06/30/2020 – Ephemeris – Previewing the skies of July 2020

This is Ephemeris for Tuesday, June 30th. Today the Sun will be up for 15 hours and 31 minutes, setting at 9:32, and it will rise tomorrow at 6:01. The Moon, 2 days past first quarter, will set at 3:15 tomorrow morning.

Lets preview July’s skies. The Sun, having reached its northern solstice, is beginning to slide southward again, at first imperceptibly, then with greater speed. The daylight hours will decrease from 15 hours and 30 minutes tomorrow to 14 hours 40 minutes at month’s end. The daylight hours will be slightly shorter south of Interlochen, and slightly longer to the north. The altitude of the Sun at local noon, when it is due south will decrease from 68 degrees tomorrow to 63 degrees at month’s end. Despite the warmth, the Earth will reach its greatest distance from the Sun on Saturday the 4th. Both Jupiter and Saturn reach opposition from the Sun this month and officially become evening planets.

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

Addendum

July Evening Star Chart

Star Chart for July 2020 (11 p.m. EDT July 15, 2019). Created using my LookingUp program. Click on image to enlarge.

The planets and stars are plotted for the 15th at 11 p.m. EDT in the evening and 4:30 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). To duplicate the star positions on a planisphere you may have to set it to 1 hour 45 minutes earlier than the current time.

Note the chart times are for the 15th. For each week before the 15th add ½ hour (28 minutes if you’re picky). For each week after the 15th subtract ½ hour. The planet positions are updated each Wednesday on this blog. For planet positions on dates other than the 15th.

July Morning Star Chart

Star Chart for July mornings 2020 (4:30 a.m. EDT July 15, 2019). Created using my LookingUp program. Click on image to enlarge.

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.
• Leaky dipper drips on Leo.
• Follow the arc of the handle of the Big Dipper to the star Arcturus, and
• Extend like a spike to Spica.
• The Summer Triangle is in red.
• DAqR is the radiant of the South Delta Aquariid meteor shower (Peaks on the 27th)

Twilight Limits, Nautical and Astronomical

			EDT
	Morning twilight		Evening twilight		Dark night		Moon
Date	Astro.	Nautical	Nautical	Astro.	Start	End	Illum.
2020-07-01	3h38m	4h41m	23h00m	0h03m	3h15m	3h38m	0.88
2020-07-02	3h39m	4h42m	22h59m	0h02m	–	–	0.95
2020-07-03	3h40m	4h43m	22h59m	0h01m	–	–	0.95
2020-07-04	3h42m	4h43m	22h58m	0h00m	–	–	0.99
2020-07-05	3h43m	4h44m	22h58m	23h59m	–	–	1
2020-07-06	3h44m	4h45m	22h57m	23h58m	–	–	0.99
2020-07-07	3h46m	4h46m	22h56m	23h57m	–	–	0.95
2020-07-08	3h47m	4h47m	22h56m	23h56m	23h56m	–	0.89
2020-07-09	3h49m	4h48m	22h55m	23h54m	23h54m	0h05m	0.82
2020-07-10	3h50m	4h49m	22h54m	23h53m	23h53m	0h30m	0.74
2020-07-11	3h52m	4h51m	22h53m	23h52m	23h52m	0h52m	0.65
2020-07-12	3h54m	4h52m	22h52m	23h50m	23h50m	1h13m	0.55
2020-07-13	3h55m	4h53m	22h51m	23h49m	23h49m	1h33m	0.45
2020-07-14	3h57m	4h54m	22h50m	23h47m	23h47m	1h55m	0.36
2020-07-15	3h59m	4h55m	22h49m	23h46m	23h46m	2h19m	0.26
2020-07-16	4h01m	4h57m	22h48m	23h44m	23h44m	2h47m	0.18
2020-07-17	4h02m	4h58m	22h47m	23h43m	23h43m	3h20m	0.11
2020-07-18	4h04m	4h59m	22h46m	23h41m	23h41m	4h01m	0.05
2020-07-19	4h06m	5h01m	22h45m	23h39m	23h39m	4h06m	0.01
2020-07-20	4h08m	5h02m	22h44m	23h38m	23h38m	4h08m	0
2020-07-21	4h10m	5h03m	22h42m	23h36m	23h36m	4h10m	0.01
2020-07-22	4h12m	5h05m	22h41m	23h34m	23h34m	4h12m	0.06
2020-07-23	4h14m	5h06m	22h40m	23h32m	23h32m	4h14m	0.12
2020-07-24	4h16m	5h08m	22h38m	23h30m	23h58m	4h16m	0.21
2020-07-25	4h17m	5h09m	22h37m	23h28m	–	4h17m	0.32
2020-07-26	4h19m	5h10m	22h35m	23h26m	0h24m	4h19m	0.44
2020-07-27	4h21m	5h12m	22h34m	23h24m	0h50m	4h21m	0.56
2020-07-28	4h23m	5h13m	22h32m	23h22m	1h18m	4h23m	0.67
2020-07-29	4h25m	5h15m	22h31m	23h20m	1h49m	4h25m	0.77
2020-07-30	4h27m	5h16m	22h29m	23h18m	2h27m	4h27m	0.86
2020-07-31	4h29m	5h18m	22h28m	23h16m	3h11m	4h29m	0.93

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
Jul 1  We            Venus: 34.3° W
    3  Fr  11:18 pm  Moon Descending Node
    4  Sa  10:59 am  Aphelion: 1.0167 AU
    4  Sa  09:37 pm  Moon South Dec.: 24.1° S
    5  Su  12:30 am  Penumbral Lunar Eclipse
	                    (Americas, sw Europe, Africa)
    5  Su  12:44 am  Full Moon
    5  Su  05:37 pm  Moon-Jupiter: 1.9° N
    6  Mo  04:45 am  Moon-Saturn: 2.6° N
   11  Sa  08:17 am  Venus-Aldebaran: 1° N
   11  Sa  03:36 pm  Moon-Mars: 2.2° N
   12  Su  03:27 pm  Moon Apogee: 404200 km
   12  Su  07:29 pm  Last Quarter
   14  Tu  03:03 am  Jupiter Opposition
   17  Fr  03:26 am  Moon-Venus: 3.4° S
   18  Sa  08:33 am  Moon Ascending Node
   19  Su  07:51 am  Moon North Dec.: 24.1° N
   20  Mo  01:33 pm  New Moon
   20  Mo  05:33 pm  Saturn Opposition
   22  We  10:59 am  Mercury Greatest Elongation: 20.1° W
   25  Sa  12:54 am  Moon Perigee: 368400 km
   27  Mo  08:32 am  First Quarter
   27  Mo  05:08 pm  Delta Aquarid Meteor Shower: ZHR = 20
   31  Fr  05:32 am  Moon Descending Node
Aug 1  Sa            Venus: 45.2° W

All event times are given for UTC-4 hr: Eastern Daylight Saving 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
July, 2020    Local time zone: EDT
+-----------------------------------------------------------------------+
| DATE |  SUN     SUN  DAYLIGHT|   TWILIGHT*    |MOON  RISE OR    ILLUM |
|      |  RISE    SET    HOURS |  END    START  |PHASE SET** TIME FRACTN|
+=======================================================================+
|Wed  1| 06:01a  09:31p  15:30 | 10:57p  04:35a |      Set  03:49a   87%|
|Thu  2| 06:01a  09:31p  15:29 | 10:56p  04:36a |      Set  04:29a   94%|
|Fri  3| 06:02a  09:31p  15:28 | 10:56p  04:37a |      Set  05:18a   98%|
|Sat  4| 06:03a  09:31p  15:27 | 10:55p  04:38a |      Set  06:15a  100%|
+------+-----------------------+----------------+-----------------------+
|Sun  5| 06:03a  09:30p  15:26 | 10:55p  04:39a |Full  Rise 10:19p   99%|
|Mon  6| 06:04a  09:30p  15:25 | 10:54p  04:40a |      Rise 11:02p   96%|
|Tue  7| 06:05a  09:29p  15:24 | 10:53p  04:41a |      Rise 11:37p   91%|
|Wed  8| 06:06a  09:29p  15:23 | 10:53p  04:42a |      Rise 12:05a   85%|
|Thu  9| 06:06a  09:29p  15:22 | 10:52p  04:43a |      Rise 12:30a   77%|
|Fri 10| 06:07a  09:28p  15:20 | 10:51p  04:44a |      Rise 12:52a   68%|
|Sat 11| 06:08a  09:27p  15:19 | 10:50p  04:45a |      Rise 01:12a   59%|
+------+-----------------------+----------------+-----------------------+
|Sun 12| 06:09a  09:27p  15:17 | 10:49p  04:46a |L Qtr Rise 01:33a   50%|
|Mon 13| 06:10a  09:26p  15:16 | 10:48p  04:47a |      Rise 01:55a   40%|
|Tue 14| 06:11a  09:25p  15:14 | 10:47p  04:49a |      Rise 02:19a   31%|
|Wed 15| 06:11a  09:25p  15:13 | 10:46p  04:50a |      Rise 02:47a   23%|
|Thu 16| 06:12a  09:24p  15:11 | 10:45p  04:51a |      Rise 03:20a   15%|
|Fri 17| 06:13a  09:23p  15:09 | 10:44p  04:52a |      Rise 04:01a    8%|
|Sat 18| 06:14a  09:22p  15:08 | 10:43p  04:54a |      Rise 04:52a    4%|
+------+-----------------------+----------------+-----------------------+
|Sun 19| 06:15a  09:21p  15:06 | 10:41p  04:55a |      Rise 05:52a    1%|
|Mon 20| 06:16a  09:21p  15:04 | 10:40p  04:56a |New   Set  09:45p    0%|
|Tue 21| 06:17a  09:20p  15:02 | 10:39p  04:58a |      Set  10:26p    2%|
|Wed 22| 06:18a  09:19p  15:00 | 10:38p  04:59a |      Set  11:01p    7%|
|Thu 23| 06:19a  09:18p  14:58 | 10:36p  05:00a |      Set  11:31p   14%|
|Fri 24| 06:20a  09:17p  14:56 | 10:35p  05:02a |      Set  11:58p   22%|
|Sat 25| 06:21a  09:16p  14:54 | 10:33p  05:03a |      Set  12:24a   33%|
+------+-----------------------+----------------+-----------------------+
|Sun 26| 06:22a  09:15p  14:52 | 10:32p  05:05a |      Set  12:50a   44%|
|Mon 27| 06:24a  09:13p  14:49 | 10:30p  05:06a |F Qtr Set  01:18a   55%|
|Tue 28| 06:25a  09:12p  14:47 | 10:29p  05:08a |      Set  01:49a   67%|
|Wed 29| 06:26a  09:11p  14:45 | 10:27p  05:09a |      Set  02:27a   77%|
|Thu 30| 06:27a  09:10p  14:42 | 10:26p  05:11a |      Set  03:11a   85%|
|Fri 31| 06:28a  09:09p  14:40 | 10:24p  05:12a |      Set  04:04a   92%|
+-----------------------------------------------------------------------+
* Nautical Twilight
** Moonrise or moonset, whichever occurs between sunrise and sunset

06/01/2020 – Ephemeris – Let’s preview June’s bright skies (Long days and short nights)

This is Bob Moler with Ephemeris for Monday, June 1st. Today the Sun will be up for 15 hours and 21 minutes, setting at 9:21, and it will rise tomorrow at 5:59. The Moon, 3 days past first quarter, will set at 4:15 tomorrow morning.

Ephemeris start’s its 46th orbit of the Sun today, so let’s preview June skies. There will be a lot of sunlight in June. The daylight hours will increase a bit from 15 hours and 21 minutes today to 15 hours and 34 minutes on the 20th, the solstice, retreating back to 15 hours 31 minutes at month’s end. At this time of the year the sunset times for Ludington, Interlochen, Petoskey and Mackinaw City are very nearly the same. However the sunrise times are at their most divergent. With Ludington’s sunrise being 14 minutes later than Mackinaw City’s. The altitude of the Sun above the southern horizon at local noon will increase from about 67 and a half degrees to 68 and three-quarters on the 20th. Local noon, when the Sun is actually due south in the Interlochen area will occur at about 1:43 p.m.

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

Addendum

June Evening Star Chart

Star Chart for June 2020 (11 p.m. EDT June 15, 2020). Created using my LookingUp program. Click on image to enlarge.

The planets and stars are plotted for the 15th at 11 p.m. EDT in the evening and 4 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). To duplicate the star positions on a planisphere you may have to set it to 1 hour 45 minutes earlier than the current time.

Note the chart times of 11 p.m. and 4 a.m. are for the 15th. For each week before the 15th add ½ hour (28 minutes if you’re picky). For each week after the 15th subtract ½ hour. The planet positions are updated each Wednesday on this blog. For planet positions on dates other than the 15th, check the Wednesday planet posts on this blog.

June Morning Star Chart

Star Chart for June mornings 2020 (4 a.m. EDT June 15, 2020). Created using my LookingUp program. Click on image to enlarge.

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.
• Leaky dipper drips on Leo.
• Follow the arc of the handle of the Big Dipper to the star Arcturus, and
• Extend like a spike to Spica.
• The Summer Triangle is in red.

