12/31/2021 – Ephemeris – January 2022 preview

This is Ephemeris for New Year’s Eve, Friday, December 31st. The Sun will rise at 8:20. It’ll be up for 8 hours and 52 minutes, setting at 5:12. The Moon, 1 day before new, will rise at 7:20 tomorrow morning.

Tomorrow starts the new year of 2022. The daylight hours are slowly getting longer and will accelerate during the month. Daylight hours will increase from 8 hours and 52 minutes tomorrow to 9 hours and 47 minutes on the 31st. The sunrise time will decrease from 8:20 tomorrow to 8:02 at month’s end. The sunset times will increase from 5:13 tomorrow to 5:50 on the 31st. Along with that, the altitude of the sun at noon will increase from 22 degrees tomorrow to nearly 28 degrees at month’s end. It will be a degree lower for folks in the Straits area because they are a degree of latitude farther north. Local noon, by the way, for Interlochen and Traverse City is about 12:51 p.m. in January. Here’s wishing you a Happy New Year.

The astronomical event times given are for the Traverse City/Interlochen area of Michigan (EST, UT – 5 hours). They may be different for your location.

Addendum

Updated to replace twilight table at 5:07 pm.

January Evening Star Chart

Star Chart for January 2022 evenings, based on 9 p.m. EST, January 15, 2022. Click on image to enlarge. Created using my LookingUp program.

January Morning Star Chart

Star Chart for January 2022 mornings, based on 6 a.m. EST, January 15, 2022. Click on image to enlarge. Created using my LookingUp program.

Note that Traverse City is located approximately 45 minutes behind our time meridian, West 75° longitude. (An hour 45 minutes behind our daylight saving time meridian during EDT). For a list of constellation names to go with the abbreviations, click here.

The planets are also plotted for the 15th. For a check on the current whereabouts of the five naked eye planets, see the Wednesday post most weeks.

• Pointer stars at the front of the bowl of the Big Dipper point to Polaris, the North Star.
• The leaky bowl of the Big Dipper drips on Leo.
• Follow the arc of the handle of the Big Dipper to the star Arcturus, then
• Follow the spike to Spica.
• QuadR on the star charts is the radiant of the Quadrantid meteor shower, which peaks on the 3rd, but is best seen in the early morning hours of the 3rd or 4th.

