09/05/2022 – Ephemeris – It’s Labor Day, the unofficial end of summer

This is Ephemeris for Labor Day, Monday, September 5th. Today the Sun will be up for 13 hours and 2 minutes, setting at 8:12, and it will rise tomorrow at 7:11. The Moon, 2 days past first quarter, will set at 1:55 tomorrow morning.

Even though we have 17 more days officially, of summer, according to the actual seasons, today seems like it, the end of summer. Summer seems to be defined or confined to between the time that the kids get out of school, to Labor Day. Schools in many locales have been back for almost two weeks now. As far as the summer sky goes, the summer Milky Way will stick around until October, until we lose the Teapot of Sagittarius over the southwestern horizon. The Summer Triangle of bright summer stars, won’t leave the sky until December, as they move ever westward. However, in the east the autumn stars are even now rising, pushing the Milky Way to the west. The predawn sky is already featuring the winter stars.

The astronomical event times given are for the Traverse City/Interlochen area of Michigan (EDT, UT – 4 hours). They may be different for your location.

Addendum

The constellations of Labor Day Evening, September 5, 2022, at 10 pm, around 2 hours after sunset. Note that the Summer Triangle Stars of Vega, Altair and Deneb are overhead. Click on the chart to enlarge it. Credit: my App LookingUp. I only allowed 8 character star names, so Fomalhaut shows up as Fomalhau.

The constellations of the day after Labor Day morning, September 6, 2022, at 5 am, around 2 hours before sunrise. Note that the Summer Triangle Stars are setting in the northwest. All the brightest winter stars are now up, and constellations, except for the southern half of Canis Major, of which Sirius is a part. This is equivalent to an evening in mid-December, except the planets Mars, Jupiter and Saturn will have moved a bit. Click on the chart to enlarge it. Again, some of the star names have been truncated: Fomalhaut, Aldebaran, and Betelgeuse. Credit: my App LookingUp.

For a list of constellation names to go with the abbreviations, click here.