Twilight Limits, Nautical and Astronomical

			EDT
	Morning twilight		Evening twilight		Dark night		Moon
Date	Astro.	Nautical	Nautical	Astro.	Start	End	Illum.
2020-06-01	3h42m	4h41m	22h47m	23h47m	–	–	0.82
2020-06-02	3h41m	4h41m	22h48m	23h48m	–	–	0.9
2020-06-03	3h40m	4h40m	22h49m	23h50m	–	–	0.9
2020-06-04	3h39m	4h39m	22h50m	23h51m	–	–	0.96
2020-06-05	3h37m	4h39m	22h51m	23h52m	–	–	1
2020-06-06	3h36m	4h38m	22h52m	23h54m	–	–	1
2020-06-07	3h36m	4h37m	22h53m	23h55m	–	–	0.97
2020-06-08	3h35m	4h37m	22h54m	23h56m	23h56m	–	0.92
2020-06-09	3h34m	4h37m	22h55m	23h58m	23h58m	0h28m	0.85
2020-06-10	3h33m	4h36m	22h56m	23h59m	23h59m	1h07m	0.77
2020-06-11	3h33m	4h36m	22h56m	0h00m	0h00m	1h38m	0.67
2020-06-12	3h32m	4h36m	22h57m	0h01m	0h01m	2h04m	0.58
2020-06-13	3h32m	4h35m	22h58m	0h01m	0h01m	2h27m	0.48
2020-06-14	3h31m	4h35m	22h58m	0h02m	0h02m	2h48m	0.38
2020-06-15	3h31m	4h35m	22h59m	0h03m	0h03m	3h09m	0.29
2020-06-16	3h31m	4h35m	22h59m	0h04m	0h04m	3h30m	0.21
2020-06-17	3h31m	4h35m	23h00m	0h04m	0h04m	3h31m	0.13
2020-06-18	3h31m	4h35m	23h00m	0h05m	0h05m	3h31m	0.07
2020-06-19	3h31m	4h35m	23h00m	0h05m	0h05m	3h31m	0.03
2020-06-20	3h31m	4h36m	23h01m	0h05m	0h05m	3h31m	0
2020-06-21	3h31m	4h36m	23h01m	0h05m	0h05m	3h31m	0
2020-06-22	3h31m	4h36m	23h01m	0h06m	0h06m	3h31m	0.03
2020-06-23	3h32m	4h36m	23h01m	0h06m	0h06m	3h32m	0.07
2020-06-24	3h32m	4h37m	23h01m	0h05m	0h05m	3h32m	0.15
2020-06-25	3h33m	4h37m	23h01m	0h05m	0h28m	3h33m	0.24
2020-06-26	3h34m	4h38m	23h01m	0h05m	1h00m	3h34m	0.34
2020-06-27	3h34m	4h38m	23h01m	0h05m	1h28m	3h34m	0.46
2020-06-28	3h35m	4h39m	23h01m	0h04m	1h54m	3h35m	0.58
2020-06-29	3h36m	4h40m	23h00m	0h04m	2h19m	3h36m	0.69
2020-06-30	3h37m	4h40m	23h00m	0h03m	2h46m	3h37m	0.69

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
Jun 1  Mo            Venus: 3.7° E
    2  Tu  11:36 pm  Moon Perigee: 364400 km
    3  We  01:42 pm  Venus Inferior Solar Conjunction
    4  Th  08:59 am  Mercury Greatest Elongation: 23.6° E
    5  Fr  03:12 pm  Full Moon
    5  Fr  03:25 pm  Penumbral Lunar Eclipse
	                 (Europe, Africa, Asia, Aus.)
    6  Sa  02:10 pm  Moon Descending Node
    7  Su  12:22 pm  Moon South Dec.: 24.1° S
    8  Mo  01:19 pm  Moon-Jupiter: 2.3° N
    8  Mo  10:19 pm  Moon-Saturn: 2.8° N
   12  Fr  07:53 pm  Moon-Mars: 3° N
   13  Sa  02:24 am  Last Quarter
   14  Su  08:56 pm  Moon Apogee: 404600 km
   19  Fr  04:52 am  Moon-Venus: 0.8° S
   20  Sa  05:43 pm  Summer Solstice
   21  Su  12:24 am  Moon Ascending Node
   21  Su  02:40 am  Annular Solar Eclipse
                         (Africa, Asia)
   21  Su  02:41 am  New Moon
   21  Su  11:56 pm  Moon North Dec.: 24.1° N
   23  Tu  08:33 pm  Moon-Beehive: 1.8° S
   28  Su  04:16 am  First Quarter
   29  Mo  10:09 pm  Moon Perigee: 369000 km
   30  Tu  10:45 pm  Mercury Inferior Solar Conjunction

All event times are given for UTC-4 hr: Eastern Daylight Saving 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

                Ephemeris of Sky Events for Interlochen/TC
June, 2020    Local time zone: EDT
+-----------------------------------------------------------------------+
| DATE |  SUN     SUN  DAYLIGHT|   TWILIGHT*    |MOON  RISE OR    ILLUM |
|      |  RISE    SET    HOURS |  END    START  |PHASE SET** TIME FRACTN|
+=======================================================================+
|Mon  1| 06:00a  09:21p  15:21 | 10:45p  04:36a |      Set  04:15a   81%|
|Tue  2| 05:59a  09:22p  15:23 | 10:46p  04:36a |      Set  04:44a   89%|
|Wed  3| 05:59a  09:23p  15:24 | 10:47p  04:35a |      Set  05:15a   95%|
|Thu  4| 05:58a  09:24p  15:25 | 10:48p  04:34a |      Set  05:53a   99%|
|Fri  5| 05:58a  09:24p  15:26 | 10:49p  04:34a |Full  Rise 09:32p  100%|
|Sat  6| 05:57a  09:25p  15:27 | 10:50p  04:33a |      Rise 10:41p   98%|
+------+-----------------------+----------------+-----------------------+
|Sun  7| 05:57a  09:26p  15:28 | 10:51p  04:32a |      Rise 11:39p   94%|
|Mon  8| 05:57a  09:26p  15:29 | 10:52p  04:32a |      Rise 12:28a   88%|
|Tue  9| 05:57a  09:27p  15:30 | 10:52p  04:32a |      Rise 01:06a   80%|
|Wed 10| 05:56a  09:28p  15:31 | 10:53p  04:31a |      Rise 01:38a   71%|
|Thu 11| 05:56a  09:28p  15:31 | 10:54p  04:31a |      Rise 02:04a   62%|
|Fri 12| 05:56a  09:29p  15:32 | 10:54p  04:31a |      Rise 02:27a   53%|
|Sat 13| 05:56a  09:29p  15:32 | 10:55p  04:30a |L Qtr Rise 02:48a   43%|
+------+-----------------------+----------------+-----------------------+
|Sun 14| 05:56a  09:30p  15:33 | 10:56p  04:30a |      Rise 03:09a   34%|
|Mon 15| 05:56a  09:30p  15:33 | 10:56p  04:30a |      Rise 03:30a   25%|
|Tue 16| 05:56a  09:30p  15:34 | 10:57p  04:30a |      Rise 03:52a   17%|
|Wed 17| 05:56a  09:31p  15:34 | 10:57p  04:30a |      Rise 04:18a   11%|
|Thu 18| 05:56a  09:31p  15:34 | 10:57p  04:30a |      Rise 04:48a    5%|
|Fri 19| 05:56a  09:31p  15:34 | 10:58p  04:30a |      Rise 05:25a    2%|
|Sat 20| 05:57a  09:31p  15:34 | 10:58p  04:30a |      Rise 06:09a    0%|
+------+-----------------------+----------------+-----------------------+
|Sun 21| 05:57a  09:32p  15:34 | 10:58p  04:30a |New   Set  10:12p    1%|
|Mon 22| 05:57a  09:32p  15:34 | 10:58p  04:31a |      Set  11:04p    3%|
|Tue 23| 05:57a  09:32p  15:34 | 10:58p  04:31a |      Set  11:49p    8%|
|Wed 24| 05:58a  09:32p  15:34 | 10:58p  04:31a |      Set  12:27a   16%|
|Thu 25| 05:58a  09:32p  15:33 | 10:58p  04:32a |      Set  12:59a   24%|
|Fri 26| 05:58a  09:32p  15:33 | 10:58p  04:32a |      Set  01:28a   35%|
|Sat 27| 05:59a  09:32p  15:33 | 10:58p  04:33a |      Set  01:54a   46%|
+------+-----------------------+----------------+-----------------------+
|Sun 28| 05:59a  09:32p  15:32 | 10:58p  04:33a |F Qtr Set  02:19a   58%|
|Mon 29| 06:00a  09:32p  15:31 | 10:57p  04:34a |      Set  02:46a   69%|
|Tue 30| 06:00a  09:32p  15:31 | 10:57p  04:35a |      Set  03:15a   79%|
+-----------------------------------------------------------------------+
* Nautical Twilight
** Moonrise or moonset, whichever occurs between sunrise and sunset

 

05/01/2020 – Ephemeris – Previewing May Skies

This is Bob Moler with Ephemeris for Friday, May 1st. Today the Sun will be up for 14 hours and 16 minutes, setting at 8:48, and it will rise tomorrow at 6:30. The Moon, 1 day past first quarter, will set at 4:22 tomorrow morning.

May is the month when the promise of spring is finally fulfilled. Daylight hours in the Interlochen/Traverse City area will increase from 14 hours and 16 minutes today to 15 hours 20 minutes on the 31st. The altitude, or angle, of the Sun above the southern horizon at local noon will ascend from 60 degrees today to 67 degrees at month’s end. The altitude of the sun in the Straits area will be a degree lower than that but your daylight hours will be a few minutes longer. Venus will end up too close to the Sun to be seen at month’s end, but before then its thin crescent can even be seen in binoculars. Mercury will make an appearance in the evening sky and will appear near Venus on the 22nd. They will be low in the west-northwest in evening twilight.

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

Addendum

May Evening Star Chart

Star Chart for May 2020 (11 p.m. EDT May 15, 2020). Created using my LookingUp program. Click on image to enlarge.

The planets and stars are plotted for the 15th at 11 p.m. EDT in the evening and 5 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). To duplicate the star positions on a planisphere you may have to set it to 1 hour 45 minutes earlier than the current time.
Note the chart times of 11 p.m. and 5 a.m. are for the 15th. For each week before the 15th add ½ hour (28 minutes if you’re picky). For each week after the 15th subtract ½ hour, or 28 minutes. The planet positions are updated each Wednesday on this blog. For planet positions on dates other than the 15th, check the Wednesday planet posts on this blog for weekly positions.

May Morning Star Chart

Star Chart for May mornings 2020 (5 a.m. EDT May 15, 2020). Created using my LookingUp program. Click on image to enlarge.

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.
• Leaky dipper drips on Leo
• Follow the arc of the handle of the Big Dipper to the star Arcturus, and
• Extend like a spike to Spica,
• EaqR is the radiant of the Aquariid meteor shower that peaks on the 5th.  Best viewing is before the peak this year due to the bright Moon.

Twilight Limits, Nautical and Astronomical

			EDT
	Morning twilight		Evening twilight		Dark night		Moon
Date	Astro.	Nautical	Nautical	Astro.	Start	End	Illum.
2020-05-01	4h39m	5h24m	22h03m	22h47m	3h48m	4h39m	0.63
2020-05-02	4h37m	5h22m	22h04m	22h49m	4h22m	4h37m	0.74
2020-05-03	4h35m	5h20m	22h06m	22h51m	–	–	0.84
2020-05-04	4h33m	5h19m	22h07m	22h53m	–	–	0.92
2020-05-05	4h31m	5h17m	22h09m	22h55m	–	–	0.92
2020-05-06	4h29m	5h15m	22h11m	22h57m	–	–	0.98
2020-05-07	4h27m	5h14m	22h12m	22h59m	–	–	1
2020-05-08	4h24m	5h12m	22h14m	23h01m	–	–	0.99
2020-05-09	4h22m	5h10m	22h15m	23h03m	23h03m	23h56m	0.95
2020-05-10	4h20m	5h09m	22h17m	23h05m	23h05m	–	0.89
2020-05-11	4h18m	5h07m	22h18m	23h07m	23h07m	0h58m	0.81
2020-05-12	4h16m	5h06m	22h20m	23h09m	23h09m	1h51m	0.71
2020-05-13	4h14m	5h04m	22h21m	23h11m	23h11m	2h34m	0.61
2020-05-14	4h12m	5h02m	22h23m	23h13m	23h13m	3h08m	0.51
2020-05-15	4h10m	5h01m	22h24m	23h15m	23h15m	3h36m	0.41
2020-05-16	4h08m	5h00m	22h26m	23h17m	23h17m	4h01m	0.31
2020-05-17	4h06m	4h58m	22h27m	23h19m	23h19m	4h06m	0.23
2020-05-18	4h05m	4h57m	22h29m	23h21m	23h21m	4h05m	0.15
2020-05-19	4h03m	4h55m	22h30m	23h23m	23h23m	4h03m	0.09
2020-05-20	4h01m	4h54m	22h32m	23h25m	23h25m	4h01m	0.04
2020-05-21	3h59m	4h53m	22h33m	23h27m	23h27m	3h59m	0.01
2020-05-22	3h57m	4h52m	22h35m	23h29m	23h29m	3h57m	0
2020-05-23	3h56m	4h50m	22h36m	23h31m	23h31m	3h56m	0.01
2020-05-24	3h54m	4h49m	22h37m	23h33m	23h33m	3h54m	0.04
2020-05-25	3h52m	4h48m	22h39m	23h34m	–	3h52m	0.1
2020-05-26	3h51m	4h47m	22h40m	23h36m	0h18m	3h51m	0.17
2020-05-27	3h49m	4h46m	22h41m	23h38m	1h08m	3h49m	0.26
2020-05-28	3h48m	4h45m	22h42m	23h40m	1h50m	3h48m	0.37
2020-05-29	3h46m	4h44m	22h44m	23h42m	2h25m	3h46m	0.48
2020-05-30	3h45m	4h43m	22h45m	23h43m	2h56m	3h45m	0.6
2020-05-31	3h43m	4h42m	22h46m	23h45m	3h23m	3h43m	0.72

The twilight calendar was generated using Cartes du Ciel (Sky Charts), with some corrections.