Twilight Limits, Nautical and Astronomical

			EST
	Morning	Twilight	Evening	Twilight	Dark	Night	Moon
Date	Astro.	Nautical	Nautical	Astro.	Start	End	Illum.
2022-01-01	6h35m	7h11m	18h22m	18h57m	18h57m	6h35m	0
2022-01-02	6h35m	7h11m	18h23m	18h58m	18h58m	6h35m	0
2022-01-03	6h35m	7h11m	18h24m	18h59m	18h59m	6h35m	0.03
2022-01-04	6h35m	7h11m	18h25m	19h00m	19h35m	6h35m	0.08
2022-01-05	6h35m	7h11m	18h26m	19h01m	20h53m	6h35m	0.16
2022-01-06	6h35m	7h11m	18h26m	19h02m	22h08m	6h35m	0.25
2022-01-07	6h35m	7h11m	18h27m	19h03m	23h19m	6h35m	0.35
2022-01-08	6h35m	7h10m	18h28m	19h04m	–	6h35m	0.45
2022-01-09	6h35m	7h10m	18h29m	19h05m	0h27m	6h35m	0.55
2022-01-10	6h35m	7h10m	18h30m	19h06m	1h32m	6h35m	0.64
2022-01-11	6h35m	7h10m	18h31m	19h07m	2h37m	6h35m	0.73
2022-01-12	6h35m	7h10m	18h33m	19h08m	3h41m	6h35m	0.81
2022-01-13	6h34m	7h09m	18h34m	19h09m	4h45m	6h34m	0.88
2022-01-14	6h34m	7h09m	18h35m	19h10m	5h48m	6h34m	0.93
2022-01-15	6h34m	7h08m	18h36m	19h11m	–	–	0.97
2022-01-16	6h33m	7h08m	18h37m	19h12m	–	–	0.99
2022-01-17	6h33m	7h08m	18h38m	19h13m	–	–	1
2022-01-18	6h32m	7h07m	18h39m	19h14m	–	–	0.99
2022-01-19	6h32m	7h07m	18h40m	19h15m	19h15m	19h15m	0.95
2022-01-20	6h31m	7h06m	18h41m	19h16m	19h16m	20h23m	0.9
2022-01-21	6h31m	7h05m	18h43m	19h17m	19h17m	21h32m	0.83
2022-01-22	6h30m	7h05m	18h44m	19h18m	19h18m	22h41m	0.75
2022-01-23	6h29m	7h04m	18h45m	19h20m	19h20m	23h51m	0.65
2022-01-24	6h29m	7h03m	18h46m	19h21m	19h21m	–	0.54
2022-01-25	6h28m	7h03m	18h47m	19h22m	19h22m	1h04m	0.43
2022-01-26	6h27m	7h02m	18h49m	19h23m	19h23m	2h19m	0.32
2022-01-27	6h27m	7h01m	18h50m	19h24m	19h24m	3h37m	0.21
2022-01-28	6h26m	7h00m	18h51m	19h25m	19h25m	4h56m	0.13
2022-01-29	6h25m	6h59m	18h52m	19h27m	19h27m	6h11m	0.06
2022-01-30	6h24m	6h58m	18h54m	19h28m	19h28m	6h24m	0.01
2022-01-31	6h23m	6h57m	18h55m	19h29m	19h29m	6h23m	0

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     Time     Event
Jan  1  Sa            Venus: 12.4° E
     1  Sa   6:00 pm  Moon Perigee: 358000 km
     2  Su   8:35 am  Moon South Dec.: 26.3° S
     2  Su   1:33 pm  New Moon
     3  Mo   3:56 pm  Quadrantid Shower: ZHR = 120
     3  Mo   7:59 pm  Perihelion: 0.9833 AU
     4  Tu  11:50 am  Moon-Saturn: 4.2° N
     5  We   7:09 pm  Moon-Jupiter: 4.5° N
     7  Fr   5:59 am  Mercury Elongation: 19.2° E
     8  Sa   7:50 pm  Venus Inferior Conj.
     9  Su   1:11 pm  First Quarter
    12  We  11:17 pm  Mercury-Saturn: 3.4° N
    12  We  11:19 pm  Moon Ascending Node
    14  Fr   4:27 am  Moon Apogee: 405800 km
    16  Su   5:16 am  Moon North Dec.: 26.3° N
    17  Mo  10:37 am  Moon-Pollux: 2.9° N
    17  Mo   6:48 pm  Full Moon
    18  Tu  11:33 am  Moon-Beehive: 3.5° S
    23  Su   5:25 am  Mercury Inferior Conj.
    25  Tu   8:41 am  Last Quarter
    27  Th   1:14 am  Moon Descending Node
    29  Sa  10:05 am  Moon-Mars: 2.4° N
    29  Sa   6:26 pm  Moon South Dec.: 26.4° S
    30  Su   2:09 am  Moon Perigee: 362300 km
Feb  1  Tu            Venus: 32° W

All event times are given for UTC-5 Eastern Standard 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

