Archive
04/05/2017 – Ephemeris – It’s Wednesday, do you know where your bright planets are?
Ephemeris for Wednesday, April 5th. The Sun will rise at 7:15. It’ll be up for 12 hours and 59 minutes, setting at 8:15. The Moon, 2 days past first quarter, will set at 5:04 tomorrow morning.
In the evening twilit sky tonight will feature the elusive planet Mercury. This tiny planet might be seen to the upper right of the Sun’s setting point starting about 9 p.m. It will set at 9:55 p.m. Mercury is getting rapidly fainter because it’s now exhibiting a diminishing crescent to us. It takes a good telescope and very steady skies to spot Mercury’s phase. Mars is still hanging on, in the west above and left of Mercury, and will set at 11:09 p.m. Jupiter will rise about sunset a half hour before the star Spica, which it will be seen to hang out with this year. Jupiter will be still seen in the morning sky low in the southwest at 6 a.m. Saturn then is in the south above the Teapot figure of Sagittarius. It will rise at 2:06 a.m. in the east-southeast.
Times are for the Traverse City/Interlochen area of Michigan. They may be different for your location.
Addendum
Mercury and Mars low in the west at 9 p.m. April 5, 2017. Created using Stellarium.
Jupiter and the Moon at 9:30 p.m. Created using Stellarium.
Jupiter and its moons as they might be seen in a telescope at 11 p.m. April 5, 2017. It is usually best to let planets rise a bit to minimize the atmospheric effects on the image. Created using Cartes du Ciel.
The Moon as it might be seen in binoculars at 9:30 p.m. April 5, 2016. Note the prominent crater Copernicus emerging into sunlight on the left of the Moon. Created using Stellarium.
If you’d like to check out the Moon in a telescope tonight, check out this posting : https://bobmoler.wordpress.com/2014/03/10/03102014-ephemeris-observibg-the-moon-tonight-and-the-crater-copernicus/
The planets visible at 6 a.m. April 6, 2017 Venus is just below the eastern horizon at this hour. Created using Stellarium.
Saturn and its moons at 6 a.m. April 6th, 2017. Created using Cartes du Ciel (Sky Charts).
Planets and the Moon at sunset and sunrise of a single night starting with sunset on the right on April 5, 2017. The night ends on the left with sunrise on April 6. Click on the image to enlarge. Created using my LookingUp program.
A comet dramatically brightens
Here is the track for Comet 2017 E4 Lovejoy. This comet was expected to be 14th magnitude, but it’s brightness shot up to around 6.5, within range of binoculars. I’m only plotting 10 days. It should be brightest about mid-month, but is poorly placed for observation, plus we’re fighting a bright Moon. The curved horizontal line near the bottom is the Horizon on April 4, 2017. Created using Cartes du Ciel.
Universe today has lots more on the new Comet Lovejoy here: https://www.universetoday.com/134848/surprise-comet-e4-lovejoy-brightens/
03/19/2017 – Ephemeris Extra – Comet 41P/Tuttle-Giacobini-Kresak is within reach of binoculars and small telescopes
UT
Comet 41P finder chart for the next month, March 20 to April 19. It is expected to be brightest at magnitude 6.6 in early April. Comet positions and orientation in the northeast are for 11:30 p.m. on the date specified or 3:30 UT on the next date. Created using Cartes du Ciel (Sky Charts). Click on the chart to enlarge.
Note above: The tail symbol points to the direction of a tail. However none of the photographs I’ve seen show a tail, so none will be visible visually.
This comet is known to have frequent outbursts where its brightness increases by many times. If an outburst occurs in early April, the comet could become visible to the naked eye. Original source material for this post comes from Seiichi Yoshida’s Weekly Information about Bright Comets web page. The comet will pass less than 14 million miles (22 million km) from Earth on April 5th, only 8 days before it’s closest approach to the Sun, called perihelion. From the finder chart one can see the comet will pass to the north of the Earth.
