06/19/2020 – Ephemeris – Summer arrives tomorrow with an eclipse of the Sun the next day

This is Ephemeris for Friday, June 19th. Today the Sun will be up for 15 hours and 34 minutes, setting at 9:31, and it will rise tomorrow at 5:57. The Moon, 2 days before new, will rise at 5:25 tomorrow morning.

Tomorrow afternoon at 5:43 pm summer will begin, as the Sun reaches its greatest northerly excursion, right over the tropic of Cancer, 23 ½ degrees north latitude on the Earth’s surface. It’s called the summer solstice for those of us north of the equator. Early Sunday morning there will be an annular eclipse of the Sun. We won’t see it in the United States, however it will be visible for parts of Africa and southern Asia. The Moon will be too far away to completely cover the face of the Sun leaving a ring or annulus at maximum eclipse, a so-called Ring of Fire. It is the second of a triad of eclipses this eclipse season. Two weeks ago there was a slight eclipse of the Moon and two weeks from now another slight eclipse of the Moon to finish the season.

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

Addenda

Annular Eclipse

Areas of the Earth where the solar eclipse of June 21, 2020 will be visible. The central double red line delineates the path of annularity. Click on the image to see the original chart. Credit NASA GSFC, Fred Espenak.

My photograph of the Annular eclipse May 10 1994 taken east of Toledo, Ohio, May 10, 1994.

Summer Solstice

Earth and magnified local area near summer solstice. Image taken near local noon June 17, 2020. Credit NOAA DSCOVR satellite orbiting the Sun-Earth L1 point 994,970 miles (1,601,432 kilometers) sunward from the Earth. For once it’s clear enough to see the mitten of the Lower Peninsula of Michigan.

The Sun’s path through the sky on the summer solstice day from Traverse City, MI. Created using my LookingUp program..