11/30/2018 – Ephemeris – Previewing December skies

Bob Moler with Ephemeris for Friday, November 30th. The Sun will rise at 7:58. It’ll be up for 9 hours and 5 minutes, setting at 5:04. The Moon, 1 day past last quarter, will rise at 1:29 tomorrow morning.

Let’s preview December’s skies. Winter will officially arrive on the 21st at 5:22 p.m., the winter solstice. The noontime sun will dip from 23 ½ degrees to a bit less than 22 degrees above the southern horizon on that day. There will be little movement in the sunset times: In the Traverse City/Interlochen area this will be from 5:03 tomorrow, down to 5:02 and then advancing to 5:11 at the end of the month. The sunrise times will advance from 7:58 tomorrow to 8:20 on the 31st. The big event in December will be the Geminid meteor shower whose maximum is on the morning of the 14th. An old comet will make a close pass of the Earth and may be quite bright by mid-month. Watch for Comet Wirtanen.

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

Addenda

December Evening Star Chart

Star Chart for December 2018 (9 p.m. EST December 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. EST 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.

December Morning Star Chart

Star Chart for December mornings 2018 (6 a.m. EST December 15, 2018). Created using my LookingUp program. Click on image to enlarge. The original morning chart uploaded December 1st was outdated.

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
• Extend like a spike to Spica,
• The Summer Triangle is in red.
• GemR on the evening and morning star charts is the radiant of the Geminid meteor shower which peaks on the morning of the 14th,

Twilight

			Time zone=EDT
	Morning twilight		Evening twilight		Dark night		Moon
Date	Astronomical	Nautical	Nautical	Astronomical	Start	End	Illum.
2018-12-01	6h20m	6h55m	18h16m	18h51m	18h51m	1h29m	0.33
2018-12-02	6h21m	6h56m	18h15m	18h50m	18h50m	2h39m	0.23
2018-12-03	6h22m	6h57m	18h15m	18h50m	18h50m	3h48m	0.14
2018-12-04	6h23m	6h58m	18h15m	18h50m	18h50m	4h56m	0.07
2018-12-05	6h24m	6h59m	18h15m	18h50m	18h50m	6h03m	0.03
2018-12-06	6h25m	7h00m	18h15m	18h50m	18h50m	6h25m	0.00
2018-12-07	6h26m	7h01m	18h15m	18h50m	18h50m	6h26m	0.00
2018-12-08	6h26m	7h02m	18h15m	18h50m	18h50m	6h26m	0.02
2018-12-09	6h27m	7h03m	18h15m	18h50m	19h15m	6h27m	0.06
2018-12-10	6h28m	7h04m	18h15m	18h50m	20h09m	6h28m	0.12
2018-12-11	6h29m	7h04m	18h15m	18h50m	21h06m	6h29m	0.19
2018-12-12	6h30m	7h05m	18h15m	18h51m	22h05m	6h30m	0.27
2018-12-13	6h30m	7h06m	18h15m	18h51m	23h05m	6h30m	0.36
2018-12-14	6h31m	7h07m	18h16m	18h51m	–	6h31m	0.45
2018-12-15	6h32m	7h07m	18h16m	18h51m	0h06m	6h32m	0.55
2018-12-16	6h32m	7h08m	18h16m	18h52m	1h07m	6h32m	0.65
2018-12-17	6h33m	7h09m	18h16m	18h52m	2h11m	6h33m	0.75
2018-12-18	6h30m	7h05m	18h13m	18h48m	3h16m	6h30m	0.84
2018-12-19	6h30m	7h06m	18h13m	18h49m	4h24m	6h30m	0.91
2018-12-20	6h31m	7h06m	18h14m	18h49m	5h34m	6h31m	0.97
2018-12-21	6h31m	7h07m	18h14m	18h50m	–	–	0.97
2018-12-22	6h32m	7h07m	18h15m	18h50m	–	–	1.00
2018-12-23	6h32m	7h08m	18h15m	18h51m	–	–	1.00
2018-12-24	6h33m	7h08m	18h16m	18h51m	18h51m	19h35m	0.97
2018-12-25	6h33m	7h09m	18h16m	18h52m	18h52m	20h49m	0.91
2018-12-26	6h34m	7h09m	18h17m	18h53m	18h53m	22h05m	0.82
2018-12-27	6h34m	7h09m	18h18m	18h53m	18h53m	23h19m	0.72
2018-12-28	6h34m	7h10m	18h18m	18h54m	18h54m	–	0.61
2018-12-29	6h34m	7h10m	18h19m	18h55m	18h55m	0h30m	0.49
2018-12-30	6h35m	7h10m	18h20m	18h55m	18h55m	1h40m	0.38
2018-12-31	6h35m	7h10m	18h21m	18h56m	18h56m	2h48m	0.28