According to Gary Kronk’s Cometography.com web site the comet was discovered and lost three times. It was first discovered in 1858 by Horace Tuttle, whose name was attached to at two well known comets that produce meteor showers. It was unobserved for the next eight returns, which were expected every 5.42 years. Michel Giacobini rediscovered it again in 1907. Giacobini was the discoverer of Comet Giacobini-Zinner, another famous meteor shower producing comet. It was lost again until Lubos Kresák rediscovered it in 1951 after seven more missed returns.
01/31/2017 – Ephemeris – Looking ahead at February 2017
Ephemeris for Tuesday, January 31st. The Sun will rise at 8:02. It’ll be up for 9 hours and 48 minutes, setting at 5:50. The Moon, 3 days before first quarter, will set at 10:06 this evening.
February is the shortest month, even so the daylight hours throughout the month will be getting longer. Daylight hours will increase from 9 hours and 50 minutes tomorrow to 11 hours and 7 minutes on the 28th. The sunrise time will decrease from 8:01 tomorrow to 7:21 at months end. The sunset times will increase from 5:51 tomorrow to 6:29 on the 28th. Along with that the altitude of the sun at noon will increase from 28.4 degrees today to 38.6 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 12:55 p.m. On the evening of the 10th the Moon will enter the Earth’s outer shadow with an penumbral lunar eclipse. I’ll have more information on that then. Moon will be near the planets Mars and Venus in the southwestern sky early tonight.
Times are for the Traverse City/Interlochen area of Michigan. They may be different for your location.
Addenda
February Star Charts
Evening
Star Chart for February 2017. Created using my LookingUp program. Click on image to enlarge.
Morning
Star Chart for February 2017 mornings. Created using my LookingUp program. Click on image to enlarge.
The planets and stars are plotted for the 15th at 9 p.m. EST, and again at 6 a.m. Those are chart times. Note, Traverse City is located approximately 45 minutes behind our time meridian. (An hour 45 minutes behind our daylight saving time meridian. during EDT and 45 minutes behind our daylight standard time meridian. during EST). To duplicate the star positions on a planisphere you may have to set it to 1:45 or 0:45 earlier than the current time if you were near your time meridian.
Add a half hour to the chart time every week before the 15th and subtract a half hour for every week after the 15th.
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
- Straighten to a spike to Spica
- The Summer Triangle is shown in red
Evening nautical twilight ends at 6:56 p.m. EST on the 1st, increasing to 7:31 p.m. EST on the 28th.
Evening astronomical twilight ends at 7:30 p.m. EST on the 1st, increasing to 8:05 p.m. EST on the 28th.
Morning astronomical twilight starts at 6:22 a.m. EST on the 1st, and increasing to 5:45 a.m. EST on the 28th.
Morning nautical twilight starts at 6:56 a.m. EST on the 1st, and Increasing to 6:19 a.m. EST on the 28th.
NASA Calendar of Planetary Events
Credit: Sky Events Calendar by Fred Espenak and Sumit Dutta (NASA’s GSFC)
To generate your own calendar go to http://eclipse.gsfc.nasa.gov/SKYCAL/SKYCAL.html
Times are Eastern Time and follow the time change dates.