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

May 1  Fr            Venus: 38° E
    5  Mo  03:00 am  Eta Aquariid Meteor Shower: ZHR = 60
    4  Mo  05:22 pm  Mercury Superior Solar Conjunction
    5  Tu  11:03 pm  Moon Perigee: 359700 km
    7  Th  06:45 am  Full Moon
   10  Su  05:01 am  Moon Descending Node
   11  Mo  02:13 am  Moon South Dec.: 24° S
   12  Tu  05:40 am  Moon-Jupiter: 2.4° N
   12  Tu  02:18 pm  Moon-Saturn: 2.8° N
   14  Th  10:03 am  Last Quarter
   14  Th  10:01 pm  Moon-Mars: 3° N
   18  Mo  03:45 am  Moon Apogee: 405600 km
   22  Fr  05:37 am  Mercury-Venus: 0.9° N
   22  Fr  01:39 pm  New Moon
   23  Sa  10:40 pm  Moon-Venus: 4° N
   24  Su  06:53 am  Moon-Mercury: 3° N
   24  Su  05:34 pm  Moon Ascending Node
   25  Mo  05:16 pm  Moon North Dec.: 24.1° N
   27  We  02:44 pm  Moon-Beehive: 1.8° S
   29  Fr  11:30 pm  First Quarter
Jun 1  Mo            Venus: 3.7° E

All event times are given for UTC-4 hr: Daylight Saving 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

May, 2020    Local time zone: EDT
+-----------------------------------------------------------------------+
| DATE |  SUN     SUN  DAYLIGHT|   TWILIGHT*    |MOON  RISE OR    ILLUM |
|      |  RISE    SET    HOURS |  END    START  |PHASE SET** TIME FRACTN|
+=======================================================================+
|Fri  1| 06:32a  08:48p  14:16 | 10:00p  05:19a |      Set  04:22a   63%|
|Sat  2| 06:30a  08:49p  14:19 | 10:02p  05:18a |      Set  04:52a   73%|
+------+-----------------------+----------------+-----------------------+
|Sun  3| 06:29a  08:50p  14:21 | 10:04p  05:16a |      Set  05:20a   83%|
|Mon  4| 06:27a  08:52p  14:24 | 10:05p  05:14a |      Set  05:47a   91%|
|Tue  5| 06:26a  08:53p  14:26 | 10:07p  05:12a |      Set  06:15a   97%|
|Wed  6| 06:25a  08:54p  14:29 | 10:08p  05:11a |      Set  06:46a  100%|
|Thu  7| 06:23a  08:55p  14:32 | 10:10p  05:09a |Full  Rise 09:26p   99%|
|Fri  8| 06:22a  08:56p  14:34 | 10:11p  05:07a |      Rise 10:43p   97%|
|Sat  9| 06:21a  08:58p  14:36 | 10:13p  05:06a |      Rise 11:55p   91%|
+------+-----------------------+----------------+-----------------------+
|Sun 10| 06:19a  08:59p  14:39 | 10:14p  05:04a |      Rise 12:58a   84%|
|Mon 11| 06:18a  09:00p  14:41 | 10:16p  05:02a |      Rise 01:51a   75%|
|Tue 12| 06:17a  09:01p  14:44 | 10:18p  05:01a |      Rise 02:33a   66%|
|Wed 13| 06:16a  09:02p  14:46 | 10:19p  04:59a |      Rise 03:08a   56%|
|Thu 14| 06:15a  09:03p  14:48 | 10:21p  04:58a |L Qtr Rise 03:36a   46%|
|Fri 15| 06:14a  09:04p  14:50 | 10:22p  04:56a |      Rise 04:01a   36%|
|Sat 16| 06:12a  09:06p  14:53 | 10:24p  04:55a |      Rise 04:23a   28%|
+------+-----------------------+----------------+-----------------------+
|Sun 17| 06:11a  09:07p  14:55 | 10:25p  04:53a |      Rise 04:43a   20%|
|Mon 18| 06:10a  09:08p  14:57 | 10:27p  04:52a |      Rise 05:04a   13%|
|Tue 19| 06:09a  09:09p  14:59 | 10:28p  04:51a |      Rise 05:25a    7%|
|Wed 20| 06:08a  09:10p  15:01 | 10:29p  04:49a |      Rise 05:49a    3%|
|Thu 21| 06:08a  09:11p  15:03 | 10:31p  04:48a |      Rise 06:16a    1%|
|Fri 22| 06:07a  09:12p  15:05 | 10:32p  04:47a |New   Set  09:16p    0%|
|Sat 23| 06:06a  09:13p  15:07 | 10:34p  04:46a |      Set  10:20p    2%|
+------+-----------------------+----------------+-----------------------+
|Sun 24| 06:05a  09:14p  15:09 | 10:35p  04:44a |      Set  11:22p    5%|
|Mon 25| 06:04a  09:15p  15:10 | 10:36p  04:43a |      Set  12:18a   11%|
|Tue 26| 06:03a  09:16p  15:12 | 10:38p  04:42a |      Set  01:07a   18%|
|Wed 27| 06:03a  09:17p  15:14 | 10:39p  04:41a |      Set  01:49a   27%|
|Thu 28| 06:02a  09:18p  15:15 | 10:40p  04:40a |      Set  02:25a   37%|
|Fri 29| 06:01a  09:19p  15:17 | 10:41p  04:39a |F Qtr Set  02:55a   48%|
|Sat 30| 06:01a  09:20p  15:18 | 10:43p  04:38a |      Set  03:23a   60%|
+------+-----------------------+----------------+-----------------------+
|Sun 31| 06:00a  09:20p  15:20 | 10:44p  04:37a |      Set  03:49a   71%|
+-----------------------------------------------------------------------+
* Nautical Twilight
** Moonrise or moonset, whichever occurs between sunrise and sunset

 

03/31/2020 – Ephemeris – Looking ahead at April skies

Ephemeris for Tuesday, March 31st. Today the Sun will be up for 12 hours and 45 minutes, setting at 8:09, and it will rise tomorrow at 7:22. The Moon, 1 day before first quarter, will set at 3:30 tomorrow morning.

The 4th month of the year begins tomorrow. Daylight hours in the Interlochen/Traverse City area and will increase from 12 hours and 48 minutes tomorrow to 14 hours 13 minutes on the 30th. The altitude, or angle, of the Sun above the southern horizon at local noon will be 50 degrees tomorrow and will ascend to 60 degrees on the 30th. The altitude of the Sun in the Straits area will be a degree lower. The actual time of local apparent noon this month for the Interlochen/Traverse City area, when the Sun passes due south, will be about 1:43 p.m. Venus is our brilliant evening planet while Jupiter, Saturn and Mars are our morning planets with Mars passing below Saturn unseen by us this afternoon.

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

Addendum

March Evening Star Chart

Star Chart for April 2020 (10 p.m. EDT April 15, 2020). Click on image to enlarge. Created using my LookingUp program.

The planets and stars are plotted for the 15th at 10 p.m. EDT in the evening and 5 a.m. for the morning chart. These are the chart times. The brilliant planet Venus is our Evening Star in the West at chart time. Note that Traverse City is located approximately 45 minutes behind our time meridian, West 75° longitude. (An hour and 45 minutes behind our daylight saving time meridian during EDT).

April Morning Star Chart

Star Chart for April mornings 2020 (5 a.m. EDT April 15, 2020). 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 appears in red.
• LyrR is the radiant of the Lyrid meteor shower which will reach peak on the morning of the 22nd.

Twilight Limits, Nautical and Astronomical

			EDT
	Morning twilight		Evening twilight		Dark night		Moon
Date	Astro.	Nautical	Nautical	Astro.	Start	End	Illum.
2020-04-01	5h45m	6h22m	21h18m	21h55m	3h31m	5h45m	0.56
2020-04-02	5h43m	6h20m	21h19m	21h56m	4h24m	5h43m	0.67
2020-04-03	5h41m	6h18m	21h21m	21h58m	5h09m	5h41m	0.78
2020-04-04	5h39m	6h16m	21h22m	21h59m	–	–	0.87
2020-04-05	5h37m	6h14m	21h24m	22h01m	–	–	0.87
2020-04-06	5h35m	6h12m	21h25m	22h03m	–	–	0.94
2020-04-07	5h32m	6h10m	21h26m	22h04m	–	–	0.99
2020-04-08	5h30m	6h08m	21h28m	22h06m	–	–	1
2020-04-09	5h28m	6h06m	21h29m	22h08m	22h08m	22h36m	0.98
2020-04-10	5h26m	6h04m	21h31m	22h09m	22h09m	23h54m	0.93
2020-04-11	5h24m	6h02m	21h32m	22h11m	22h11m	–	0.85
2020-04-12	5h21m	6h00m	21h34m	22h13m	22h13m	1h07m	0.76
2020-04-13	5h19m	5h58m	21h35m	22h14m	22h14m	2h13m	0.66
2020-04-14	5h17m	5h56m	21h37m	22h16m	22h16m	3h09m	0.55
2020-04-15	5h15m	5h54m	21h38m	22h18m	22h18m	3h56m	0.44
2020-04-16	5h12m	5h52m	21h40m	22h20m	22h20m	4h34m	0.34
2020-04-17	5h10m	5h50m	21h41m	22h21m	22h21m	5h05m	0.25
2020-04-18	5h08m	5h48m	21h43m	22h23m	22h23m	5h08m	0.17
2020-04-19	5h06m	5h46m	21h44m	22h25m	22h25m	5h06m	0.11
2020-04-20	5h04m	5h44m	21h46m	22h27m	22h27m	5h04m	0.05
2020-04-21	5h01m	5h43m	21h47m	22h29m	22h29m	5h01m	0.02
2020-04-22	4h59m	5h41m	21h49m	22h30m	22h30m	4h59m	0
2020-04-23	4h57m	5h39m	21h50m	22h32m	22h32m	4h57m	0
2020-04-24	4h55m	5h37m	21h52m	22h34m	22h34m	4h55m	0.03
2020-04-25	4h52m	5h35m	21h53m	22h36m	23h25m	4h52m	0.07
2020-04-26	4h50m	5h33m	21h55m	22h38m	–	4h50m	0.13
2020-04-27	4h48m	5h31m	21h57m	22h40m	0h28m	4h48m	0.21
2020-04-28	4h46m	5h29m	21h58m	22h42m	1h27m	4h46m	0.3
2020-04-29	4h44m	5h28m	22h00m	22h44m	2h21m	4h44m	0.4
2020-04-30	4h42m	5h26m	22h01m	22h45m	3h08m	4h42m	0.52

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
Apr 1  We  05:12 am  Moon North Dec.: 23.7° N
    1  We  06:21 am  First Quarter
    1  We            Venus: 45.9° E
    3  Fr  02:24 am  Moon-Beehive: 1.3° S
    3  Fr  10:39 am  Venus-Pleiades: 0.3° S
    7  Tu  02:08 pm  Moon Perigee: 356900 km
    7  Tu  10:35 pm  Full Moon (super moon)
   12  Su  10:58 pm  Moon Descending Node
   13  Mo  05:03 pm  Moon South Dec.: 23.8° S
   14  Tu  06:56 pm  Last Quarter
   14  Tu  07:04 pm  Moon-Jupiter: 2.1° N
   15  We  05:26 am  Moon-Saturn: 2.6° N
   16  Th  12:33 am  Moon-Mars: 2.2° N
   20  Mo  03:01 pm  Moon Apogee: 406500 km
   22  We  02:07 am  Lyrid Meteor Shower: ZHR = 20
   22  We  10:26 pm  New Moon
   26  Su  06:19 am  Uranus Conjunction
   26  Su  11:23 am  Moon-Venus: 6.6° N
   27  Mo  01:54 pm  Moon Ascending Node
   27  Mo            Venus greatest brilliancy
   28  Tu  11:23 am  Moon North Dec.: 23.9° N
   30  Th  09:17 am  Moon-Beehive: 1.6° S
   30  Th  04:38 pm  First Quarter
May 1  Fr            Venus: 38° E

Sky Events Calendar by Fred Espenak and Sumit Dutta (NASA’s GSFC),
http://eclipse.gsfc.nasa.gov/SKYCAL/SKYCAL.html.

