog.

March Morning Star Chart

Star Chart for March 2018 mornings based on 6 a.m. March 15th. Created using my LookingUp program. Click on image to enlarge.

For a list of constellation names to go with the abbreviations click here.

Star chart annotations

• Pointer stars at the front of the bowl of the Big Dipper point to Polaris the North Star.
• Leaky Big Dipper drips on Leo.
• Follow the arc of the handle of the Big Dipper to the star Arcturus and
• Continue with a spike to Spica.
• The Summer Triangle is in red.

Twilight

Evening nautical twilight ends at 7:32 p.m. EST on the 1st, increasing to 9:16 p.m. EDT on the 31st.
Evening astronomical twilight ends at 8:06 p.m. EST on the 1st, increasing to 9:52 p.m. EDT on the 31st.
Morning astronomical twilight starts at 5:44 a.m. EST on the 1st, and decreasing to 5:49 a.m. EDT on the 31st.
Morning nautical twilight starts at 6:17 a.m. EST on the 1st, and decreasing to 6:25 a.m. EDT on the 31st.

NASA Calendar of Planetary Events

    Date    Time    Event
Mar 01  Th          Venus: 12.4° E
    01  Th 12:09 am Moon-Regulus: 0.9° S
    01  Th  7:51 pm Full Moon (Worm Moon)
    04  Su  8:32 am Neptune Solar Conjunction
    07  We  1:57 am Moon-Jupiter: 4.4° S
    09  Fr  6:20 am Last Quarter
    09  Fr  7:37 pm Moon-Mars: 4.2° S
    10  Sa  9:37 pm Moon-Saturn: 2.5° S
    11  Su  1:39 am Moon South Dec.: 20.1° S
    11  Su  2:00 am Daylight Saving Time begins
    11  Su  4:13 am Moon Apogee: 404700 km
    13  Tu 11:48 pm Moon Descending Node
    15  Th 10:59 am Mercury Greatest Eastern Elongation: 18.4°
    17  Sa  9:12 am New Moon
    18  Su  3:07 pm Moon-Venus: 3.9° N
    19  Mo  3:51 am Mercury-Venus: 3.8° N
    20  Tu 12:15 pm Vernal Equinox
    22  Th  6:33 pm Moon-Aldebaran: 0.9° S
    24  Sa 11:35 am First Quarter
    24  Sa 10:04 pm Moon North Dec.: 20.2° N
    26  Mo  1:17 pm Moon Perigee: 369100 km
    26  Mo  8:52 pm Moon-Beehive: 2.2° N
    27  Tu  6:56 am Moon Ascending Node
    28  We  9:38 am Moon-Regulus: 1° S
    31  Sa  8:37 am Full Moon (Blue Moon)
Apr 01  Su          Venus: 19.9° E

Sky Events Calendar by Fred Espenak and Sumit Dutta (NASA’s GSFC),
http://eclipse.gsfc.nasa.gov/SKYCAL/SKYCAL.html

If you go to the above site you can print out a list like the above for the entire year
or calendar pages for your time zone.

Sun and Moon Rising and Setting Events

     LU                  Ephemeris of Sky Events for Interlochen/TC
     March, 2018    Local time zone: EST
     +-----------------------------------------------------------------------+
     | DATE |  SUN     SUN  DAYLIGHT|   TWILIGHT*    |MOON  RISE OR    ILLUM |
     |      |  RISE    SET    HOURS |  END    START  |PHASE SET** TIME FRACTN|
     +=======================================================================+
     |Thu  1| 07:20a  06:30p  11:10 | 07:33p  06:17a |Full  Rise 06:16p  100%|
     |Fri  2| 07:18a  06:31p  11:13 | 07:35p  06:15a |      Rise 07:29p   99%|
     |Sat  3| 07:16a  06:33p  11:16 | 07:36p  06:13a |      Rise 08:40p   95%|
     +------+-----------------------+----------------+-----------------------+
     |Sun  4| 07:15a  06:34p  11:19 | 07:37p  06:12a |      Rise 09:48p   89%|
     |Mon  5| 07:13a  06:35p  11:22 | 07:38p  06:10a |      Rise 10:53p   82%|
     |Tue  6| 07:11a  06:37p  11:25 | 07:40p  06:08a |      Rise 11:57p   73%|
     |Wed  7| 07:09a  06:38p  11:28 | 07:41p  06:06a |      Rise 12:58a   64%|
     |Thu  8| 07:07a  06:39p  11:31 | 07:42p  06:05a |      Rise 01:56a   55%|
     |Fri  9| 07:06a  06:41p  11:35 | 07:44p  06:03a |L Qtr Rise 02:50a   45%|
     |Sat 10| 07:04a  06:42p  11:38 | 07:45p  06:01a |      Rise 03:40a   36%|
     +------+-----------------------+----------------+-----------------------+
     | EDT  |      Time Change      |                |                       |
     |Sun 11| 08:02a  07:43p  11:41 | 08:46p  06:59a |      Rise 05:25a   27%|
     |Mon 12| 08:00a  07:45p  11:44 | 08:48p  06:57a |      Rise 06:05a   19%|
     |Tue 13| 07:58a  07:46p  11:47 | 08:49p  06:55a |      Rise 06:42a   12%|
     |Wed 14| 07:57a  07:47p  11:50 | 08:50p  06:54a |      Rise 07:15a    7%|
     |Thu 15| 07:55a  07:48p  11:53 | 08:52p  06:52a |      Rise 07:45a    3%|
     |Fri 16| 07:53a  07:50p  11:56 | 08:53p  06:50a |      Rise 08:13a    0%|
     |Sat 17| 07:51a  07:51p  12:00 | 08:54p  06:48a |New   Set  08:06p    0%|
     +------+-----------------------+----------------+-----------------------+
     |Sun 18| 07:49a  07:52p  12:03 | 08:56p  06:46a |      Set  09:13p    2%|
     |Mon 19| 07:47a  07:54p  12:06 | 08:57p  06:44a |      Set  10:21p    7%|
     |Tue 20| 07:45a  07:55p  12:09 | 08:58p  06:42a |      Set  11:30p   13%|
     |Wed 21| 07:44a  07:56p  12:12 | 09:00p  06:40a |      Set  12:39a   22%|
     |Thu 22| 07:42a  07:57p  12:15 | 09:01p  06:38a |      Set  01:48a   32%|
     |Fri 23| 07:40a  07:59p  12:18 | 09:02p  06:36a |      Set  02:53a   43%|
     |Sat 24| 07:38a  08:00p  12:21 | 09:04p  06:34a |F Qtr Set  03:54a   54%|
     +------+-----------------------+----------------+-----------------------+
     |Sun 25| 07:36a  08:01p  12:25 | 09:05p  06:32a |      Set  04:47a   65%|
     |Mon 26| 07:34a  08:02p  12:28 | 09:06p  06:30a |      Set  05:34a   76%|
     |Tue 27| 07:32a  08:04p  12:31 | 09:08p  06:28a |      Set  06:14a   85%|
     |Wed 28| 07:31a  08:05p  12:34 | 09:09p  06:26a |      Set  06:49a   92%|
     |Thu 29| 07:29a  08:06p  12:37 | 09:11p  06:25a |      Set  07:21a   97%|
     |Fri 30| 07:27a  08:07p  12:40 | 09:12p  06:23a |      Set  07:50a  100%|
     |Sat 31| 07:25a  08:09p  12:43 | 09:13p  06:21a |Full  Rise 08:27p  100%|
     +-----------------------------------------------------------------------+
     * Nautical Twilight
     ** Moonrise or moonset, whichever occurs between sunset and sunrise