Date Time Event Feb 01 We Venus: 45.5° E 02 Th 5:11 am Venus-Mars: 5.4° N 03 Fr 11:19 pm First Quarter 05 Su 4:14 pm Moon-Aldebaran: 0.2° S 06 Mo 8:59 am Moon Perigee: 368800 km 07 Tu 1:34 pm Moon North Dec.: 18.9° N 10 Fr 7:33 pm Full Moon 10 Fr 7:45 pm Penumbral Lunar Eclipse 11 Sa 9:04 am Moon-Regulus: 0.8° N 11 Sa 2:49 pm Moon Ascending Node 15 We 9:55 am Moon-Jupiter: 2.9° S 18 Sa 2:33 pm Last Quarter 18 Sa 4:14 pm Moon Apogee: 404400 km 20 Mo 6:44 pm Moon-Saturn: 3.9° S 21 Tu 3:50 pm Moon South Dec.: 18.8° S 26 Su 1:28 pm Moon Descending Node 26 Su 9:54 am Annular Solar Eclipse - South Atlantic 26 Su 9:58 am New Moon Mar 01 We Venus: 32.5° E
February 2017 Calendar
LU Ephemeris of Sky Events for Interlochen/TC February, 2017 Local time zone: EST +-----------------------------------------------------------------------+ | DATE | SUN SUN DAYLIGHT| TWILIGHT* |MOON RISE OR ILLUM | | | RISE SET HOURS | END START |PHASE SET** TIME FRACTN| +=======================================================================+ |Wed 1| 08:01a 05:51p 09:50 | 06:57p 06:55a | Set 11:15p 26%| |Thu 2| 08:00a 05:53p 09:52 | 06:59p 06:54a | Set 12:25a 37%| |Fri 3| 07:59a 05:54p 09:55 | 07:00p 06:53a |F Qtr Set 01:35a 48%| |Sat 4| 07:57a 05:56p 09:58 | 07:01p 06:52a | Set 02:45a 59%| +------+-----------------------+----------------+-----------------------+ |Sun 5| 07:56a 05:57p 10:00 | 07:03p 06:51a | Set 03:53a 70%| |Mon 6| 07:55a 05:58p 10:03 | 07:04p 06:50a | Set 04:56a 80%| |Tue 7| 07:54a 06:00p 10:06 | 07:05p 06:48a | Set 05:54a 89%| |Wed 8| 07:52a 06:01p 10:09 | 07:06p 06:47a | Set 06:45a 95%| |Thu 9| 07:51a 06:03p 10:11 | 07:08p 06:46a | Set 07:28a 99%| |Fri 10| 07:50a 06:04p 10:14 | 07:09p 06:45a |Full Rise 05:59p 100%| |Sat 11| 07:48a 06:06p 10:17 | 07:10p 06:43a | Rise 07:06p 99%| +------+-----------------------+----------------+-----------------------+ |Sun 12| 07:47a 06:07p 10:20 | 07:12p 06:42a | Rise 08:12p 96%| |Mon 13| 07:45a 06:08p 10:23 | 07:13p 06:41a | Rise 09:16p 90%| |Tue 14| 07:44a 06:10p 10:26 | 07:14p 06:39a | Rise 10:18p 84%| |Wed 15| 07:42a 06:11p 10:28 | 07:15p 06:38a | Rise 11:18p 76%| |Thu 16| 07:41a 06:13p 10:31 | 07:17p 06:37a | Rise 12:18a 67%| |Fri 17| 07:39a 06:14p 10:34 | 07:18p 06:35a | Rise 01:16a 58%| |Sat 18| 07:38a 06:15p 10:37 | 07:19p 06:34a |L Qtr Rise 02:12a 48%| +------+-----------------------+----------------+-----------------------+ |Sun 19| 07:36a 06:17p 10:40 | 07:21p 06:32a | Rise 03:07a 39%| |Mon 20| 07:34a 06:18p 10:43 | 07:22p 06:31a | Rise 03:59a 30%| |Tue 21| 07:33a 06:20p 10:46 | 07:23p 06:29a | Rise 04:49a 21%| |Wed 22| 07:31a 06:21p 10:49 | 07:25p 06:28a | Rise 05:34a 14%| |Thu 23| 07:30a 06:22p 10:52 | 07:26p 06:26a | Rise 06:16a 8%| |Fri 24| 07:28a 06:24p 10:55 | 07:27p 06:25a | Rise 06:54a 3%| |Sat 25| 07:26a 06:25p 10:58 | 07:28p 06:23a | Rise 07:29a 0%| +------+-----------------------+----------------+-----------------------+ |Sun 26| 07:25a 06:26p 11:01 | 07:30p 06:21a |New Set 06:43p 0%| |Mon 27| 07:23a 06:28p 11:04 | 07:31p 06:20a | Set 07:53p 2%| |Tue 28| 07:21a 06:29p 11:07 | 07:32p 06:18a | Set 09:03p 7%| +-----------------------------------------------------------------------+ * Nautical Twilight ** Moonrise or moonset, whichever occurs between sunset and sunrise
Penumbral Lunar Eclipse February 10/11, 2016
The moment of mid-eclipse at 7:45 p.m. February 10, 2016 EST (0:45 UT February 11). The Moon is traveling from upper right to lower left. Orientation is alt-az for northern Michigan. Created using Cartes du Ciel (Sky Charts).
