12/01/2022 – Ephemeris – Let’s preview December skies

This is Ephemeris for Thursday, December 1st. Today the Sun will be up for 9 hours and 3 minutes, setting at 5:03, and it will rise tomorrow at 8:01. The Moon, 1 day past first quarter, will set at 1:57 tomorrow morning.

Let’s preview December’s skies. Winter will officially arrive on the 21st at 4:48 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 today, down to 5:02 and then advancing to 5:11 at the end of the month. The sunrise times will advance from 7:59 today to 8:20 on the 31st. The Moon will pass in front of Mars on the 7th, the night of the full moon and Mars opposition. The Geminid meteor shower whose maximum is on the morning of the 14th will have interference from the last quarter Moon.

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

December Evening Star Chart

Star Chart for December 2022 (9 p.m. EST December 15, 2022). Click on image to enlarge. Created using my LookingUp program. Click on image to enlarge.
Credit my LookingUp program.

The planets and stars are plotted for the 15th at 9 pm 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, West 75° longitude. (An hour 45 minutes behind our daylight saving time meridian during EDT).

December Morning Star Chart

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

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.
• 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.
• The Summer Triangle is in red.
• GemR on the star charts is the radiant of the Geminid meteor shower, which peaks on the morning of the 14th.

Twilight Limits, Nautical and Astronomical

			EST
	Morning	Twilight	Evening	Twilight	Dark	Night	Moon
Date	Astro.	Nautical	Nautical	Astro.	Start	End	Illum.
2022-12-01	6h20m	6h56m	18h16m	18h51m	0h44m	6h20m	0.67
2022-12-02	6h21m	6h57m	18h16m	18h51m	1h57m	6h21m	0.77
2022-12-03	6h22m	6h57m	18h16m	18h51m	3h08m	6h22m	0.85
2022-12-04	6h23m	6h58m	18h15m	18h51m	4h18m	6h23m	0.92
2022-12-05	6h24m	6h59m	18h15m	18h50m	5h27m	6h24m	0.96
2022-12-06	6h25m	7h00m	18h15m	18h50m	–	–	0.99
2022-12-07	6h26m	7h01m	18h15m	18h50m	–	–	1
2022-12-08	6h27m	7h02m	18h15m	18h50m	–	–	0.99
2022-12-09	6h28m	7h03m	18h15m	18h51m	–	–	0.96
2022-12-10	6h28m	7h04m	18h15m	18h51m	18h51m	18h55m	0.92
2022-12-11	6h29m	7h05m	18h15m	18h51m	18h51m	19h56m	0.86
2022-12-12	6h30m	7h05m	18h16m	18h51m	18h51m	21h01m	0.79
2022-12-13	6h31m	7h06m	18h16m	18h51m	18h51m	22h06m	0.71
2022-12-14	6h31m	7h07m	18h16m	18h51m	18h51m	23h11m	0.62
2022-12-15	6h32m	7h07m	18h16m	18h52m	18h52m	–	0.52
2022-12-16	6h33m	7h08m	18h16m	18h52m	18h52m	0h16m	0.42
2022-12-17	6h33m	7h09m	18h17m	18h52m	18h52m	1h22m	0.32
2022-12-18	6h30m	7h05m	18h13m	18h49m	18h49m	2h31m	0.22
2022-12-19	6h31m	7h06m	18h14m	18h49m	18h49m	3h43m	0.14
2022-12-20	6h31m	7h07m	18h14m	18h50m	18h50m	5h00m	0.07
2022-12-21	6h32m	7h07m	18h15m	18h50m	18h50m	6h20m	0.02
2022-12-22	6h32m	7h08m	18h15m	18h51m	18h51m	6h32m	0
2022-12-23	6h33m	7h08m	18h16m	18h51m	18h51m	6h33m	0.01
2022-12-24	6h33m	7h08m	18h16m	18h52m	18h52m	6h33m	0.05
2022-12-25	6h33m	7h09m	18h17m	18h52m	19h48m	6h33m	0.11
2022-12-26	6h34m	7h09m	18h17m	18h53m	21h11m	6h34m	0.2
2022-12-27	6h34m	7h10m	18h18m	18h54m	22h31m	6h34m	0.3
2022-12-28	6h34m	7h10m	18h19m	18h54m	23h47m	6h34m	0.41
2022-12-29	6h35m	7h10m	18h20m	18h55m	–	6h35m	0.52
2022-12-30	6h35m	7h10m	18h20m	18h56m	0h59m	6h35m	0.62
2022-12-31	6h35m	7h10m	18h21m	18h56m	2h10m	6h35m	0.72

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
Dec  1  Th            Venus: 9.9° E
     1  Th   7:52 pm  Moon-Jupiter: 2.6° N
     5  Mo   7:38 am  Moon Ascending Node
     6  Tu   2:26 pm  Moon-Pleiades: 2.9° N
     7  We  11:08 pm  Full Cold Moon
     7  We  11:21 pm  Moon-Mars: 0.6° S, Occultation!
     7  We  11:24 pm  Mars Opposition
     9  Fr   4:22 pm  Moon North Dec.: 27.4° N
    11  Su   2:06 am  Moon-Pollux: 2° N
    11  Su   7:30 pm  Moon Apogee: 405900 km
    14  We   7:53 am  Geminid Shower: ZHR = 120
    16  Fr   3:56 am  Last Quarter
    19  Mo   8:36 pm  Moon Descending Node
    21  We   9:59 am  Mercury Elongation: 20.1° E
    21  We   4:48 pm  Winter Solstice
    21  We   5:43 pm  Moon-Antares: 2.3° S
    22  Th   4:00 pm  Ursid Shower: ZHR = 10
    23  Fr   5:17 am  New Moon
    23  Fr   1:18 pm  Moon South Dec.: 27.4° S
    24  Sa   3:32 am  Moon Perigee: 358300 km
    24  Sa   6:29 am  Moon-Venus: 3.4° N
    26  Mo  11:11 am  Moon-Saturn: 4° N
    29  Th   2:13 am  Mercury-Venus: 1.4° N
    29  Th   5:29 am  Moon-Jupiter: 2.4° N
    29  Th   8:20 pm  First Quarter

