10/01/2018 – Ephemeris – Previewing October skies

Ephemeris for Monday, October 1st. The Sun will rise at 7:40. It’ll be up for 11 hours and 42 minutes, setting at 7:23. The Moon, 1 day before last quarter, will rise at 11:55 this evening.

Let’s look at the skies for the month of October. The Sun will still be moving south rapidly. Daylight hours in the Interlochen/Traverse City area and will drop from 11 hours and 42 minutes today to 10 hours, 13 minutes at months end. The altitude of the sun above the southern horizon at local noon will be 42 degrees today in the Interlochen area and will descend to 31 degrees on Halloween. Venus will pass the Sun, moving from the evening sky to the morning sky on the 26th. Venus has not been too noticeable in the evening for the last month, but in early November it will seem to suddenly appear in the morning sky. It can be mistaken as a UFO, especially with its tiny Cheshire Cat crescent smile in binoculars or a small telescope.

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

Addendum

October Evening Star Chart

Star Chart for October 2018 (10 p.m. EDT October 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). To duplicate the star positions on a planisphere you may have to set it to 1 hour 45 minutes earlier than the current time.

Note the chart times of 9 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). 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.

October Morning Star Chart

Star Chart for October 2018 mornings based on 6 a.m. October 15th. 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
• The Summer Triangle is in red.
• DracR on the evening star chart is the radiant for the Draconid meteor shwer which peaks on the 10th.
• OriR on the morning star chart is the radiant of the Orionid meteor shower which peaks on the 21st.

Twilight

			Time zone=EDT
	Morning twilight		Evening twilight		Dark night		Moon
Date	Astronomical	Nautical	Nautical	Astronomical	Start	End	Illum.
2018-10-01	6h08m	6h42m	20h29m	21h03m	21h03m	23h56m	0.61
2018-10-02	6h09m	6h44m	20h27m	21h01m	21h01m	–	0.49
2018-10-03	6h11m	6h45m	20h25m	20h59m	20h59m	0h55m	0.37
2018-10-04	6h12m	6h46m	20h23m	20h57m	20h57m	2h02m	0.26
2018-10-05	6h13m	6h47m	20h22m	20h56m	20h56m	3h14m	0.16
2018-10-06	6h15m	6h49m	20h20m	20h54m	20h54m	4h28m	0.08
2018-10-07	6h16m	6h50m	20h18m	20h52m	20h52m	5h43m	0.03
2018-10-08	6h17m	6h51m	20h16m	20h50m	20h50m	6h17m	0
2018-10-09	6h18m	6h52m	20h14m	20h48m	20h48m	6h18m	0
2018-10-10	6h20m	6h53m	20h13m	20h46m	20h46m	6h20m	0.03
2018-10-11	6h21m	6h55m	20h11m	20h45m	20h56m	6h21m	0.08
2018-10-12	6h22m	6h56m	20h09m	20h43m	21h31m	6h22m	0.15
2018-10-13	6h23m	6h57m	20h07m	20h41m	22h11m	6h23m	0.24
2018-10-14	6h25m	6h58m	20h06m	20h39m	22h55m	6h25m	0.33
2018-10-15	6h26m	7h00m	20h04m	20h38m	23h44m	6h26m	0.43
2018-10-16	6h27m	7h01m	20h02m	20h36m	–	6h27m	0.52
2018-10-17	6h28m	7h02m	20h01m	20h35m	0h37m	6h28m	0.62
2018-10-18	6h30m	7h03m	19h59m	20h33m	1h33m	6h30m	0.71
2018-10-19	6h31m	7h04m	19h58m	20h31m	2h32m	6h31m	0.8
2018-10-20	6h32m	7h06m	19h56m	20h30m	3h32m	6h32m	0.87
2018-10-21	6h33m	7h07m	19h55m	20h28m	4h34m	6h33m	0.93
2018-10-22	6h34m	7h08m	19h53m	20h27m	5h37m	6h34m	0.93
2018-10-23	6h36m	7h09m	19h52m	20h25m	–	–	0.97
2018-10-24	6h37m	7h10m	19h50m	20h24m	–	–	1
2018-10-25	6h38m	7h12m	19h49m	20h22m	–	–	1
2018-10-26	6h39m	7h13m	19h47m	20h21m	–	–	0.97
2018-10-27	6h40m	7h14m	19h46m	20h19m	20h19m	21h01m	0.92
2018-10-28	6h42m	7h15m	19h44m	20h18m	20h18m	21h51m	0.85
2018-10-29	6h43m	7h17m	19h43m	20h17m	20h17m	22h48m	0.75
2018-10-30	6h44m	7h18m	19h42m	20h15m	20h15m	23h53m	0.64
2018-10-31	6h45m	7h19m	19h40m	20h14m	20h14m	–	0.53

Twilight calendar was generated using Cartes du Ciel (Sky Charts).