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

Date			Local	Event
			Time
Dec	1	Sa		Venus: 39.9° W
	3	Mo	01:42:00 PM	Moon-Venus: 3.8° S
	7	Fr	02:20:00 AM	New Moon
	9	Su	12:30:00 AM	Moon-Saturn: 1.2° S
	9	Su	06:12:00 AM	Moon South Dec.: 21.5° S
	10	Mo	12:57:00 PM	Moon Descending Node
	12	We	07:25:00 AM	Moon Apogee: 405200 km
	14	Fr	07:16:00 AM	Geminid Shower: ZHR = 120
	14	Fr	06:21:00 PM	Moon-Mars: 3.9° N
	15	Sa	05:59:00 AM	Mercury Elongation: 21.3° W
	15	Sa	06:49:00 AM	First Quarter
	21	Fr	02:31:00 AM	Moon-Aldebaran: 1.7° S
	21	Fr	02:49:00 PM	Mercury-Jupiter: 0.8° N
	21	Fr	05:22:00 PM	Winter Solstice
	22	Sa	03:03:00 AM	Mercury-Antares: 6° N
	22	Sa	10:08:00 AM	Jupiter-Antares: 5.2° N
	22	Sa	12:49:00 PM	Full Moon
	22	Sa	04:00:00 PM	Ursid Shower: ZHR = 10
	23	Su	06:48:00 AM	Moon North Dec.: 21.6° N
	24	Mo	04:52:00 AM	Moon Perigee: 361100 km
	24	Mo	06:54:00 AM	Moon Ascending Node
	24	Mo	11:52:00 PM	Moon-Beehive: 0.6° N
	26	We	11:06:00 AM	Moon-Regulus: 2.5° S
	29	Sa	04:34:00 AM	Last Quarter

All event times are given for UTC-5:00: Eastern Standard or Daylight Time

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
December, 2018 – Local time zone: EST
Date		Sun			Twilight*		Moon			Illum
		Rise	Set	Hours	End	Start	Phase	R/S**	Time	Fractn
Sat	1	07:59a	05:03p	09:04	06:12p	06:49a		Rise	02:38a	29.00%
Sun	2	08:00a	05:03p	09:03	06:12p	06:50a		Rise	03:47a	19.00%
Mon	3	08:01a	05:03p	09:01	06:12p	06:51a		Rise	04:55a	12.00%
Tue	4	08:02a	05:02p	09:00	06:12p	06:52a		Rise	06:02a	6.00%
Wed	5	08:03a	05:02p	08:59	06:12p	06:53a		Rise	07:07a	2.00%
Thu	6	08:04a	05:02p	08:57	06:12p	06:54a		Rise	08:10a	0.00%
Fri	7	08:05a	05:02p	08:56	06:12p	06:55a	New	Set	05:40p	1.00%
Sat	8	08:06a	05:02p	08:55	06:12p	06:56a		Set	06:25p	3.00%
Sun	9	08:07a	05:02p	08:54	06:12p	06:57a		Set	07:15p	7.00%
Mon	10	08:08a	05:02p	08:53	06:12p	06:58a		Set	08:09p	12.00%
Tue	11	08:09a	05:02p	08:52	06:12p	06:59a		Set	09:06p	19.00%
Wed	12	08:10a	05:02p	08:52	06:12p	06:59a		Set	10:05p	27.00%
Thu	13	08:10a	05:02p	08:51	06:12p	07:00a		Set	11:05p	36.00%
Fri	14	08:11a	05:02p	08:50	06:13p	07:01a		Set	12:05a	45.00%
Sat	15	08:12a	05:02p	08:50	06:13p	07:02a	F Qtr	Set	01:07a	55.00%
Sun	16	08:13a	05:03p	08:49	06:13p	07:02a		Set	02:10a	65.00%
Mon	17	08:13a	05:03p	08:49	06:13p	07:03a		Set	03:15a	74.00%
Tue	18	08:14a	05:03p	08:49	06:14p	07:03a		Set	04:23a	83.00%
Wed	19	08:15a	05:04p	08:49	06:14p	07:04a		Set	05:33a	90.00%
Thu	20	08:15a	05:04p	08:48	06:15p	07:05a		Set	06:45a	96.00%
Fri	21	08:16a	05:05p	08:48	06:15p	07:05a		Set	07:56a	99.00%
Sat	22	08:16a	05:05p	08:48	06:16p	07:06a	Full	Rise	05:22p	100.00%
Sun	23	08:17a	05:06p	08:49	06:16p	07:06a		Rise	06:25p	98.00%
Mon	24	08:17a	05:06p	08:49	06:17p	07:07a		Rise	07:35p	93.00%
Tue	25	08:17a	05:07p	08:49	06:17p	07:07a		Rise	08:49p	85.00%
Wed	26	08:18a	05:08p	08:49	06:18p	07:07a		Rise	10:05p	76.00%
Thu	27	08:18a	05:08p	08:50	06:19p	07:08a		Rise	11:18p	66.00%
Fri	28	08:18a	05:09p	08:50	06:19p	07:08a		Rise	12:30a	54.00%
Sat	29	08:19a	05:10p	08:51	06:20p	07:08a	L Qtr	Rise	01:39a	43.00%
Sun	30	08:19a	05:11p	08:51	06:21p	07:08a		Rise	02:47a	33.00%
Mon	31	08:19a	05:12p	08:52	06:22p	07:09a		Rise	03:53a	24.00%

