01/01/2019 – Ephemeris – Previewing the month of January 2019

Ephemeris for New Years Day, Tuesday, January 1st. The Sun will rise at 8:20. It’ll be up for 8 hours and 52 minutes, setting at 5:12. The Moon, 3 days past last quarter, will rise at 4:59 tomorrow morning. | Happy New Year. Let’s preview the month of January. We’re a day from the latest sunrise at about the same time as today, 8:20 a.m. and will back down to 8:03 by the 31st. Sunset times are currently increasing by a minute a day from 5:12 p.m. today to 5:49 at month’s end. Listeners will have about the same sunrise time in Ludington, Interlochen/Traverse City, Petoskey and Mackinaw City, but the sunset times will vary markedly with the sunset times earlier in the north than the south. The Quadrantid meteor shower will reach peak on the 3rd in the evening. Also on the 3rd the Earth will be its closest to the Sun for the entire year. And on the 20th there will be a total lunar eclipse in the evening.

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

Addenda

January Evening Star Chart

Star Chart for January 2019 (9 p.m. EST January 15, 2019). 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.

January Morning Star Chart

Star Chart for January mornings 2019 (6 a.m. EST January 15, 2019). 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
• Extend like a spike to Spica,
• The Summer Triangle is in red.
• Quadr on the evening and morning star charts is the radiant of the Quadrantid meteor shower which peaks at 9:20 p.m. on the evening of the 3rd.

Twilight

Traverse City			EST
	Morning twilight		Evening twilight		Dark night		Moon
Date	Astro.	Nautical	Nautical	Astro.	Start	End	Illum.
2019-01-01	6h35m	7h10m	18h21m	18h57m	18h57m	3h54m	0.19
2019-01-02	6h35m	7h10m	18h22m	18h58m	18h58m	4h59m	0.11
2019-01-03	6h35m	7h11m	18h23m	18h58m	18h58m	6h02m	0.05
2019-01-04	6h35m	7h11m	18h24m	18h59m	18h59m	6h35m	0.02
2019-01-05	6h35m	7h11m	18h25m	19h00m	19h00m	6h35m	0
2019-01-06	6h35m	7h11m	18h26m	19h01m	19h01m	6h35m	0
2019-01-07	6h35m	7h10m	18h27m	19h02m	19h02m	6h35m	0.03
2019-01-08	6h35m	7h10m	18h28m	19h03m	19h56m	6h35m	0.07
2019-01-09	6h35m	7h10m	18h29m	19h04m	20h55m	6h35m	0.12
2019-01-10	6h35m	7h10m	18h30m	19h05m	21h55m	6h35m	0.2
2019-01-11	6h35m	7h10m	18h31m	19h06m	22h56m	6h35m	0.28
2019-01-12	6h34m	7h09m	18h32m	19h07m	23h57m	6h34m	0.37
2019-01-13	6h34m	7h09m	18h33m	19h08m	–	6h34m	0.47
2019-01-14	6h34m	7h09m	18h34m	19h09m	0h59m	6h34m	0.57
2019-01-15	6h34m	7h08m	18h35m	19h10m	2h04m	6h34m	0.68
2019-01-16	6h33m	7h08m	18h36m	19h11m	3h11m	6h33m	0.78
2019-01-17	6h33m	7h08m	18h37m	19h12m	4h21m	6h33m	0.87
2019-01-18	6h32m	7h07m	18h38m	19h13m	5h31m	6h32m	0.94
2019-01-19	6h32m	7h07m	18h40m	19h14m	–	–	0.98
2019-01-20	6h31m	7h06m	18h41m	19h15m	–	–	0.98
2019-01-21	6h31m	7h05m	18h42m	19h17m	–	–	1
2019-01-22	6h30m	7h05m	18h43m	19h18m	19h18m	19h41m	0.98
2019-01-23	6h29m	7h04m	18h44m	19h19m	19h19m	20h59m	0.93
2019-01-24	6h29m	7h03m	18h46m	19h20m	19h20m	22h15m	0.86
2019-01-25	6h28m	7h03m	18h47m	19h21m	19h21m	23h28m	0.76
2019-01-26	6h27m	7h02m	18h48m	19h22m	19h22m	–	0.66
2019-01-27	6h27m	7h01m	18h49m	19h24m	19h24m	0h38m	0.55
2019-01-28	6h26m	7h00m	18h50m	19h25m	19h25m	1h46m	0.44
2019-01-29	6h25m	6h59m	18h52m	19h26m	19h26m	2h52m	0.33
2019-01-30	6h24m	6h58m	18h53m	19h27m	19h27m	3h56m	0.24
2019-01-31	6h23m	6h57m	18h54m	19h28m	19h28m	4h55m	0.16