In the early evening hours of February 10th the Moon will pass through the Earth’s outer or penumbral shadow. It will not get particularly dark since the Moon will still be somewhat illuminated by the Sun.
Anything shows two types of shadows in the sunlight. Your shadow appears fuzzy. That fuzziness is your penumbra, where the sunlight is only partially blocked. The dark inner part of your shadow is your umbra.
The eclipse starts at 5:34 p.m. (22:34 UT) at which time you will see nothing out of thee ordinary. Since the Moon is entering the shadow at a shallow angle it will take 2 hours and 11 minutes to reach the maximum eclipse. I’m guessing here, but one will probably not notice anything before 7 p.m. (0:00 UT) To help see the effect better, put on sunglasses. They will reduce the Moon’s glare to help see the darkening effect. Officially the eclipse will end at 9:53 p.m. (2:53 UT the 11th)
Binocular Comet 45P/Honda-Mrkos-Pajdusakova
Comet 45P’s track for February. The comet is expected to be about a magnitude brighter than displayed (7th magnitude). Created using Cartes du Ciel (Sky Charts).
In the chart above the comet’s position is marked by a comet symbol. The comet’s tail, if visible at all, will actually point to the right along its track. The data for this chart is taken from Seiichi Yoshida’s Weekly Information about Bright Comets: http://www.aerith.net/comet/weekly/current.html
10/14/2016 – Ephemeris – Super Moon Sunday and a weird comet
Ephemeris for Friday, October 14th. The Sun will rise at 7:57. It’ll be up for 11 hours and 1 minute, setting at 6:59. The Moon, 2 days before full, will set at 7:03 tomorrow morning.
The full moon on Sunday will be the Hunter’s Moon it will also be a super moon, though not quite as super as November’s super moon. I tend to disparage the effect because of the optical illusion that makes the Moon appear larger when near the horizon than when higher up. Besides there’s nothing out there of comparable size to compare it to. Farther out in space, the comet 29P/Schwassmann-Wachmann 1, which is weird among comets in having a nearly circular orbit between Jupiter and Saturn. It can be observed over it’s entire orbit. Normally a comet out that far is pretty much inactive. However every once in a while it produces an outburst, brightening and expelling a cloud of gas and dust. This can occur up to 7 times a year.
Times are for the Traverse City/Interlochen area of Michigan. They may be different for your location.
Addendum
This month’s super Moon will appear to be 33.4 minutes of arc in diameter when it will rise Sunday night at 7:40 p.m. in the Traverse City/Interlochen area. It will be 222,393 miles (357,906 km) away. November’s super Moon will rise November 14 at 5:53 p.m. and appear to be 33.6 minutes of arc in diameter. Note that half a degree is 30 minutes of arc. Last April 2nd’s mini Moon was 29.4 seconds of arc in diameter when it rose. It was 252,262 miles (405,977 km) away. This full Moon will appear 13.6% larger than last April’s full Moon.
09/29/2016 – Ephemeris – The Rosetta spacecraft starts its fatal dive today
Ephemeris for Thursday, September 29th. The Sun will rise at 7:38. It’ll be up for 11 hours and 47 minutes, setting at 7:26. The Moon, 1 day before new, will rise at 7:09 tomorrow morning.