* Nautical Twilight
** Moonrise or moonset, whichever occurs between sunset and sunrise

 

11/29/2018 – Ephemeris – A potentially bright comet was discovered earlier this month

Ephemeris for Thursday, November 29th. The Sun will rise at 7:57. It’ll be up for 9 hours and 6 minutes, setting at 5:04. The Moon, at last quarter today, will rise at 12:17 tomorrow morning.

Three amateur astronomers Don Machholz of the US and by Shigehisa Fujikawa and Masayuki Iwamoto of Japan independently discovered a comet November 7th that bears their names. Now through next week or so ,it will be visible in the western sky in evening twilight. The comet has been rapidly brightening, much more rapidly than expected. It could theoretically be bright enough to spot with the naked eye by Sunday or Monday, but it must compete with evening twilight low in the western to southwestern sky. Comets are unpredictable in their brightness and appearance. As David Levy of Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 fame once said: “Cats and comets have tails and do exactly what they want”. Check here for updates.

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

Addendum

Comet C/2018 V1 (Machholz-Fijikawa-Iwamoto) in twilight starting last night November 28, 2018. The comet won’t climb that dramatically at 6 p.m. on the rest of the nights because the stars in the field will set 4 minutes earlier each successive evening. The latest magnitude estimate of the comet on December 1 is 5.2, two magnitudes brighter than shown here. Created using Cartes du Ciel (Sky Charts).

11/28/2018 – Ephemeris – Bright planets and comets tonight

Ephemeris for Wednesday, November 28th. The Sun will rise at 7:56. It’ll be up for 9 hours and 8 minutes, setting at 5:04. The Moon, 1 day before last quarter, will rise at 11:05 this evening.

Let’s look at the bright planets for tonight. Two of them are visible in the evening sky. Saturn will be briefly visible very low in the southwestern sky and from about 6 p.m. and will set at 7:10 p.m. Mars will be in the south as the skies darken tonight. Mars will be due south at 6:52 p.m., and it will set at 12:17 a.m. Mars is moving eastward, crossing the constellation of Aquarius this month. It’s currently about midway through Aquarius, moving eastward and northward, so its setting time won’t change much over this month. Venus, our brilliant morning star, will rise at 4:33 a.m. in the east southeast. The blue-white star Spica is still to the right and a bit above it. There are two comets entering our sky. More on that tomorrow.

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

Addenda

Planets and the Moon

Mars, and Saturn seen at 6 p.m. tonight November 28, 2018. Created using Stellarium.

Venus and the Moon in the morning sky at 7 a.m. November 29, 2018. Note the bluish star Spica to the right of it. Created using Stellarium.

The waning gibbous Moon as it should appear tomorrow morning in binoculars. Created using Stellarium.

Telescopic view of Venus tomorrow morning November 29, 2018. Created using Stellarium.

Planets, two comets and the Moon at sunset and sunrise of a single night starting with sunset on the right on November 28, 2018. The night ends on the left with sunrise on the 29th. Click on the image to enlarge. Created using my LookingUp program.