Sun and Moon Rising and Setting Events

LU                  Ephemeris of Sky Events for Interlochen/TC
April, 2020    Local time zone: EDT
+-----------------------------------------------------------------------+
| DATE |  SUN     SUN  DAYLIGHT|   TWILIGHT*    |MOON  RISE OR    ILLUM |
|      |  RISE    SET    HOURS |  END    START  |PHASE SET** TIME FRACTN|
+=======================================================================+
|Wed  1| 07:22a  08:11p  12:48 | 09:15p  06:18a |F Qtr Set  04:23a   56%|
|Thu  2| 07:20a  08:12p  12:51 | 09:17p  06:16a |      Set  05:09a   67%|
|Fri  3| 07:18a  08:13p  12:54 | 09:18p  06:14a |      Set  05:48a   77%|
|Sat  4| 07:17a  08:14p  12:57 | 09:20p  06:12a |      Set  06:22a   86%|
+------+-----------------------+----------------+-----------------------+
|Sun  5| 07:15a  08:16p  13:00 | 09:21p  06:10a |      Set  06:53a   93%|
|Mon  6| 07:13a  08:17p  13:03 | 09:23p  06:08a |      Set  07:21a   98%|
|Tue  7| 07:11a  08:18p  13:06 | 09:24p  06:06a |Full  Rise 07:55p  100%|
|Wed  8| 07:09a  08:19p  13:09 | 09:25p  06:04a |      Rise 09:16p   99%|
|Thu  9| 07:08a  08:21p  13:12 | 09:27p  06:02a |      Rise 10:36p   95%|
|Fri 10| 07:06a  08:22p  13:15 | 09:28p  06:00a |      Rise 11:54p   88%|
|Sat 11| 07:04a  08:23p  13:19 | 09:30p  05:58a |      Rise 01:07a   80%|
+------+-----------------------+----------------+-----------------------+
|Sun 12| 07:02a  08:24p  13:22 | 09:31p  05:56a |      Rise 02:13a   70%|
|Mon 13| 07:01a  08:26p  13:25 | 09:33p  05:54a |      Rise 03:09a   60%|
|Tue 14| 06:59a  08:27p  13:28 | 09:34p  05:52a |L Qtr Rise 03:56a   50%|
|Wed 15| 06:57a  08:28p  13:30 | 09:36p  05:50a |      Rise 04:34a   40%|
|Thu 16| 06:55a  08:29p  13:33 | 09:37p  05:48a |      Rise 05:05a   30%|
|Fri 17| 06:54a  08:31p  13:36 | 09:39p  05:46a |      Rise 05:32a   22%|
|Sat 18| 06:52a  08:32p  13:39 | 09:40p  05:44a |      Rise 05:55a   15%|
+------+-----------------------+----------------+-----------------------+
|Sun 19| 06:50a  08:33p  13:42 | 09:42p  05:42a |      Rise 06:17a    9%|
|Mon 20| 06:49a  08:34p  13:45 | 09:43p  05:40a |      Rise 06:37a    4%|
|Tue 21| 06:47a  08:36p  13:48 | 09:45p  05:38a |      Rise 06:58a    1%|
|Wed 22| 06:45a  08:37p  13:51 | 09:46p  05:36a |New   Set  08:15p    0%|
|Thu 23| 06:44a  08:38p  13:54 | 09:48p  05:34a |      Set  09:18p    1%|
|Fri 24| 06:42a  08:39p  13:57 | 09:50p  05:32a |      Set  10:21p    3%|
|Sat 25| 06:41a  08:41p  13:59 | 09:51p  05:30a |      Set  11:25p    8%|
+------+-----------------------+----------------+-----------------------+
|Sun 26| 06:39a  08:42p  14:02 | 09:53p  05:29a |      Set  12:27a   14%|
|Mon 27| 06:37a  08:43p  14:05 | 09:54p  05:27a |      Set  01:26a   22%|
|Tue 28| 06:36a  08:44p  14:08 | 09:56p  05:25a |      Set  02:20a   31%|
|Wed 29| 06:34a  08:45p  14:11 | 09:57p  05:23a |      Set  03:07a   41%|
|Thu 30| 06:33a  08:47p  14:13 | 09:59p  05:21a |F Qtr Set  03:47a   52%|
+-----------------------------------------------------------------------+
* Nautical Twilight
** Moonrise or moonset, whichever occurs between sunrise and sunset

Generated using my LookingUp for DOS program.

02/28/2020 – Ephemeris – Previewing March Skies

Ephemeris for Friday, February 28th. Today the Sun will be up for 11 hours and 5 minutes, setting at 6:28, and it will rise tomorrow at 7:21. The Moon, 3 days before first quarter, will set at 11:30 this evening.

Let’s look at the skies for the month of March. The Sun will pass the celestial equator as the promising season of spring will begin. Daylight hours in the Interlochen/Traverse City area and will increase from 11 hours and 11 minutes Sunday to 12 hours 45 minutes on the 31st. The altitude, or angle, of the Sun above the southern horizon at local noon will be 38 degrees Sunday and will ascend to nearly 50 degrees on the 31st. Spring will start on the 19th at 11:50 p.m. Part of the fault for that early date is the switch to daylight saving time this early in the year a while back. The Gregorian calendar reform of 1582 will keep the vernal equinox from falling much further back. So spring will come a bit early this year, calendar-wise.

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

Addendum

March Evening Star Chart

Star Chart for March 2020 (10 p.m. EDT March 15, 2020). Click on image to enlarge. Created using my LookingUp program. Click on image to enlarge. Created using my LookingUp program.

The planets and stars are plotted for the 15th at 10 p.m. EDT in the evening and 6 a.m. for the morning chart. These are the chart times. The brilliant planet Venus is our Evening Star in the West at chart time. 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).

March Morning Star Chart

Star Chart for March mornings 2020 (6 a.m. EST March 15, 2020). 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.
• The Summer Triangle appears in red.

Twilight Limits, Nautical and Astronomical

			EST/EDT
	Morning twilight		Evening twilight		Dark night		Moon
Date	Astro.	Nautical	Nautical	Astro.	Start	End	Illum.
2020-03-01	5h43m	6h17m	19h33m	20h06m	0h33m	5h43m	0.41
2020-03-02	5h41m	6h15m	19h34m	20h08m	1h36m	5h41m	0.52
2020-03-03	5h39m	6h13m	19h35m	20h09m	2h40m	5h39m	0.62
2020-03-04	5h37m	6h11m	19h36m	20h10m	3h42m	5h37m	0.73
2020-03-05	5h36m	6h10m	19h38m	20h12m	4h40m	5h36m	0.82
2020-03-06	5h34m	6h08m	19h39m	20h13m	5h31m	5h34m	0.91
2020-03-07	5h32m	6h06m	19h40m	20h14m	–	–	0.97
2020-03-08	6h30m	7h04m	20h42m	21h16m	–	–	0.97
2020-03-09	6h28m	7h02m	20h43m	21h17m	–	–	1
2020-03-10	6h26m	7h01m	20h44m	21h18m	–	–	1
2020-03-11	6h25m	6h59m	20h46m	21h20m	21h20m	22h26m	0.96
2020-03-12	6h23m	6h57m	20h47m	21h21m	21h21m	23h45m	0.9
2020-03-13	6h21m	6h55m	20h48m	21h23m	21h23m	–	0.81
2020-03-14	6h19m	6h53m	20h50m	21h24m	21h24m	1h01m	0.71
2020-03-15	6h17m	6h51m	20h51m	21h25m	21h25m	2h14m	0.6
2020-03-16	6h15m	6h49m	20h52m	21h27m	21h27m	3h21m	0.49
2020-03-17	6h13m	6h48m	20h53m	21h28m	21h28m	4h21m	0.38
2020-03-18	6h11m	6h46m	20h55m	21h30m	21h30m	5h13m	0.29
2020-03-19	6h09m	6h44m	20h56m	21h31m	21h31m	5h55m	0.2
2020-03-20	6h11m	6h46m	21h01m	21h36m	21h36m	6h11m	0.12
2020-03-21	6h09m	6h44m	21h03m	21h38m	21h38m	6h09m	0.07
2020-03-22	6h07m	6h42m	21h04m	21h39m	21h39m	6h07m	0.03
2020-03-23	6h04m	6h40m	21h05m	21h41m	21h41m	6h04m	0
2020-03-24	6h02m	6h38m	21h07m	21h42m	21h42m	6h02m	0
2020-03-25	6h00m	6h36m	21h08m	21h44m	21h44m	6h00m	0.02
2020-03-26	5h58m	6h34m	21h10m	21h45m	22h23m	5h58m	0.05
2020-03-27	5h56m	6h32m	21h11m	21h47m	23h25m	5h56m	0.1
2020-03-28	5h54m	6h30m	21h12m	21h48m	–	5h54m	0.17
2020-03-29	5h52m	6h28m	21h14m	21h50m	0h28m	5h52m	0.25
2020-03-30	5h50m	6h26m	21h15m	21h51m	1h31m	5h50m	0.35
2020-03-31	5h48m	6h24m	21h16m	21h53m	2h33m	5h48m	0.45

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
Mar 1  Su            Venus: 44.6° E
    2  Mo  02:57 pm  First Quarter
    4  We  09:58 am  Moon Ascending Node
    4  We  08:34 pm  Moon North Dec.: 23.4° N
    6  Fr  04:08 pm  Moon-Beehive: 1.1° S
    8  Su  08:09 am  Neptune Conjunction
    9  Mo  01:48 pm  Full Moon
   10  Tu  02:33 am  Moon Perigee: 357100 km
   16  Mo  05:34 am  Last Quarter
   16  Mo  09:00 pm  Moon Descending Node
   17  Tu  10:07 am  Moon South Dec.: 23.5° S
   18  We  04:19 am  Moon-Mars: 0.8° N
   18  We  06:18 am  Moon-Jupiter: 1.6° N
   18  We  08:04 pm  Moon-Saturn: 2.3° N
   19  Th  11:50 pm  Vernal Equinox
   20  Fr  06:24 am  Mars-Jupiter: 0.7° N
   21  Sa  01:48 pm  Moon-Mercury: 4° N
   23  Mo  09:59 pm  Mercury Greatest Elongation: 27.8° W
   24  Tu  05:28 am  New Moon
   24  Tu  11:23 am  Moon Apogee: 406700 km
   24  Tu  05:59 pm  Venus Greatest Elongation: 46.1° E
   31  Tu  12:51 pm  Moon Ascending Node
   31  Tu  04:00 pm  Mars-Saturn: 0.9° N
Apr 1  We            Venus: 45.9° E

All event times prior to 2 a.m. March 8 are given for UTC-5 Eastern Standard Time, after that time are given for UTC-4 Eastern Daylight 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
March, 2020    Local time zone: EST
+-----------------------------------------------------------------------+
| DATE |  SUN     SUN  DAYLIGHT|   TWILIGHT*    |MOON  RISE OR    ILLUM |
|      |  RISE    SET    HOURS |  END    START  |PHASE SET** TIME FRACTN|
+=======================================================================+
|Sun  1| 07:19a  06:31p  11:11 | 07:34p  06:16a |      Set  01:36a   42%|
|Mon  2| 07:17a  06:32p  11:14 | 07:35p  06:14a |F Qtr Set  02:39a   52%|
|Tue  3| 07:15a  06:33p  11:18 | 07:37p  06:12a |      Set  03:41a   62%|
|Wed  4| 07:14a  06:35p  11:21 | 07:38p  06:11a |      Set  04:39a   72%|
|Thu  5| 07:12a  06:36p  11:24 | 07:39p  06:09a |      Set  05:31a   81%|
|Fri  6| 07:10a  06:37p  11:27 | 07:40p  06:07a |      Set  06:15a   89%|
|Sat  7| 07:08a  06:39p  11:30 | 07:42p  06:05a |      Set  06:54a   95%|
+------+-----------------------+----------------+-----------------------+
| EDT  |      Time Change      |                |                       |
|Sun  8| 08:07a  07:40p  11:33 | 08:43p  07:04a |      Set  08:27a   99%|
|Mon  9| 08:05a  07:41p  11:36 | 08:44p  07:02a |Full  Rise 07:46p  100%|
|Tue 10| 08:03a  07:43p  11:39 | 08:46p  07:00a |      Rise 09:07p   97%|
|Wed 11| 08:01a  07:44p  11:42 | 08:47p  06:58a |      Rise 10:26p   92%|
|Thu 12| 07:59a  07:45p  11:46 | 08:48p  06:56a |      Rise 11:45p   85%|
|Fri 13| 07:57a  07:47p  11:49 | 08:50p  06:54a |      Rise 01:01a   75%|
|Sat 14| 07:56a  07:48p  11:52 | 08:51p  06:53a |      Rise 02:14a   65%|
+------+-----------------------+----------------+-----------------------+
|Sun 15| 07:54a  07:49p  11:55 | 08:52p  06:51a |      Rise 03:21a   54%|
|Mon 16| 07:52a  07:50p  11:58 | 08:54p  06:49a |L Qtr Rise 04:21a   44%|
|Tue 17| 07:50a  07:52p  12:01 | 08:55p  06:47a |      Rise 05:12a   34%|
|Wed 18| 07:48a  07:53p  12:04 | 08:56p  06:45a |      Rise 05:55a   25%|
|Thu 19| 07:46a  07:54p  12:07 | 08:58p  06:43a |      Rise 06:31a   17%|
|Fri 20| 07:44a  07:55p  12:11 | 08:59p  06:41a |      Rise 07:00a   10%|
|Sat 21| 07:43a  07:57p  12:14 | 09:00p  06:39a |      Rise 07:26a    5%|
+------+-----------------------+----------------+-----------------------+
|Sun 22| 07:41a  07:58p  12:17 | 09:02p  06:37a |      Rise 07:49a    2%|
|Mon 23| 07:39a  07:59p  12:20 | 09:03p  06:35a |      Rise 08:11a    0%|
|Tue 24| 07:37a  08:01p  12:23 | 09:04p  06:33a |New   Set  08:21p    1%|
|Wed 25| 07:35a  08:02p  12:26 | 09:06p  06:31a |      Set  09:21p    2%|
|Thu 26| 07:33a  08:03p  12:29 | 09:07p  06:29a |      Set  10:22p    6%|
|Fri 27| 07:31a  08:04p  12:32 | 09:09p  06:27a |      Set  11:25p   11%|
|Sat 28| 07:30a  08:06p  12:36 | 09:10p  06:25a |      Set  12:28a   18%|
+------+-----------------------+----------------+-----------------------+
|Sun 29| 07:28a  08:07p  12:39 | 09:11p  06:23a |      Set  01:31a   26%|
|Mon 30| 07:26a  08:08p  12:42 | 09:13p  06:21a |      Set  02:32a   35%|
|Tue 31| 07:24a  08:09p  12:45 | 09:14p  06:20a |      Set  03:30a   45%|
+-----------------------------------------------------------------------+
* Nautical Twilight
** Moonrise or moonset, whichever occurs between sunrise and sunset

Generated using my LookingUp for DOS program.