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
December, 2022    Local time zone: EST
+-----------------------------------------------------------------------+
| DATE |  SUN     SUN  DAYLIGHT|   TWILIGHT*    |MOON  RISE OR    ILLUM |
|      |  RISE    SET    HOURS |  END    START  |PHASE SET** TIME FRACTN|
+=======================================================================+
|Thu  1| 07:59a  05:03p  09:03 | 06:12p  06:50a |      Set  01:57a   65%|
|Fri  2| 08:01a  05:03p  09:02 | 06:12p  06:51a |      Set  03:07a   75%|
|Sat  3| 08:02a  05:02p  09:00 | 06:12p  06:52a |      Set  04:17a   83%|
+------+-----------------------+----------------+-----------------------+
|Sun  4| 08:03a  05:02p  08:59 | 06:12p  06:53a |      Set  05:27a   90%|
|Mon  5| 08:04a  05:02p  08:58 | 06:12p  06:54a |      Set  06:36a   95%|
|Tue  6| 08:05a  05:02p  08:57 | 06:12p  06:55a |      Set  07:45a   99%|
|Wed  7| 08:06a  05:02p  08:55 | 06:12p  06:56a |Full  Rise 04:31p  100%|
|Thu  8| 08:07a  05:02p  08:54 | 06:12p  06:57a |      Rise 05:10p   99%|
|Fri  9| 08:08a  05:02p  08:53 | 06:12p  06:58a |      Rise 05:59p   97%|
|Sat 10| 08:09a  05:02p  08:52 | 06:12p  06:58a |      Rise 06:54p   93%|
+------+-----------------------+----------------+-----------------------+
|Sun 11| 08:10a  05:02p  08:52 | 06:12p  06:59a |      Rise 07:56p   87%|
|Mon 12| 08:10a  05:02p  08:51 | 06:12p  07:00a |      Rise 09:00p   80%|
|Tue 13| 08:11a  05:02p  08:50 | 06:12p  07:01a |      Rise 10:05p   72%|
|Wed 14| 08:12a  05:02p  08:50 | 06:13p  07:01a |      Rise 11:10p   63%|
|Thu 15| 08:13a  05:02p  08:49 | 06:13p  07:02a |      Rise 12:16a   54%|
|Fri 16| 08:13a  05:03p  08:49 | 06:13p  07:03a |L Qtr Rise 01:22a   44%|
|Sat 17| 08:14a  05:03p  08:48 | 06:14p  07:03a |      Rise 02:31a   34%|
+------+-----------------------+----------------+-----------------------+
|Sun 18| 08:15a  05:03p  08:48 | 06:14p  07:04a |      Rise 03:43a   24%|
|Mon 19| 08:15a  05:04p  08:48 | 06:14p  07:05a |      Rise 04:59a   16%|
|Tue 20| 08:16a  05:04p  08:48 | 06:15p  07:05a |      Rise 06:20a    8%|
|Wed 21| 08:16a  05:05p  08:48 | 06:15p  07:06a |      Rise 07:41a    3%|
|Thu 22| 08:17a  05:05p  08:48 | 06:16p  07:06a |      Rise 08:56a    0%|
|Fri 23| 08:17a  05:06p  08:48 | 06:16p  07:07a |New   Set  05:08p    1%|
|Sat 24| 08:18a  05:06p  08:48 | 06:17p  07:07a |      Set  06:24p    4%|
+------+-----------------------+----------------+-----------------------+
|Sun 25| 08:18a  05:07p  08:48 | 06:18p  07:08a |      Set  07:47p   10%|
|Mon 26| 08:19a  05:08p  08:49 | 06:18p  07:08a |      Set  09:10p   18%|
|Tue 27| 08:19a  05:08p  08:49 | 06:19p  07:08a |      Set  10:30p   28%|
|Wed 28| 08:19a  05:09p  08:49 | 06:20p  07:09a |      Set  11:46p   39%|
|Thu 29| 08:19a  05:10p  08:50 | 06:20p  07:09a |F Qtr Set  12:59a   49%|
|Fri 30| 08:19a  05:11p  08:51 | 06:21p  07:09a |      Set  02:09a   60%|
|Sat 31| 08:20a  05:11p  08:51 | 06:22p  07:09a |      Set  03:19a   70%|
+-----------------------------------------------------------------------+
* Nautical Twilight
** Moonrise or moonset, whichever occurs between sunrise and sunset

Generated using my LookingUp for DOS program.

Mars occultation by the Moon, the night of December 7/8, 2022

Occultation of Mars map. The occultation of Mars by the Moon will be visible from within the bounded area. For Traverse City, MI Mars will disappear around 10:15 pm, December 7, 2022 and reappear around 11:15 pm. I’ll have more on it next week. Credit: Occult v4 app.