Bright comets

Comet C/2018 V1 (Machholz-Fijikawa-Iwamoto) in twilight starting tonight November 28, 2018. The comet won’t climb that deramatically at 6 p.m. on the rest of the nights because the stars in the field will set 4 minutes earlier each successive evening. The latest magnitude estimate of the comet on December 1 is 5.2, two magnitudes brighter than shown here. Created using Cartes du Ciel (Sky Charts).

Comet 46P/Wirtanen positions for the next week. Positions are marked with month-date and magnitude. The latest magnitude prediction for December 1st is 4.6, 5.1 magnitudes brighter than shown here. The comet may make magnitude 3 by mid-December. Star field position is for 9 p.m. on the 28th. Click on the image to enlarge. Created using Cartes du Ciel (Sky Charts).

11/27/2018 – Ephemeris – The beautiful Pleiades or Seven Sisters

Ephemeris for Tuesday, November 27th. The Sun will rise at 7:55. It’ll be up for 9 hours and 10 minutes, setting at 5:05. The Moon, 2 days before last quarter, will rise at 9:52 this evening.

While I’ve mentioned the Pleiades with regard to its neighboring constellations several times this autumn I haven’t looked at this beautiful star cluster itself. The Pleiades appears as a group of six or seven stars visible to the naked eye, out of over a hundred stars, and is also known as the Seven Sisters. Some also mistake it for the Little Dipper, due to the little bowl shape in the center of the cluster. I call it the “tiny dipper”. The real Little Dipper is now hanging off Polaris in the north. There are a lot of stories about the Pleiades from many different cultures. From the Greek and Roman cultures we get our best known stories of them, that the seven sisters were the daughters of the god Atlas and Pleione. The 9 brightest stars bear the names of the sisters and their parents.

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

Addendum

The named stars of the Pleiades. This is also showing more stars than can be seen with the naked eye. This is the number of stars that can be seen in binoculars, which is the best way to observe them. Most telescopes are too offer too much magnification to fit all the stars in. A thirty power wide angle eyepiece can just fit all the stars in. Created using Stellarium.

How to find the Pleiades in the eastern sky tonight.  Created using Cartes du Ciel (Sky Charts).

11/26/2018 – Ephemeris – NASA’s InSight spacecraft lands on Mars this afternoon

Ephemeris for Monday, November 26th. The Sun will rise at 7:54. It’ll be up for 9 hours and 11 minutes, setting at 5:05. The Moon, half way from full to last quarter, will rise at 8:43 this evening.

This afternoon NASA’s InSight spacecraft will land on Mars. It will drill into the martial soil to place a temperature probe to measure Mars’ heat flow to determine the interior temperature of Mars. It will also deploy a seismometer to detect marsquakes and seismic waves generated by meteorite impacts to ascertain the interior structure of the planet. The entry, decent and landing or EDL as it’s called begins at 2:47 p.m. Eastern Standard Time, with landing 6 minutes, 45 seconds later. The Jet Propulsion Laboratory calls it Seven Minutes of Terror. The spacecraft is on its own so everything has to go right. Mars is 8 light minutes away. The spacecraft will be on the ground one way or the other for over a minute by the time we get word that the spacecraft has entered the atmosphere of Mars.  NASA-TV, available on the Internet, starts its coverage at 2 p.m. Eastern Standard Time.

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

Addendum

InSight landing infographic. Credit Emily Lakdawalla for the Planetary Society. Here’s her caption: Advance predictions for the details of InSight’s landing made several weeks beforehand. Adjustments to the trajectories of InSight or Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter may change these times by up to several seconds, as could weather on landing day. All times include 8.1 minutes of one-way light time delay (accounting for the time it takes signals to travel from Mars to Earth). Abbreviations used in the labels: EDL = entry, descent, and landing; E = entry; T = touchdown; h m s = hours, minutes, and seconds; UT = Universal Time (subtract 8 hours for Pacific, 5 for Eastern, add 1 for European time, add 8 for Japan).  Click on image to enlarge. 

To see Emily’s post with a lot more information, click on this URL:  http://www.planetary.org/blogs/emily-lakdawalla/2018/mars-insight-landing-preview.html.  The post has a link to NASA’s 68 page pdf Mars InSight Landing Press Kit, which covers all aspects of entry, descent and landing, the Mars Insight components, and science instruments, and what they expect to learn about Mars’ interior.