Tomorrow morning at 6:40 a.m. give or take 20 minutes the European Space Agency’s Rosetta spacecraft will slowly crash into Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko after orbiting it for a bit over 2 years. The comet is carrying Rosette out toward Jupiter’s orbit where the spacecraft cannot receive enough sunlight to power it. Today the controllers will command the spacecraft to perform the collision maneuver to cancel Rosetta’s complete orbital velocity and let it fall straight down to hit the head of the rubber ducky shaped comet. It’s antenna will be facing Earth and it will be taking pictures all the way down for immediate transmission because Rosetta will turn off its transmitter forever when it impacts the comet.
Times are for the Traverse City/Interlochen area of Michigan. They may be different for your location.
Addendum
An artist’s illustration of the European Space Agency’s comet-chasing Rosetta spacecraft. Credit: ESA – C. Carreau
Rosetta, Final orbit. Credit & copyright European Space Agency (ESA)
07/15/2016 – Ephemeris – The end is near for ESA’s Rosetta spacecraft
Ephemeris for Monday, August 15th. The Sun rises at 6:45. It’ll be up for 14 hours and 1 minute, setting at 8:47. The Moon, 3 days before full, will set at 4:49 tomorrow morning.
In a month and a half the European Space Agency’s Rosetta spacecraft will end its mission to comet 67/P Churyumov-Gerasimenko or just 67/P for short. The end will come as the Rosetta spacecraft will make a slow crash onto the comet. A week ago the spacecraft shut down its link to the Philae lander, which itself didn’t stick its landing and bounced three times and found itself between ice and a hard place with no way for the Sun to reach it to recharge its batteries, and so had an abbreviated science mission before the batteries failed. The comet was closest to the Sun a year ago, and is heading back out to near the orbit of Jupiter. Last time it was out this far Rosetta had just been woken up out of a three-year slumber. This time though it will sleep forever after a job well done.
Times are for the Traverse City/Interlochen area of Michigan. They may be different for your location.
Addendum
An artist’s illustration of the European Space Agency’s comet-chasing Rosetta spacecraft. Credit: ESA – C. Carreau
An image of the Philae lander superimposed on its panorama photographs where it was wedged between ice and a hard place in the shadows November 2014. Credit: ESA/Rosetta.
Comet 67P and jets of dust, carried by sublimating ices. Credit: ESA/Rosetta
08/09/2016 – Ephemeris – A look at the Perseids progenitor
Ephemeris for Tuesday, August 9th. The Sun rises at 6:38. It’ll be up for 14 hours and 18 minutes, setting at 8:56. The Moon, 1 day before first quarter, will set at 12:23 tomorrow morning.
Comet Swift-Tuttle is the comet responsible for the Perseid Meteor Shower which is now ramping up and will reach its peak Thursday night and Friday morning. The comet was independently discovered by Swift and Tuttle in the summer of 1862. Based on three months of observations it was predicted to return after 120 years in 1982. After it failed to appear more work was done to refine the orbit, and to check for past appearances of the comet. Sure enough comets appearing to fit the orbit were found in 188 CE and 69 BCE, so a new prediction for the comet to reappear was made for 1992 by the late Dr. Brian Marsden of the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory. His revised prediction was only off by 17 days.
Times are for the Traverse City/Interlochen area of Michigan. They may be different for your location.
Addendum
Orbit of Comet 109P/Swift-Tuttle. Blue line is the comet’s orbit, coming from above (North). Credit NASA / JPL / Applet by Osamu Ajiki (AstroArts), and further modified by Ron Baalke (JPL).
Orbit of Comet 109P/Swift-Tuttle. Blue line is the comet’s orbit, coming from above. That’s why the radiant is so far north. See yesterday’s post for the radiant point. Credit NASA / JPL / Applet by Osamu Ajiki (AstroArts), and further modified by Ron Baalke (JPL).
These were generated a couple of years ago. However the comet won’t be back until 2122 give or take.