 

12/31/2019 – Ephemeris – Previewing the skies of January 2020

Ephemeris for New Years Eve, Tuesday, December 31st. The Sun will rise at 8:20. It’ll be up for 8 hours and 51 minutes, setting at 5:11. The Moon, 2 days before first quarter, will set at 10:47 this evening.

Tomorrow starts a new year and a new decade. The daylight hours start slowly getting longer and will accelerate during the month. Daylight hours will increase from 8 hours and 52 minutes tomorrow to 9 hours and 45 minutes on the 31st. The sunrise time will decrease from 8:20 tomorrow to 8:03 at months end. The sunset times will increase from 5:12 tomorrow to 5:49 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.

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

Addendum

January Evening Star Chart

Star Chart for January 2020 (9 p.m. EST January 15, 2020). Click on image to enlarge.Created using my LookingUp program. Click on image to enlarge. Created using my LookingUp program.

The planets and stars are plotted for the 15th at 9 p.m. EST in the evening and 6 a.m. for the morning chart. These are the chart times. The brilliant planet Venus will enter the sky at the chart time during the latter half of the month in the southwest.  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).

January Morning Star Chart

Star Chart for January mornings 2020 (6 a.m. EST January 15, 2020). 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.
• QuadR on the star charts is the radiant of the Quadrantid meteor shower which peaks on the 4th at 3:20 a.m. EST (8:20 UT).

Twilight Limits, Nautical and Astronomical

			EST
	Morning twilight		Evening twilight		Dark night		Moon
Date	Astro.	Nautical	Nautical	Astro.	Start	End	Illum.
2020-01-01	6h35m	7h10m	18h21m	18h57m	23h48m	6h35m	0.38
2020-01-02	6h35m	7h10m	18h22m	18h57m	–	6h35m	0.48
2020-01-03	6h35m	7h11m	18h23m	18h58m	0h49m	6h35m	0.58
2020-01-04	6h35m	7h11m	18h24m	18h59m	1h50m	6h35m	0.67
2020-01-05	6h35m	7h11m	18h25m	19h00m	2h52m	6h35m	0.76
2020-01-06	6h35m	7h11m	18h26m	19h01m	3h57m	6h35m	0.85
2020-01-07	6h35m	7h10m	18h27m	19h02m	5h03m	6h35m	0.92
2020-01-08	6h35m	7h10m	18h28m	19h03m	6h10m	6h35m	0.97
2020-01-09	6h35m	7h10m	18h29m	19h04m	–	–	0.97
2020-01-10	6h35m	7h10m	18h30m	19h05m	–	–	1
2020-01-11	6h35m	7h10m	18h31m	19h06m	–	–	1
2020-01-12	6h34m	7h10m	18h32m	19h07m	19h07m	19h44m	0.97
2020-01-13	6h34m	7h09m	18h33m	19h08m	19h08m	21h01m	0.92
2020-01-14	6h34m	7h09m	18h34m	19h09m	19h09m	22h17m	0.84
2020-01-15	6h34m	7h08m	18h35m	19h10m	19h10m	23h32m	0.74
2020-01-16	6h33m	7h08m	18h36m	19h11m	19h11m	–	0.63
2020-01-17	6h33m	7h08m	18h37m	19h12m	19h12m	0h46m	0.51
2020-01-18	6h32m	7h07m	18h38m	19h13m	19h13m	1h59m	0.39
2020-01-19	6h32m	7h07m	18h39m	19h14m	19h14m	3h12m	0.28
2020-01-20	6h31m	7h06m	18h41m	19h15m	19h15m	4h22m	0.19
2020-01-21	6h31m	7h05m	18h42m	19h16m	19h16m	5h30m	0.11
2020-01-22	6h30m	7h05m	18h43m	19h17m	19h17m	6h30m	0.05
2020-01-23	6h30m	7h04m	18h44m	19h19m	19h19m	6h30m	0.01
2020-01-24	6h29m	7h03m	18h45m	19h20m	19h20m	6h29m	0
2020-01-25	6h28m	7h03m	18h46m	19h21m	19h21m	6h28m	0.01
2020-01-26	6h28m	7h02m	18h48m	19h22m	19h33m	6h28m	0.04
2020-01-27	6h27m	7h01m	18h49m	19h23m	20h35m	6h27m	0.08
2020-01-28	6h26m	7h00m	18h50m	19h25m	21h36m	6h26m	0.14
2020-01-29	6h25m	6h59m	18h51m	19h26m	22h37m	6h25m	0.22
2020-01-30	6h24m	6h59m	18h53m	19h27m	23h37m	6h24m	0.3
2020-01-31	6h23m	6h58m	18h54m	19h28m	–	6h23m	0.39

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  We            Venus: 34.6° E
    1  We  08:30 pm  Moon Apogee: 404600 km
    2  Th  11:45 pm  First Quarter
    4  Sa  03:20 am  Quadrantid Meteor Shower: ZHR = 120
    5  Su  04:59 am  Perihelion: 0.9832 AU
    9  Th  06:29 pm  Moon Ascending Node
   10  Fr  01:03 am  Moon North Dec.: 23.2° N
   10  Fr  10:01 am  Mercury Superior Solar Conjunction
   10  Fr  02:10 pm  Penumbral Lunar Eclipse
                         (Europe, Africa, Asia, Aus)
   10  Fr  02:21 pm  Full Moon
   11  Sa  06:54 pm  Moon-Beehive: 1° S
   13  Mo  09:23 am  Saturn Solar Conjunction
   13  Mo  03:20 pm  Moon Perigee: 366000 km
   17  Fr  07:58 am  Last Quarter
   17  Fr  06:03 pm  Mars-Antares: 4.8° N
   20  Mo  02:13 pm  Moon-Mars: 2.4° S
   22  We  03:31 pm  Moon Descending Node
   22  We  09:42 pm  Moon-Jupiter: 0.4° N
   22  We  10:37 pm  Moon South Dec.: 23.2° S
   24  Fr  04:42 pm  New Moon
   28  Tu  02:29 am  Moon-Venus: 4.5° N
   29  We  04:28 pm  Moon Apogee: 405400 km
Feb 1  Sa            Venus: 40.4° E

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, 2020    Local time zone: EST
+-----------------------------------------------------------------------+
| DATE |  SUN     SUN  DAYLIGHT|   TWILIGHT*    |MOON  RISE OR    ILLUM |
|      |  RISE    SET    HOURS |  END    START  |PHASE SET** TIME FRACTN|
+=======================================================================+
|Wed  1| 08:20a  05:12p  08:52 | 06:22p  07:09a |      Set  11:48p   39%|
|Thu  2| 08:20a  05:13p  08:53 | 06:23p  07:09a |F Qtr Set  12:48a   48%|
|Fri  3| 08:20a  05:14p  08:54 | 06:24p  07:09a |      Set  01:49a   58%|
|Sat  4| 08:20a  05:15p  08:55 | 06:25p  07:10a |      Set  02:52a   67%|
+------+-----------------------+----------------+-----------------------+
|Sun  5| 08:20a  05:16p  08:56 | 06:26p  07:10a |      Set  03:56a   76%|
|Mon  6| 08:19a  05:17p  08:57 | 06:27p  07:09a |      Set  05:02a   84%|
|Tue  7| 08:19a  05:18p  08:58 | 06:28p  07:09a |      Set  06:09a   91%|
|Wed  8| 08:19a  05:19p  09:00 | 06:29p  07:09a |      Set  07:15a   96%|
|Thu  9| 08:19a  05:20p  09:01 | 06:30p  07:09a |      Set  08:15a   99%|
|Fri 10| 08:18a  05:21p  09:02 | 06:31p  07:09a |Full  Rise 05:20p  100%|
|Sat 11| 08:18a  05:23p  09:04 | 06:32p  07:09a |      Rise 06:29p   98%|
+------+-----------------------+----------------+-----------------------+
|Sun 12| 08:18a  05:24p  09:05 | 06:33p  07:09a |      Rise 07:44p   94%|
|Mon 13| 08:17a  05:25p  09:07 | 06:34p  07:08a |      Rise 09:01p   87%|
|Tue 14| 08:17a  05:26p  09:09 | 06:35p  07:08a |      Rise 10:17p   78%|
|Wed 15| 08:16a  05:27p  09:11 | 06:36p  07:08a |      Rise 11:32p   67%|
|Thu 16| 08:16a  05:29p  09:12 | 06:37p  07:07a |      Rise 12:46a   56%|
|Fri 17| 08:15a  05:30p  09:14 | 06:38p  07:07a |L Qtr Rise 01:59a   45%|
|Sat 18| 08:15a  05:31p  09:16 | 06:40p  07:06a |      Rise 03:11a   34%|
+------+-----------------------+----------------+-----------------------+
|Sun 19| 08:14a  05:32p  09:18 | 06:41p  07:06a |      Rise 04:22a   24%|
|Mon 20| 08:13a  05:34p  09:20 | 06:42p  07:05a |      Rise 05:30a   15%|
|Tue 21| 08:12a  05:35p  09:22 | 06:43p  07:05a |      Rise 06:32a    9%|
|Wed 22| 08:12a  05:36p  09:24 | 06:44p  07:04a |      Rise 07:27a    4%|
|Thu 23| 08:11a  05:38p  09:27 | 06:45p  07:03a |      Rise 08:14a    1%|
|Fri 24| 08:10a  05:39p  09:29 | 06:47p  07:03a |New   Set  05:27p    0%|
|Sat 25| 08:09a  05:41p  09:31 | 06:48p  07:02a |      Set  06:29p    1%|
+------+-----------------------+----------------+-----------------------+
|Sun 26| 08:08a  05:42p  09:33 | 06:49p  07:01a |      Set  07:32p    4%|
|Mon 27| 08:07a  05:43p  09:36 | 06:50p  07:00a |      Set  08:35p    9%|
|Tue 28| 08:06a  05:45p  09:38 | 06:52p  06:59a |      Set  09:36p   15%|
|Wed 29| 08:05a  05:46p  09:40 | 06:53p  06:59a |      Set  10:37p   22%|
|Thu 30| 08:04a  05:48p  09:43 | 06:54p  06:58a |      Set  11:37p   31%|
|Fri 31| 08:03a  05:49p  09:45 | 06:55p  06:57a |      Set  12:38a   40%|
+-----------------------------------------------------------------------+
* Nautical Twilight
** Moonrise or moonset, whichever occurs between sunrise and sunset
Generated using my LookingUp for DOS program.

11/29/2019 – Ephemeris – Previewing December skies

Ephemeris for Friday, November 29th. Today the Sun will be up for 9 hours and 7 minutes, setting at 5:04, and it will rise tomorrow at 7:58. The Moon, 3 days past new, will set at 7:54 this evening.

December is the month with the shortest daylight hours. Winter will officially arrive at the winter solstice on the 21st at 11:19 p.m. There will be little movement in the sunset times: In the Traverse City/Interlochen area this will be from 5:03 Sunday, down to 5:02 and then advancing to 5:11 at the end of the month. There is more movement in the sunrise times which will advance from 7:59 Sunday to 8:20 on the 31st. There is also little movement of daylight hours. The noontime Sun will hang around 22 to 23 degrees above the southern horizon all month. The Geminid meteors on the 14th will have competition with the nearly full moon. And to change the subject, tonight the planet Saturn will appear just above the crescent Moon.