Components of the Mars InSight Lander. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech – Adrian Mann/Tobias Roetsch/Future Plc. Hat Tip to Space.com

11/25/2018 – Ephemeris Extra – Comet 46P/Wirtanen may be naked eye in December

he path of Comet 46P/Wirtanen from November 21, 2018, to January 1, 2019. The labels are month, date, and expected magnitude. On November 22nd it was observed to be magnitude 5.5, about 5 magnitudes brighter than the predictions on the chart.  Click on image to enlarge. Created using Cartes du Ciel (Sky Charts).

Comet 46P/Wirtanen will be well placed in the evening sky for observation. Though a small comet, it has a history of being active, which is not disappointing us now. It will be closest to the Earth on December16^th at 7.1 million miles (11.4 million km). 

On December 16^th the comet will be closest to the Pleiades. On the 23^rd it will appear close to the bright star Capella. After that it will become circumpolar.

Comet Wirtanen is a small short period comet of 5.44 years.  It’s orbit doesn’t come as close to the Sun as the Earth.  It’s closest to the Sun, called perihelion it which it reaches December 12th is about 98 million miles (158 million km).  The orbit extends out to nearly Jupiter’s orbit.

Checkout photos and animations of this and other comets in http://www.spaceweather.com/’s Realtime Comet Gallery.

Also check out Seiichi Yoshida’s website and his weekly information about Bright Comets: http://www.aerith.net/comet/weekly/current.html.

Here is a black on white chart that I created for our society’s newsletter of the positions of the comet when it passes the Pleiades.  The positions are for 9 p.m. EST (01:00 UT on next date) on the displayed dates. Created with Cartes du Ciel (Sky Charts).

A note about comet magnitudes

Comet magnitudes are always devilishly hard to estimate. A comet always appears dimmer than its magnitude suggests because one is comparing the brightness of a diffuse object with the point source of a star. One either has to reduce the size of the comet to almost a point or defocus the star to the size of the comet to make the comparison if it doesn’t have a tail.

A point about magnitudes. They’re like golf scores. The lower the number, the brighter the object, and the better the golf score. Blame the ancient Greek astronomer Hipparchus, who ranked star brightness from first magnitude for the brightest stars to sixth magnitude for the dimmest stars visible to the naked eye. Modern astronomers put a mathematical basis for the system saying that a magnitude difference of 5 equals a brightness difference of 100. So each magnitude step equals the 5^th root of 100 or 2.512. So a 5^thmagnitude star is about two and a half times brighter than a 6^thmagnitude star, and so on.

11/23/2018 – Ephemeris – The Moon and Aldebaran

Ephemeris for Friday, November 23rd. The Sun will rise at 7:50. It’ll be up for 9 hours and 17 minutes, setting at 5:07. The Moon, at full today, will rise at 5:55 this evening.

Tonight’s full Moon will be accompanied by the bright star Aldebaran, the angry red eye of the constellation Taurus the Bull. Earlier this year we had the last of nearly two years of the Moon every month passing in front of Aldebaran. The tilt of the Moon’s orbit with respect to the Earth’s own orbit of the Sun slides slowly westward with time, so The Moon won’t pass in front of Aldebaran for those of us on Earth again until 2033. This sliding of the Moon’s orbit is called regression of the nodes. A node is where the Moon’s orbital plane crosses the Earth’s. These are places eclipses of the Sun and Moon occur if lined up with the full or new moons. Why regression? The nodal points are moving westward, backward of most motions in the solar system.

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

Addendum

Tonight’s full moon with Aldebaran in the face of Taurus the bull (8 p.m. November 23, 2018). Created using Stellarium.

11/22/2018 – Ephemeris – The little goat star, Capella

Ephemeris for Thanksgiving Day, Thursday, November 22nd. The Sun will rise at 7:49. It’ll be up for 9 hours and 19 minutes, setting at 5:08. The Moon, 1 day before full, will set at 7:59 tomorrow morning.

Capella is the northernmost first magnitude stars. Tonight it shines in the northeastern sky. First magnitude stars are the 21 brightest stars in the night sky. Capella is the 6th brightest. The name Capella means little goat, though I’ve always known it as the little she goat. Her three Kids are represented by a narrow triangle of stars positioned to the right of her in tonight’s evening sky, though they may be overpowered by the bright Moon tonight. Capella is in the topmost corner of the pentagonal constellation of Auriga the Charioteer. Capella is actually a system of four stars only 43 light years away. And never sets for listeners in the Interlochen Public Radio transmission area, though all bets are off if you’re listening over the Internet from somewhere else.

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

Addendum

Capella with the stars of Auriga and the full Moon at 8 p.m., November 22, 2018. Created using Stellarium.