See my blog post: Twilight Zone for the definitions of the different periods of twilight here: https://bobmoler.wordpress.com/2018/09/27/

NASA Calendar of Planetary Events

Oct 01  Mo          Venus: 32.9° E
    02  Tu  5:45 am Last Quarter
    02  Tu  9:03 am Moon North Dec.: 21° N
    03  We 11:10 pm Moon Ascending Node
    04  Th  5:51 am Moon-Beehive: 1.3° N
    05  Fr  5:58 pm Moon-Regulus: 1.9° S
    05  Fr  6:29 pm Moon Perigee: 366400 km
    08  Mo 11:47 pm New Moon
    10  We  8:10 pm Draconid Shower: ZHR = 10
    11  Th  5:21 pm Moon-Jupiter: 4.3° S
    14  Su 11:01 pm Moon-Saturn: 2° S
    15  Mo  1:26 pm Moon South Dec.: 21.2° S
    15  Mo 10:32 pm Mercury-Venus: 6.2° N
    16  Tu  2:02 pm First Quarter
    17  We  8:03 am Moon Descending Node
    17  We  3:16 pm Moon Apogee: 404200 km
    18  Th  9:01 am Moon-Mars: 2.2° S
    21  Su  1:03 pm Orionid Shower: ZHR = 20
    23  Tu  8:43 pm Uranus Opposition
    24  We 12:45 pm Full Moon
    26  Fr 10:13 am Venus Inferior Conjunction with the Sun
    27  Sa  9:04 am Moon-Aldebaran: 1.6° S
    29  Mo  1:28 am Mercury-Jupiter: 3.1° N
    29  Mo  1:34 am Moon North Dec.: 21.3° N
    30  Tu 10:46 pm Moon Ascending Node
    31  We 10:24 am Moon-Beehive: 1° N
    31  We 11:40 am Last Quarter
    31  We  3:05 pm Moon Perigee: 370200 km
Nov 01  Th          Venus: 10.6° W

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

Ephemeris of Sky Events for NMC Observatory
October, 2018 – Local time zone: EDT
Date		Sun			Twilight*		Moon			Illum
		Rise	Set	Hours	End	Start	Phase	R/S**	Time	Fractn
Mon	1	07:40a	07:22p	11:42	08:25p	06:37a		Rise	11:55p	55%
Tue	2	07:41a	07:21p	11:39	08:23p	06:38a	L Qtr	Rise	12:55a	43%
Wed	3	07:42a	07:19p	11:36	08:22p	06:39a		Rise	02:02a	32%
Thu	4	07:44a	07:17p	11:33	08:20p	06:41a		Rise	03:14a	22%
Fri	5	07:45a	07:15p	11:30	08:18p	06:42a		Rise	04:28a	13%
Sat	6	07:46a	07:13p	11:27	08:16p	06:43a		Rise	05:42a	6%
Sun	7	07:47a	07:12p	11:24	08:14p	06:44a		Rise	06:56a	2%
Mon	8	07:48a	07:10p	11:21	08:13p	06:46a	New	Set	07:24p	0%
Tue	9	07:50a	07:08p	11:18	08:11p	06:47a		Set	07:53p	1%
Wed	10	07:51a	07:06p	11:15	08:09p	06:48a		Set	08:23p	4%
Thu	11	07:52a	07:04p	11:12	08:07p	06:49a		Set	08:56p	10%
Fri	12	07:54a	07:03p	11:09	08:06p	06:50a		Set	09:31p	17%
Sat	13	07:55a	07:01p	11:06	08:04p	06:52a		Set	10:11p	25%
Sun	14	07:56a	06:59p	11:03	08:02p	06:53a		Set	10:55p	34%
Mon	15	07:57a	06:57p	11:00	08:01p	06:54a		Set	11:43p	43%
Tue	16	07:59a	06:56p	10:57	07:59p	06:55a	F Qtr	Set	12:36a	52%
Wed	17	08:00a	06:54p	10:54	07:57p	06:57a		Set	01:33a	62%
Thu	18	08:01a	06:52p	10:51	07:56p	06:58a		Set	02:31a	71%
Fri	19	08:02a	06:51p	10:48	07:54p	06:59a		Set	03:32a	79%
Sat	20	08:04a	06:49p	10:45	07:53p	07:00a		Set	04:34a	86%
Sun	21	08:05a	06:47p	10:42	07:51p	07:01a		Set	05:37a	92%
Mon	22	08:06a	06:46p	10:39	07:49p	07:03a		Set	06:41a	97%
Tue	23	08:08a	06:44p	10:36	07:48p	07:04a		Set	07:48a	99%
Wed	24	08:09a	06:43p	10:33	07:46p	07:05a	Full	Rise	07:13p	100%
Thu	25	08:10a	06:41p	10:30	07:45p	07:06a		Rise	07:44p	98%
Fri	26	08:12a	06:40p	10:27	07:44p	07:08a		Rise	08:19p	94%
Sat	27	08:13a	06:38p	10:25	07:42p	07:09a		Rise	09:01p	87%
Sun	28	08:14a	06:37p	10:22	07:41p	07:10a		Rise	09:51p	79%
Mon	29	08:16a	06:35p	10:19	07:40p	07:11a		Rise	10:48p	69%
Tue	30	08:17a	06:34p	10:16	07:38p	07:12a		Rise	11:53p	58%
Wed	31	08:18a	06:32p	10:13	07:37p	07:14a	L Qtr	Rise	01:02a	47%
* Nautical Twilight
** Moonrise or moonset, whichever occurs between sunset and sunrise