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

Addendum

December Evening Star Chart

Star Chart for December 2019 (9 p.m. EST December 15, 2019). 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 p.m. 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 2019 (6 a.m. EST December 15, 2019). Click on image to enlarge. Created using my LookingUp program. Credit 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 14th.

Twilight Limits, Nautical and Astronomical

			EST
Traverse City	Morning twilight		Evening twilight		Dark night		Moon
Date	Astro.	Nautical	Nautical	Astro.	Start	End	Illum.
2019-12-01	6h20m	6h55m	18h16m	18h51m	21h56m	6h20m	0.28
2019-12-02	6h21m	6h56m	18h15m	18h51m	22h58m	6h21m	0.38
2019-12-03	6h22m	6h57m	18h15m	18h50m	0h00m	6h22m	0.47
2019-12-04	6h23m	6h58m	18h15m	18h50m	–	6h23m	0.57
2019-12-05	6h24m	6h59m	18h15m	18h50m	1h01m	6h24m	0.66
2019-12-06	6h25m	7h00m	18h15m	18h50m	2h02m	6h25m	0.75
2019-12-07	6h25m	7h01m	18h15m	18h50m	3h03m	6h25m	0.83
2019-12-08	6h26m	7h02m	18h15m	18h50m	4h05m	6h26m	0.9
2019-12-09	6h27m	7h02m	18h15m	18h50m	5h09m	6h27m	0.95
2019-12-10	6h28m	7h03m	18h15m	18h50m	6h15m	6h28m	0.99
2019-12-11	6h29m	7h04m	18h15m	18h50m	–	–	0.99
2019-12-12	6h29m	7h05m	18h15m	18h51m	–	–	1
2019-12-13	6h30m	7h06m	18h15m	18h51m	–	–	0.99
2019-12-14	6h31m	7h06m	18h15m	18h51m	18h51m	19h36m	0.95
2019-12-15	6h32m	7h07m	18h16m	18h51m	18h51m	20h46m	0.89
2019-12-16	6h32m	7h08m	18h16m	18h52m	18h52m	21h59m	0.8
2019-12-17	6h33m	7h08m	18h16m	18h52m	18h52m	23h14m	0.7
2019-12-18	6h30m	7h05m	18h13m	18h48m	18h48m	–	0.59
2019-12-19	6h30m	7h06m	18h13m	18h49m	18h49m	0h28m	0.47
2019-12-20	6h31m	7h06m	18h14m	18h49m	18h49m	1h42m	0.35
2019-12-21	6h31m	7h07m	18h14m	18h50m	18h50m	2h55m	0.24
2019-12-22	6h32m	7h07m	18h15m	18h50m	18h50m	4h09m	0.15
2019-12-23	6h32m	7h08m	18h15m	18h51m	18h51m	5h22m	0.08
2019-12-24	6h33m	7h08m	18h16m	18h51m	18h51m	6h33m	0.03
2019-12-25	6h33m	7h09m	18h16m	18h52m	18h52m	6h33m	0
2019-12-26	6h33m	7h09m	18h17m	18h52m	18h52m	6h33m	0
2019-12-27	6h34m	7h09m	18h18m	18h53m	18h53m	6h34m	0.03
2019-12-28	6h34m	7h10m	18h18m	18h54m	19h40m	6h34m	0.07
2019-12-29	6h34m	7h10m	18h19m	18h54m	20h43m	6h34m	0.13
2019-12-30	6h35m	7h10m	18h20m	18h55m	21h46m	6h35m	0.21
2019-12-31	6h35m	7h10m	18h20m	18h56m	22h47m	6h35m	0.29

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  Su            Venus: 27.9° E
     4  We   1:58 am  First Quarter
     4  We  11:09 pm  Moon Apogee: 404400 km
    11  We   6:03 am  Venus-Saturn: 1.8° N
    12  Th  12:12 am  Full Moon
    13  Fr   9:15 am  Moon Ascending Node
    13  Fr   3:57 pm  Moon North Dec.: 23.2° N
    14  Sa   1:25 pm  Geminid Shower: ZHR = 120
    15  Su  10:54 am  Moon-Beehive: 1° S
    18  We   3:30 pm  Moon Perigee: 370300 km
    18  We  11:57 pm  Last Quarter
    21  Sa  11:19 pm  Winter Solstice
    22  Su   8:49 pm  Moon-Mars: 3.6° S
    22  Su  10:00 pm  Ursid Shower: ZHR = 10
    26  Th  12:13 am  New Moon
    26  Th  12:18 am  Annular Solar Eclipse  (Asia, Australia)
    26  Th   8:01 am  Moon Descending Node
    26  Th   3:11 pm  Moon South Dec.: 23.2° S
    27  Fr   1:06 pm  Jupiter Conjunction
    28  Sa   8:32 pm  Moon-Venus: 1.1° N
Jan  1  We            Venus: 34.6° E

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, 2019    Local time zone: EST
+-----------------------------------------------------------------------+
| DATE |  SUN     SUN  DAYLIGHT|   TWILIGHT*    |MOON  RISE OR    ILLUM |
|      |  RISE    SET    HOURS |  END    START  |PHASE SET** TIME FRACTN|
+=======================================================================+
|Sun  1| 07:59a  05:03p  09:04 | 06:13p  06:50a |      Set  09:56p   29%|
|Mon  2| 08:00a  05:03p  09:02 | 06:12p  06:51a |      Set  10:58p   38%|
|Tue  3| 08:01a  05:03p  09:01 | 06:12p  06:52a |      Set  12:00a   47%|
|Wed  4| 08:02a  05:02p  08:59 | 06:12p  06:53a |F Qtr Set  01:01a   57%|
|Thu  5| 08:04a  05:02p  08:58 | 06:12p  06:54a |      Set  02:01a   66%|
|Fri  6| 08:05a  05:02p  08:57 | 06:12p  06:55a |      Set  03:02a   75%|
|Sat  7| 08:06a  05:02p  08:56 | 06:12p  06:56a |      Set  04:05a   82%|
+------+-----------------------+----------------+-----------------------+
|Sun  8| 08:07a  05:02p  08:55 | 06:12p  06:56a |      Set  05:09a   89%|
|Mon  9| 08:07a  05:02p  08:54 | 06:12p  06:57a |      Set  06:15a   95%|
|Tue 10| 08:08a  05:02p  08:53 | 06:12p  06:58a |      Set  07:22a   98%|
|Wed 11| 08:09a  05:02p  08:52 | 06:12p  06:59a |      Set  08:28a  100%|
|Thu 12| 08:10a  05:02p  08:51 | 06:12p  07:00a |Full  Rise 05:38p   99%|
|Fri 13| 08:11a  05:02p  08:50 | 06:12p  07:01a |      Rise 06:33p   96%|
|Sat 14| 08:12a  05:02p  08:50 | 06:13p  07:01a |      Rise 07:36p   91%|
+------+-----------------------+----------------+-----------------------+
|Sun 15| 08:13a  05:02p  08:49 | 06:13p  07:02a |      Rise 08:46p   83%|
|Mon 16| 08:13a  05:03p  08:49 | 06:13p  07:03a |      Rise 09:59p   74%|
|Tue 17| 08:14a  05:03p  08:48 | 06:13p  07:03a |      Rise 11:14p   64%|
|Wed 18| 08:15a  05:03p  08:48 | 06:14p  07:04a |      Rise 12:28a   52%|
|Thu 19| 08:15a  05:04p  08:48 | 06:14p  07:05a |L Qtr Rise 01:42a   41%|
|Fri 20| 08:16a  05:04p  08:48 | 06:15p  07:05a |      Rise 02:55a   30%|
|Sat 21| 08:16a  05:04p  08:48 | 06:15p  07:06a |      Rise 04:09a   20%|
+------+-----------------------+----------------+-----------------------+
|Sun 22| 08:17a  05:05p  08:48 | 06:16p  07:06a |      Rise 05:22a   12%|
|Mon 23| 08:17a  05:05p  08:48 | 06:16p  07:07a |      Rise 06:34a    6%|
|Tue 24| 08:18a  05:06p  08:48 | 06:17p  07:07a |      Rise 07:41a    2%|
|Wed 25| 08:18a  05:07p  08:48 | 06:17p  07:07a |      Rise 08:42a    0%|
|Thu 26| 08:18a  05:07p  08:48 | 06:18p  07:08a |New   Set  05:40p    1%|
|Fri 27| 08:19a  05:08p  08:49 | 06:19p  07:08a |      Set  06:38p    3%|
|Sat 28| 08:19a  05:09p  08:49 | 06:19p  07:08a |      Set  07:40p    8%|
+------+-----------------------+----------------+-----------------------+
|Sun 29| 08:19a  05:10p  08:50 | 06:20p  07:09a |      Set  08:43p   14%|
|Mon 30| 08:19a  05:10p  08:50 | 06:21p  07:09a |      Set  09:45p   22%|
|Tue 31| 08:20a  05:11p  08:51 | 06:22p  07:09a |      Set  10:47p   30%|
+-----------------------------------------------------------------------+
* Nautical Twilight
** Moonrise or moonset, whichever occurs between sunrise and sunset

Generated using my LookingUp for DOS program.

11/01/2019 – Ephemeris – Previewing November Skies and a GTAS meeting

Ephemeris for Friday, November 1st. The Sun will rise at 8:20. It’ll be up for 10 hours and 11 minutes, setting at 6:31. The Moon, 3 days before first quarter, will set at 10:13 this evening.

Let’s take a look at November skies. The time change back to standard time will set us back an hour on sunrise and sunset times, so it’ll be brighter in the morning and darker in the evening this Sunday. Out east in New York, the Sun is already setting before 5 p.m. It will never set that early here. The Sun is up for 10 hours 11 minutes today and that will dwindle down to 9 hours and 5 minutes at month’s end. The Sun reaches 30 and a half angular degrees above the southern horizon at local apparent solar noon, which is 12:25 p.m. this month.

The big event this month will be the transit of the planet Mercury across the face of the Sun on the morning of November 11th.  Mercury is too small to be seen with eclipse glasses from left over from the eclipse of two years ago.  Project the Sun’s image using a telescope or binoculars on a white card.  Don’t look through the instruments or finders.  The event starts at sunrise at 7:35 and runs to 1:04 p.m.  I’ll have more on it next week.

Tonight there will be the monthly meeting of the Grand Traverse Astronomical Society at 8 p.m. followed by a star party at 9 p.m, if it’s clear at Northwestern Michigan College’s Rogers Observatory on Birmley Road.

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

Addendum

November Evening Star Chart

Star Chart for November 2019 (9 p.m. EST November 15, 2019). Click on image to enlarge.Created using my LookingUp program. Click on image to enlarge.

The planets and stars are plotted for the 15th at 9 p.m. 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).

November Morning Star Chart

Star Chart for November mornings 2019 (6 a.m. EST November 15, 2019). 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.
• Follow the arc of the handle of the Big Dipper to the star Arcturus
• The Summer Triangle is in red.
• TauR on the evening star chart can be used as the radiant for the North and South Taurid meteor showers.
• LeoR on the morning star chart is the radiant of the Leonid meteor shower which peaks between the 16th to 21st.

Twilight Limits, Nautical and Astronomical

			EDT
Traverse City	Morning twilight		Evening twilight		Dark night		Moon
Date	Astro.	Nautical	Nautical	Astro.	Start	End	Illum.
2019-11-01	6h46m	7h20m	19h40m	20h13m	22h13m	6h46m	0.26
2019-11-02	6h48m	7h22m	19h38m	20h12m	23h10m	6h48m	0.36
			EST
2019-11-03	5h49m	6h23m	18h37m	19h11m	23h09m	5h49m	0.46
2019-11-04	5h50m	6h24m	18h36m	19h10m	–	5h50m	0.56
2019-11-05	5h51m	6h25m	18h35m	19h09m	0h10m	5h51m	0.65
2019-11-06	5h52m	6h26m	18h33m	19h08m	1h12m	5h52m	0.74
2019-11-07	5h54m	6h28m	18h32m	19h06m	2h13m	5h54m	0.82
2019-11-08	5h55m	6h29m	18h31m	19h05m	3h14m	5h55m	0.89
2019-11-09	5h56m	6h30m	18h30m	19h04m	4h15m	5h56m	0.94
2019-11-10	5h57m	6h31m	18h29m	19h03m	5h16m	5h57m	0.98
2019-11-11	5h58m	6h33m	18h28m	19h02m	–	–	0.98
2019-11-12	5h59m	6h34m	18h27m	19h02m	–	–	1
2019-11-13	6h01m	6h35m	18h26m	19h01m	–	–	1
2019-11-14	6h02m	6h36m	18h25m	19h00m	–	–	0.97
2019-11-15	6h03m	6h37m	18h25m	18h59m	18h59m	19h45m	0.92
2019-11-16	6h04m	6h38m	18h24m	18h58m	18h58m	20h41m	0.85
2019-11-17	6h05m	6h40m	18h23m	18h57m	18h57m	21h46m	0.76
2019-11-18	6h06m	6h41m	18h22m	18h57m	18h57m	22h56m	0.66
2019-11-19	6h07m	6h42m	18h21m	18h56m	18h56m	–	0.55
2019-11-20	6h08m	6h43m	18h21m	18h55m	18h55m	0h09m	0.43
2019-11-21	6h10m	6h44m	18h20m	18h55m	18h55m	1h24m	0.31
2019-11-22	6h11m	6h45m	18h19m	18h54m	18h54m	2h39m	0.21
2019-11-23	6h12m	6h47m	18h19m	18h54m	18h54m	3h55m	0.12
2019-11-24	6h13m	6h48m	18h18m	18h53m	18h53m	5h11m	0.05
2019-11-25	6h14m	6h49m	18h18m	18h53m	18h53m	6h14m	0.01
2019-11-26	6h15m	6h50m	18h17m	18h52m	18h52m	6h15m	0
2019-11-27	6h16m	6h51m	18h17m	18h52m	18h52m	6h16m	0.02
2019-11-28	6h17m	6h52m	18h17m	18h52m	18h59m	6h17m	0.06
2019-11-29	6h18m	6h53m	18h16m	18h51m	19h54m	6h18m	0.12
2019-11-30	6h19m	6h54m	18h16m	18h51m	20h54m	6h19m	0.19