11/21/2018 – Ephemeris – The bright planets and two comets for this week

Ephemeris for Wednesday, November 21st. The Sun will rise at 7:47. It’ll be up for 9 hours and 21 minutes, setting at 5:09. The Moon, 2 days before full, will set at 6:47 tomorrow morning.

Let’s look at the bright planets for tonight. Two of them are visible in the evening sky. Jupiter is 5 days from passing behind the Sun, and will officially be a morning planet next Monday. Saturn, the ringed planet, will start the evening low in the southwestern sky and will set at 7:35 p.m. Mars will be in the south as the skies darken tonight. Mars will be due south at 7:03 p.m., and it will set at 12:20 a.m. Mars is moving eastward, crossing the constellation of Aquarius this month. It’s currently about midway through Aquarius, moving eastward and northward, so its setting time won’t change much over this month. Venus, our brilliant morning star, will rise at 4:50 a.m. in the east southeast. The blue-white star Spica is to the right and a bit above it.

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

Addenda

Planets and the Moon

Click on images to enlarge

Mars, Saturn and the Moon seen at 6:30 p.m. tonight November 21, 2018. Created using Stellarium.

The Moon as it might appear in binoculars or a small telescope tonight at 6:30 p.m. November 21, 2018. Created using Stellarium.

Venus in the morning sky at 7 a.m. November 22, 2018. Note the bluish star Spica to the right of it. Created using Stellarium.

Saturn, Mars and Venus with the same magnification at 6:30 p.m. tonight and 7 a.m. or Venus tomorrow the 22nd. Created using Cartes du Ciel (Sky Charts).

Planets and the Moon at sunset and sunrise of a single night starting with sunset on the right on November 21, 2018. The night ends on the left with sunrise on the 22nd. Click on the image to enlarge. Created using my LookingUp program.

Current relatively bright comets

Comet C/2018 V1 ( Machholz-Fujikawa-Iwamoto ) positions for the next week. Positions are marked with month-date and magnitude. The comet is currently running about a magnitude brighter than predicted and may make magnitude 5.5 by early December. The star field position is for 7:15 a.m. on the 22nd. Remember we are in morning twilight here. Subtract 4 minutes per day after that. Created using Cartes du Ciel (Sky Charts).

Comet 46P/Wirtanen positions for the next week. Positions are marked with month-date and magnitude. The comet comet appears to be running about 4 magnitudes brighter than the predictions and may make magnitude 3 by mid-December. Star field position is for 9 p.m. on the 21st. Created using Cartes du Ciel (Sky Charts).

The new magnitude estimates are from Seiichi Yoshida’s website and his Weekly Information about Bright Comets:  http://www.aerith.net/comet/weekly/current.html

11/20/2018 – Ephemeris – Barnard’s Star has a planet

Ephemeris for Tuesday, November 20th. The Sun will rise at 7:46. It’ll be up for 9 hours and 23 minutes, setting at 5:10. The Moon, 3 days before full, will set at 5:37 tomorrow morning.

One of the most fascinating stars in the sky is Barnard’s Runaway Star. That’s how I first knew it. It’s now simply Barnard’s Star. It has the largest motion of any star across the sky (proper motion) of 10.3 arcseconds per year. That’s about the current width of Mars right now in telescopes. The Sun and Moon are about eighteen hundred arcseconds in diameter. It was announced last week, that a planet has been discovered orbiting that star. The planet designated with a lower case b orbits the red dwarf star at a distance comparable to Mercury in our solar system with a period of 233 days. It is three and a quarter times the Earth’s mass. It was found because it changes the velocity of the stars’ approach by the human walking speed in those 233 days.

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

Addendum

Barnard Star’s proper motion from 1985 to 2005. Credit Steve Quirk.

I recall back in the 1960’s astronomer Peter van de Kamp announced the discovery of a planet around Barnard’s Star.  His technique was to spot little wiggles in the star’s path through the sky.  Current methods to detect wiggles of the star use the Doppler method  detecting the tiny change in the star’s radial velocity towards or away from us.  Barnard’s Star b does not fit what van de Camp thought he detected.

The star gets its name from Edward Emerson Barnard ( 1857-1923) who discovered the star’s rapid proper motion. 

On a local note Barnard’s great photographic work A Photographic Atlas of Selected Regions of the Milky Way was republished by my friend Gerold O. Dobek, Professor of Astronomy, Northwestern Michigan College and Director of its Joseph H. Rogers Observatory.