LU                  Ephemeris of Sky Events for Interlochen/TC
January, 2022    Local time zone: EST
+-----------------------------------------------------------------------+
| DATE |  SUN     SUN  DAYLIGHT|   TWILIGHT*    |MOON  RISE OR    ILLUM |
|      |  RISE    SET    HOURS |  END    START  |PHASE SET** TIME FRACTN|
+=======================================================================+
|Sat  1| 08:20a  05:13p  08:52 | 06:23p  07:09a |      Rise 08:33a    1%|
+------+-----------------------+----------------+-----------------------+
|Sun  2| 08:20a  05:13p  08:53 | 06:24p  07:09a |New   Set  04:59p    0%|
|Mon  3| 08:20a  05:14p  08:54 | 06:25p  07:09a |      Set  06:14p    2%|
|Tue  4| 08:20a  05:15p  08:55 | 06:25p  07:10a |      Set  07:34p    7%|
|Wed  5| 08:19a  05:16p  08:57 | 06:26p  07:10a |      Set  08:53p   14%|
|Thu  6| 08:19a  05:18p  08:58 | 06:27p  07:09a |      Set  10:07p   23%|
|Fri  7| 08:19a  05:19p  08:59 | 06:28p  07:09a |      Set  11:18p   32%|
|Sat  8| 08:19a  05:20p  09:00 | 06:29p  07:09a |      Set  12:26a   42%|
+------+-----------------------+----------------+-----------------------+
|Sun  9| 08:19a  05:21p  09:02 | 06:30p  07:09a |F Qtr Set  01:32a   52%|
|Mon 10| 08:18a  05:22p  09:03 | 06:31p  07:09a |      Set  02:36a   62%|
|Tue 11| 08:18a  05:23p  09:05 | 06:32p  07:09a |      Set  03:41a   71%|
|Wed 12| 08:17a  05:24p  09:06 | 06:33p  07:08a |      Set  04:45a   79%|
|Thu 13| 08:17a  05:26p  09:08 | 06:34p  07:08a |      Set  05:47a   86%|
|Fri 14| 08:17a  05:27p  09:10 | 06:36p  07:08a |      Set  06:47a   92%|
|Sat 15| 08:16a  05:28p  09:11 | 06:37p  07:07a |      Set  07:41a   96%|
+------+-----------------------+----------------+-----------------------+
|Sun 16| 08:15a  05:29p  09:13 | 06:38p  07:07a |      Set  08:27a   99%|
|Mon 17| 08:15a  05:31p  09:15 | 06:39p  07:06a |Full  Rise 05:04p  100%|
|Tue 18| 08:14a  05:32p  09:17 | 06:40p  07:06a |      Rise 06:07p   99%|
|Wed 19| 08:13a  05:33p  09:19 | 06:41p  07:05a |      Rise 07:15p   96%|
|Thu 20| 08:13a  05:34p  09:21 | 06:42p  07:05a |      Rise 08:23p   91%|
|Fri 21| 08:12a  05:36p  09:23 | 06:44p  07:04a |      Rise 09:31p   85%|
|Sat 22| 08:11a  05:37p  09:25 | 06:45p  07:04a |      Rise 10:41p   76%|
+------+-----------------------+----------------+-----------------------+
|Sun 23| 08:10a  05:39p  09:28 | 06:46p  07:03a |      Rise 11:51p   67%|
|Mon 24| 08:09a  05:40p  09:30 | 06:47p  07:02a |      Rise 01:03a   56%|
|Tue 25| 08:09a  05:41p  09:32 | 06:48p  07:01a |L Qtr Rise 02:19a   45%|
|Wed 26| 08:08a  05:43p  09:35 | 06:50p  07:01a |      Rise 03:37a   34%|
|Thu 27| 08:07a  05:44p  09:37 | 06:51p  07:00a |      Rise 04:56a   24%|
|Fri 28| 08:06a  05:45p  09:39 | 06:52p  06:59a |      Rise 06:10a   14%|
|Sat 29| 08:05a  05:47p  09:42 | 06:53p  06:58a |      Rise 07:15a    7%|
+------+-----------------------+----------------+-----------------------+
|Sun 30| 08:04a  05:48p  09:44 | 06:55p  06:57a |      Rise 08:07a    2%|
|Mon 31| 08:02a  05:50p  09:47 | 06:56p  06:56a |      Rise 08:48a    0%|
+-----------------------------------------------------------------------+
* Nautical Twilight
** Moonrise or moonset, whichever occurs between sunrise and sunset

Generated using my LookingUp for DOS program.