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/2019/09/27/

NASA Calendar of Planetary Events

	Date		Time	Event
Jan	1	Tu		Venus: 46.9° W
	1	Tu	04:50:00 PM	Moon-Venus: 1.4° S
	1	Tu	11:53:00 PM	Saturn Conjunction
	3	Th	02:37:00 AM	Moon-Jupiter: 3.4° S
	3	Th	04:59:00 AM	Perihelion: 0.9833 AU
	3	Th	09:28:00 PM	Quadrantid Shower: ZHR = 120
	5	Sa	01:46:00 PM	Moon South Dec.: 21.6° S
	5	Sa	08:28:00 PM	New Moon
	5	Sa	08:41:00 PM	Partial Solar Eclipse*
	5	Sa	11:59:00 PM	Venus Elongation: 47° W
	6	Su	07:08:00 PM	Moon Descending Node
	8	Tu	11:29:00 PM	Moon Apogee: 406100 km
	14	Mo	01:46:00 AM	First Quarter
	17	Th	01:20:00 PM	Moon-Aldebaran: 1.6° S
	19	Sa	06:20:00 PM	Moon North Dec.: 21.5° N
	20	Su	05:48:00 PM	Moon Ascending Node
	21	Mo	12:12:00 AM	Total Lunar Eclipse
	21	Mo	12:16:00 AM	Full Moon
	21	Mo	10:32:00 AM	Moon-Beehive: 0.6° N
	21	Mo	02:58:00 PM	Moon Perigee: 357300 km
	22	Tu	10:10:00 AM	Venus-Jupiter: 2.4° N
	22	Tu	08:41:00 PM	Moon-Regulus: 2.5° S
	27	Su	04:11:00 PM	Last Quarter
	29	Tu	09:46:00 PM	Mercury Superior Conj.
	30	We	06:54:00 PM	Moon-Jupiter: 3° S
	31	Th	12:36:00 PM	Moon-Venus: 0.1° S
Feb	1	Fr		Venus: 45.1° W

* Eclipse affects east Asia and the north Pacific

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
January 2019 – Local time zone: EST
Date		Sun			Twilight*		Moon			Illum
		Rise	Set	Hours	End	Start	Phase	R/S**	Time	Fractn
Tue	1	08:20a	05:12p	8:52	06:23p	07:09a		Rise	04:59a	15
Wed	2	08:20a	05:13p	8:53	06:23p	07:09a		Rise	06:02a	9
Thu	3	08:20a	05:14p	8:54	06:24p	07:09a		Rise	07:01a	4
Fri	4	08:20a	05:15p	8:55	06:25p	07:10a		Rise	07:55a	1
Sat	5	08:19a	05:16p	8:56	06:26p	07:10a	New	Set	05:08p	0
Sun	6	08:19a	05:17p	8:57	06:27p	07:09a		Set	06:01p	1
Mon	7	08:19a	05:18p	8:59	06:28p	07:09a		Set	06:57p	3
Tue	8	08:19a	05:19p	9:00	06:29p	07:09a		Set	07:55p	8
Wed	9	08:19a	05:20p	9:01	06:30p	07:09a		Set	08:55p	13
Thu	10	08:18a	05:22p	9:03	06:31p	07:09a		Set	09:55p	20
Fri	11	08:18a	05:23p	9:04	06:32p	07:09a		Set	10:55p	28
Sat	12	08:18a	05:24p	9:06	06:33p	07:08a		Set	11:56p	37
Sun	13	08:17a	05:25p	9:08	06:34p	07:08a		Set	12:59a	47
Mon	14	08:17a	05:26p	9:09	06:35p	07:08a	F Qtr	Set	02:04a	57
Tue	15	08:16a	05:28p	9:11	06:36p	07:07a		Set	03:11a	67
Wed	16	08:16a	05:29p	9:13	06:38p	07:07a		Set	04:20a	77
Thu	17	08:15a	05:30p	9:15	06:39p	07:07a		Set	05:31a	86
Fri	18	08:14a	05:31p	9:17	06:40p	07:06a		Set	06:39a	93
Sat	19	08:14a	05:33p	9:19	06:41p	07:06a		Set	07:41a	98
Sun	20	08:13a	05:34p	9:21	06:42p	07:05a		Set	08:36a	100
Mon	21	08:12a	05:35p	9:23	06:43p	07:04a	Full	Rise	06:23p	99
Tue	22	08:11a	05:37p	9:25	06:44p	07:04a		Rise	07:41p	95
Wed	23	08:11a	05:38p	9:27	06:46p	07:03a		Rise	08:59p	89
Thu	24	08:10a	05:40p	9:29	06:47p	07:02a		Rise	10:14p	80
Fri	25	08:09a	05:41p	9:32	06:48p	07:02a		Rise	11:27p	70
Sat	26	08:08a	05:42p	9:34	06:49p	07:01a		Rise	12:38a	60
Sun	27	08:07a	05:44p	9:36	06:51p	07:00a	L Qtr	Rise	01:46a	49
Mon	28	08:06a	05:45p	9:39	06:52p	06:59a		Rise	02:52a	38
Tue	29	08:05a	05:46p	9:41	06:53p	06:58a		Rise	03:55a	29
Wed	30	08:04a	05:48p	9:44	06:54p	06:57a		Rise	04:55a	20
Thu	31	08:03a	05:49p	9:46	06:56p	06:56a		Rise	05:50a	13
* Nautical Twilight
* Moonrise or moonset, whichever occurs between sunset and sunrise