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
Nov  1 Fr          Venus: 20.8° E
     1 Fr  4:40 pm Moon Descending Node
     1 Fr  7:33 pm Moon South Dec.: 23° S
     2 Sa  2:31 am Moon-Saturn: 0.6° N
     4 Mo  5:23 am First Quarter
     5 Tu  6:41 pm South Taurid Meteor Shower: ZHR = 10
     7 Th  3:37 am Moon Apogee: 405100 km
     9 Sa  2:18 pm Venus-Antares: 3.9° N
     9 Sa  6:05 pm Mars-Spica: 2.8° N
    11 Mo 10:17 am Mercury Inferior Conjunction (Transit)
    12 Tu  8:34 am Full Moon
    12 Tu  5:57 pm North Taurid Meteor Shower: ZHR = 15
    16 Sa  3:48 am Moon Ascending Node
    16 Sa  8:52 am Moon North Dec.: 23.2° N
    18 Mo 12:15 am Leonid Meteor Shower: ZHR = 15
    18 Mo  5:11 am Moon-Beehive: 0.9° S
    19 Tu  4:11 pm Last Quarter
    23 Sa  2:54 am Moon Perigee: 366700 km
    24 Su  4:02 am Moon-Mars: 4.4° S
    24 Su  7:17 am Venus-Jupiter: 1.4° N
    26 Tu 10:06 am New Moon
    28 Th  4:59 am Mercury Greatest Elongation: 20.1° W
    28 Th  5:49 am Moon-Jupiter: 0.8° S
    28 Th  1:50 pm Moon-Venus: 2° S
    28 Th 11:13 pm Moon Descending Node
    29 Fr  5:36 am Moon South Dec.: 23.2° S
    29 Fr  4:12 pm Moon-Saturn: 1° N
Dec  1 Su          Venus: 27.9° E

All event times are given for UTC-4 hr: Eastern Daylight Saving Time or UTC-5 Eastern Standard Time starting the 3rd.

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
     November, 2019    Local time zone: EDT
     +-----------------------------------------------------------------------+
     | DATE |  SUN     SUN  DAYLIGHT|   TWILIGHT*    |MOON  RISE OR    ILLUM |
     |      |  RISE    SET    HOURS |  END    START  |PHASE SET** TIME FRACTN|
     +=======================================================================+
     |Fri  1| 08:20a  06:31p  10:11 | 07:36p  07:15a |      Set  10:13p   27%|
     |Sat  2| 08:21a  06:30p  10:08 | 07:35p  07:16a |      Set  11:09p   36%|
     +------+-----------------------+----------------+-----------------------+
     | EST  |      Time Change      |                |                       |
     |Sun  3| 07:23a  05:29p  10:05 | 06:34p  06:17a |      Set  11:09p   46%|
     |Mon  4| 07:24a  05:27p  10:03 | 06:32p  06:19a |F Qtr Set  12:10a   55%|
     |Tue  5| 07:25a  05:26p  10:00 | 06:31p  06:20a |      Set  01:12a   65%|
     |Wed  6| 07:27a  05:25p  09:57 | 06:30p  06:21a |      Set  02:13a   73%|
     |Thu  7| 07:28a  05:23p  09:55 | 06:29p  06:22a |      Set  03:13a   81%|
     |Fri  8| 07:30a  05:22p  09:52 | 06:28p  06:24a |      Set  04:14a   88%|
     |Sat  9| 07:31a  05:21p  09:50 | 06:27p  06:25a |      Set  05:16a   93%|
     +------+-----------------------+----------------+-----------------------+
     |Sun 10| 07:32a  05:20p  09:47 | 06:26p  06:26a |      Set  06:19a   97%|
     |Mon 11| 07:34a  05:19p  09:45 | 06:25p  06:27a |      Set  07:24a  100%|
     |Tue 12| 07:35a  05:17p  09:42 | 06:24p  06:28a |Full  Rise 05:45p  100%|
     |Wed 13| 07:36a  05:16p  09:40 | 06:23p  06:30a |      Rise 06:18p   98%|
     |Thu 14| 07:38a  05:15p  09:37 | 06:22p  06:31a |      Rise 06:57p   94%|
     |Fri 15| 07:39a  05:14p  09:35 | 06:21p  06:32a |      Rise 07:45p   88%|
     |Sat 16| 07:40a  05:13p  09:33 | 06:21p  06:33a |      Rise 08:41p   80%|
     +------+-----------------------+----------------+-----------------------+
     |Sun 17| 07:42a  05:12p  09:30 | 06:20p  06:34a |      Rise 09:46p   70%|
     |Mon 18| 07:43a  05:12p  09:28 | 06:19p  06:36a |      Rise 10:56p   60%|
     |Tue 19| 07:44a  05:11p  09:26 | 06:18p  06:37a |L Qtr Rise 12:09a   49%|
     |Wed 20| 07:46a  05:10p  09:24 | 06:18p  06:38a |      Rise 01:24a   37%|
     |Thu 21| 07:47a  05:09p  09:22 | 06:17p  06:39a |      Rise 02:39a   27%|
     |Fri 22| 07:48a  05:08p  09:20 | 06:16p  06:40a |      Rise 03:55a   17%|
     |Sat 23| 07:49a  05:08p  09:18 | 06:16p  06:41a |      Rise 05:10a    9%|
     +------+-----------------------+----------------+-----------------------+
     |Sun 24| 07:51a  05:07p  09:16 | 06:15p  06:42a |      Rise 06:26a    4%|
     |Mon 25| 07:52a  05:06p  09:14 | 06:15p  06:43a |      Rise 07:41a    1%|
     |Tue 26| 07:53a  05:06p  09:12 | 06:14p  06:45a |New   Set  05:27p    0%|
     |Wed 27| 07:54a  05:05p  09:10 | 06:14p  06:46a |      Set  06:10p    2%|
     |Thu 28| 07:56a  05:05p  09:08 | 06:13p  06:47a |      Set  06:59p    7%|
     |Fri 29| 07:57a  05:04p  09:07 | 06:13p  06:48a |      Set  07:54p   13%|
     |Sat 30| 07:58a  05:04p  09:05 | 06:13p  06:49a |      Set  08:54p   20%|
     +-----------------------------------------------------------------------+
     * Nautical Twilight
     ** Moonrise or moonset, whichever occurs between sunrise and sunset

Generated using my LookingUp for DOS program.

10-01-2019 – Ephemeris – Previewing October skies

Ephemeris for Tuesday, October 1st. Today the Sun will be up for 11 hours and 43 minutes, setting at 7:23, and it will rise tomorrow at 7:41. The Moon, 3 days past new, will set at 9:28 this evening.

Let’s look at the skies for the month of October. The sun will still be moving south rapidly. Daylight hours in the Interlochen/Traverse City area will drop from 11 hours and 43 minutes today to 10 hours 14 minutes on the 31st. The altitude of the Sun above the southern horizon at local noon will be 42 degrees today, and will descend to 31 degrees on Halloween, also in the Interlochen area. The Straits area will have the Sun a degree lower. Local noon, when the Sun is due south will be about 1:30 p.m. in Interlochen. The planets Saturn and Jupiter will appear low in the southwest in the early evening, and Venus just might be visible low in the west-southwest a half hour after sunset by month’s end.

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

Addendum

October Evening Star Chart

Star Chart for October 2019 (9 p.m. EDT October 15, 2019). Click on image to enlarge.Created using my LookingUp program. Click on image to enlarge.

The planets and stars are plotted for the 15th at 9 p.m. EDT 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). To duplicate the star positions on a planisphere you may have to set it to 1 hour 45 minutes earlier than the current time.

October Morning Star Chart

Star Chart for October mornings 2019 (6 a.m. EDT October 15, 2019). 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.
• Leaky dipper drips on Leo.
• Follow the arc of the handle of the Big Dipper to the star Arcturus.
• The Summer Triangle is in red.
• DracR – Draconid Radiant – Peak 9th – Zenithal Hourly Rate = 10
• OriR – Orionid Radiant – Peak 22nd – Zenithal Hourly Rate = 20

Twilight Limits, Nautical and Astronomical

			EDT
Traverse City	Morning twilight		Evening twilight		Dark night		Moon
Date	Astro.	Nautical	Nautical	Astro.	Start	End	Illum.
2019-10-01	6h08m	6h42m	20h30m	21h04m	21h28m	6h08m	0.13
2019-10-02	6h09m	6h44m	20h28m	21h02m	22h04m	6h09m	0.22
2019-10-03	6h11m	6h45m	20h26m	21h00m	22h46m	6h11m	0.32
2019-10-04	6h12m	6h46m	20h24m	20h58m	23h33m	6h12m	0.43
2019-10-05	6h13m	6h47m	20h22m	20h56m	–	6h13m	0.53
2019-10-06	6h15m	6h49m	20h20m	20h54m	0h25m	6h15m	0.63
2019-10-07	6h16m	6h50m	20h19m	20h53m	1h22m	6h16m	0.73
2019-10-08	6h17m	6h51m	20h17m	20h51m	2h21m	6h17m	0.81
2019-10-09	6h18m	6h52m	20h15m	20h49m	3h21m	6h18m	0.88
2019-10-10	6h20m	6h53m	20h13m	20h47m	4h22m	6h20m	0.93
2019-10-11	6h21m	6h55m	20h12m	20h45m	5h23m	6h21m	0.93
2019-10-12	6h22m	6h56m	20h10m	20h44m	–	–	0.97
2019-10-13	6h23m	6h57m	20h08m	20h42m	–	–	1
2019-10-14	6h25m	6h58m	20h06m	20h40m	–	–	1
2019-10-15	6h26m	7h00m	20h05m	20h38m	–	–	0.98
2019-10-16	6h27m	7h01m	20h03m	20h37m	20h37m	20h44m	0.94
2019-10-17	6h28m	7h02m	20h01m	20h35m	20h35m	21h18m	0.89
2019-10-18	6h29m	7h03m	20h00m	20h34m	20h34m	21h59m	0.81
2019-10-19	6h31m	7h04m	19h58m	20h32m	20h32m	22h49m	0.72
2019-10-20	6h32m	7h06m	19h57m	20h30m	20h30m	23h48m	0.62
2019-10-21	6h33m	7h07m	19h55m	20h29m	20h29m	–	0.5
2019-10-22	6h34m	7h08m	19h54m	20h27m	20h27m	0h55m	0.39
2019-10-23	6h36m	7h09m	19h52m	20h26m	20h26m	2h08m	0.28
2019-10-24	6h37m	7h11m	19h51m	20h24m	20h24m	3h24m	0.17
2019-10-25	6h38m	7h12m	19h49m	20h23m	20h23m	4h42m	0.09
2019-10-26	6h39m	7h13m	19h48m	20h21m	20h21m	6h00m	0.03
2019-10-27	6h40m	7h14m	19h46m	20h20m	20h20m	6h40m	0
2019-10-28	6h42m	7h15m	19h45m	20h19m	20h19m	6h42m	0
2019-10-29	6h43m	7h17m	19h43m	20h17m	20h17m	6h43m	0.04
2019-10-30	6h44m	7h18m	19h42m	20h16m	20h36m	6h44m	0.09
2019-10-31	6h45m	7h19m	19h41m	20h15m	21h22m	6h45m	0.17

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
Oct  1 Tu          Venus: 13.1° E
     3 Th  4:23 pm Moon-Jupiter: 2° S
     5 Sa 12:01 pm Moon South Dec.: 22.8° S
     5 Sa 12:47 pm First Quarter
     5 Sa  2:49 pm Moon Descending Node
     5 Sa  4:48 pm Moon-Saturn: 0.3° N
    10 Th  2:29 pm Moon Apogee: 405900 km
    13 Su  5:08 pm Full Moon
    19 Sa 11:59 pm Mercury Elongation: 24.6° E
    20 Su  3:28 am Moon Ascending Node
    20 Su  4:07 am Moon North Dec.: 22.9° N
    21 Mo  8:39 am Last Quarter
    21 Mo  7:12 pm Orionid Shower: ZHR = 20
    22 Tu 12:41 am Moon-Beehive: 0.7° S
    26 Sa  6:41 am Moon Perigee: 361300 km
    27 Su 10:38 pm New Moon
    28 Mo  3:17 am Uranus Opposition
    29 Tu  8:33 am Moon-Venus: 4° S
    30 We 11:22 pm Mercury-Venus: 2.5° N
    31 Th  9:22 am Moon-Jupiter: 1.4° S
Nov  1 Fr          Venus: 20.8° E

All event times are given for UTC-4 hr: Eastern Daylight Saving 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
     October, 2019    Local time zone: EDT
     +-----------------------------------------------------------------------+
     | DATE |  SUN     SUN  DAYLIGHT|   TWILIGHT*    |MOON  RISE OR    ILLUM |
     |      |  RISE    SET    HOURS |  END    START  |PHASE SET** TIME FRACTN|
     +=======================================================================+
     |Tue  1| 07:40a  07:23p  11:43 | 08:26p  06:37a |      Set  09:28p   14%|
     |Wed  2| 07:41a  07:21p  11:40 | 08:24p  06:38a |      Set  10:04p   23%|
     |Thu  3| 07:42a  07:20p  11:37 | 08:22p  06:39a |      Set  10:46p   33%|
     |Fri  4| 07:44a  07:18p  11:34 | 08:21p  06:41a |      Set  11:33p   43%|
     |Sat  5| 07:45a  07:16p  11:30 | 08:19p  06:42a |F Qtr Set  12:25a   53%|
     +------+-----------------------+----------------+-----------------------+
     |Sun  6| 07:46a  07:14p  11:27 | 08:17p  06:43a |      Set  01:21a   63%|
     |Mon  7| 07:47a  07:12p  11:24 | 08:15p  06:44a |      Set  02:21a   72%|
     |Tue  8| 07:49a  07:10p  11:21 | 08:13p  06:46a |      Set  03:21a   80%|
     |Wed  9| 07:50a  07:09p  11:18 | 08:12p  06:47a |      Set  04:22a   87%|
     |Thu 10| 07:51a  07:07p  11:15 | 08:10p  06:48a |      Set  05:23a   92%|
     |Fri 11| 07:52a  07:05p  11:12 | 08:08p  06:49a |      Set  06:24a   97%|
     |Sat 12| 07:54a  07:03p  11:09 | 08:06p  06:50a |      Set  07:25a   99%|
     +------+-----------------------+----------------+-----------------------+
     |Sun 13| 07:55a  07:02p  11:06 | 08:05p  06:52a |Full  Rise 07:25p  100%|
     |Mon 14| 07:56a  07:00p  11:03 | 08:03p  06:53a |      Rise 07:49p   99%|
     |Tue 15| 07:57a  06:58p  11:00 | 08:01p  06:54a |      Rise 08:14p   96%|
     |Wed 16| 07:59a  06:56p  10:57 | 08:00p  06:55a |      Rise 08:44p   91%|
     |Thu 17| 08:00a  06:55p  10:54 | 07:58p  06:57a |      Rise 09:18p   84%|
     |Fri 18| 08:01a  06:53p  10:51 | 07:56p  06:58a |      Rise 09:59p   76%|
     |Sat 19| 08:03a  06:51p  10:48 | 07:55p  06:59a |      Rise 10:49p   66%|
     +------+-----------------------+----------------+-----------------------+
     |Sun 20| 08:04a  06:50p  10:45 | 07:53p  07:00a |      Rise 11:48p   56%|
     |Mon 21| 08:05a  06:48p  10:42 | 07:52p  07:02a |L Qtr Rise 12:55a   45%|
     |Tue 22| 08:07a  06:46p  10:39 | 07:50p  07:03a |      Rise 02:08a   34%|
     |Wed 23| 08:08a  06:45p  10:36 | 07:49p  07:04a |      Rise 03:24a   23%|
     |Thu 24| 08:09a  06:43p  10:33 | 07:47p  07:05a |      Rise 04:41a   14%|
     |Fri 25| 08:11a  06:42p  10:31 | 07:46p  07:06a |      Rise 06:00a    7%|
     |Sat 26| 08:12a  06:40p  10:28 | 07:44p  07:08a |      Rise 07:18a    2%|
     +------+-----------------------+----------------+-----------------------+
     |Sun 27| 08:13a  06:39p  10:25 | 07:43p  07:09a |New   Set  06:51p    0%|
     |Mon 28| 08:15a  06:37p  10:22 | 07:41p  07:10a |      Set  07:22p    1%|
     |Tue 29| 08:16a  06:36p  10:19 | 07:40p  07:11a |      Set  07:57p    5%|
     |Wed 30| 08:17a  06:34p  10:16 | 07:39p  07:13a |      Set  08:36p   11%|
     |Thu 31| 08:19a  06:33p  10:14 | 07:37p  07:14a |      Set  09:22p   18%|
     +-----------------------------------------------------------------------+
     * Nautical Twilight
     ** Moonrise or moonset, whichever occurs between sunrise and sunset

Generated using my LookingUp for DOS program.

 

 

 

 

09/02/2019 – Ephemeris – Previewing September Skies

Ephemeris for Labor Day, Monday, September 2nd. Today the Sun will be up for 13 hours and 11 minutes, setting at 8:18, and it will rise tomorrow at 7:07. The Moon, half way from new to first quarter, will set at 10:29 this evening.

Let’s look at to the skies of September which started yesterday. The Sun will moving at its greatest speed in its retreat to the south. Daylight hours in the Interlochen/Traverse City area will drop from 13 hours and 11 minutes today to 11 hours 46 minutes on the 30th. The altitude of the Sun above the southern horizon at local noon will be 53 degrees today, and will descend to 42 degrees on the 30th. The Straits area will see the Sun a degree lower. The season of summer is getting short, so enjoy it while you can. Summer ends and autumn begins at 3:49 a.m. on September 23rd. Mars is in conjunction with the Sun today and Mercury will be in conjunction with the Sun tomorrow.

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

Addendum

September Evening Star Chart

Star Chart for September 2019 (10 p.m. EDT September 15, 2019). Click on image to  enlarge.Created using my LookingUp program. Click on image to enlarge.

The planets and stars are plotted for the 15th at 10 p.m. EDT in the evening and 5 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). To duplicate the star positions on a planisphere you may have to set it to 1 hour 45 minutes earlier than the current time.

September Morning Star Chart

Star Chart for September mornings 2019 (6 a.m. EDT September 15, 2019). 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.
• Leaky dipper drips on Leo.
• Follow the arc of the handle of the Big Dipper to the star Arcturus.
• The Summer Triangle is in red.

Twilight Limits, Nautical and Astronomical

			EDT
Traverse City	Morning twilight		Evening twilight		Dark night		Moon
Date	Astro.	Nautical	Nautical	Astro.	Start	End	Illum.
2019-09-01	5h25m	6h04m	21h29m	22h08m	22h08m	5h25m	0.08
2019-09-02	5h27m	6h05m	21h27m	22h05m	22h29m	5h27m	0.17
2019-09-03	5h28m	6h06m	21h25m	22h03m	23h00m	5h28m	0.27
2019-09-04	5h30m	6h08m	21h23m	22h01m	23h33m	5h30m	0.37
2019-09-05	5h31m	6h09m	21h21m	21h59m	–	5h31m	0.48
2019-09-06	5h33m	6h10m	21h19m	21h56m	0h10m	5h33m	0.59
2019-09-07	5h35m	6h12m	21h17m	21h54m	0h52m	5h35m	0.69
2019-09-08	5h36m	6h13m	21h15m	21h52m	1h40m	5h36m	0.78
2019-09-09	5h38m	6h14m	21h13m	21h50m	2h32m	5h38m	0.86
2019-09-10	5h39m	6h16m	21h11m	21h48m	3h29m	5h39m	0.92
2019-09-11	5h41m	6h17m	21h09m	21h45m	4h29m	5h41m	0.92
2019-09-12	5h42m	6h18m	21h07m	21h43m	5h30m	5h42m	0.96
2019-09-13	5h43m	6h20m	21h05m	21h41m	–	–	0.99
2019-09-14	5h45m	6h21m	21h03m	21h39m	–	–	1
2019-09-15	5h46m	6h22m	21h01m	21h37m	–	–	0.99
2019-09-16	5h48m	6h23m	20h59m	21h35m	–	–	0.96
2019-09-17	5h49m	6h25m	20h57m	21h33m	21h33m	21h45m	0.91
2019-09-18	5h51m	6h26m	20h55m	21h30m	21h30m	22h11m	0.85
2019-09-19	5h52m	6h27m	20h53m	21h28m	21h28m	22h42m	0.77
2019-09-20	5h53m	6h29m	20h51m	21h26m	21h26m	23h19m	0.67
2019-09-21	5h55m	6h30m	20h49m	21h24m	21h24m	–	0.57
2019-09-22	5h56m	6h31m	20h47m	21h22m	21h22m	0h03m	0.46
2019-09-23	5h57m	6h32m	20h45m	21h20m	21h20m	0h57m	0.35
2019-09-24	5h59m	6h34m	20h43m	21h18m	21h18m	2h01m	0.24
2019-09-25	6h00m	6h35m	20h41m	21h16m	21h16m	3h12m	0.14
2019-09-26	6h01m	6h36m	20h39m	21h14m	21h14m	4h30m	0.07
2019-09-27	6h03m	6h37m	20h37m	21h12m	21h12m	5h49m	0.02
2019-09-28	6h04m	6h39m	20h35m	21h10m	21h10m	6h04m	0
2019-09-29	6h05m	6h40m	20h33m	21h08m	21h08m	6h05m	0.01
2019-09-30	6h07m	6h41m	20h32m	21h06m	21h06m	6h07m	0.06

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
Sep  1 Su           Venus: 5.2° E
     2 Mo  6:18 am  Mars Conjunction
     3 Tu  9:26 pm  Mercury Superior Conj.
     5 Th 11:10 pm  First Quarter
     6 Fr  2:52 am  Moon-Jupiter: 2.4° S
     8 Su  5:39 am  Moon South Dec.: 22.5° S
     8 Su  9:53 am  Moon-Saturn: 0°
     8 Su  1:35 pm  Moon Descending Node
    10 Tu  2:18 am  Neptune Opposition
    13 Fr  9:32 am  Moon Apogee: 406400 km
    14 Sa 12:33 am  Full Moon
    20 Fr 12:14 pm  Moon-Aldebaran: 2.8° S
    21 Sa 10:41 pm  Last Quarter
    22 Su  9:54 pm  Moon North Dec.: 22.7° N
    23 Mo  2:30 am  Moon Ascending Node
    23 Mo  3:49 am  Autumnal Equinox
    24 Tu  5:15 pm  Moon-Beehive: 0.4° S
    27 Fr 10:27 pm  Moon Perigee: 357800 km
    28 Sa  2:26 pm  New Moon
    29 Su 12:13 am  Mercury-Spica: 1.3° N
Oct  1 Tu           Venus: 13.1° E

All event times are given for UTC-4 hr: Eastern Daylight Saving 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
 September, 2019    Local time zone: EDT
 +-----------------------------------------------------------------------+
 | DATE |  SUN     SUN  DAYLIGHT|   TWILIGHT*    |MOON  RISE OR    ILLUM |
 |      |  RISE    SET    HOURS |  END    START  |PHASE SET** TIME FRACTN|
 +=======================================================================+
 |Sun  1| 07:04a  08:19p  13:14 | 09:26p  05:58a |      Set  10:00p   10%|
 |Mon  2| 07:06a  08:18p  13:11 | 09:24p  05:59a |      Set  10:29p   18%|
 |Tue  3| 07:07a  08:16p  13:08 | 09:22p  06:01a |      Set  10:59p   28%|
 |Wed  4| 07:08a  08:14p  13:05 | 09:20p  06:02a |      Set  11:32p   38%|
 |Thu  5| 07:09a  08:12p  13:02 | 09:18p  06:03a |F Qtr Set  12:09a   49%|
 |Fri  6| 07:10a  08:10p  12:59 | 09:15p  06:05a |      Set  12:52a   59%|
 |Sat  7| 07:11a  08:08p  12:56 | 09:13p  06:06a |      Set  01:39a   69%|
 +------+-----------------------+----------------+-----------------------+
 |Sun  8| 07:13a  08:07p  12:53 | 09:11p  06:07a |      Set  02:32a   77%|
 |Mon  9| 07:14a  08:05p  12:50 | 09:09p  06:09a |      Set  03:29a   85%|
 |Tue 10| 07:15a  08:03p  12:47 | 09:07p  06:10a |      Set  04:29a   91%|
 |Wed 11| 07:16a  08:01p  12:44 | 09:05p  06:11a |      Set  05:29a   96%|
 |Thu 12| 07:17a  07:59p  12:41 | 09:03p  06:13a |      Set  06:30a   99%|
 |Fri 13| 07:19a  07:57p  12:38 | 09:01p  06:14a |      Set  07:31a  100%|
 |Sat 14| 07:20a  07:55p  12:35 | 08:59p  06:15a |Full  Rise 08:36p   99%|
 +------+-----------------------+----------------+-----------------------+
 |Sun 15| 07:21a  07:53p  12:32 | 08:57p  06:17a |      Rise 08:58p   97%|
 |Mon 16| 07:22a  07:51p  12:29 | 08:55p  06:18a |      Rise 09:21p   93%|
 |Tue 17| 07:23a  07:50p  12:26 | 08:53p  06:19a |      Rise 09:45p   87%|
 |Wed 18| 07:24a  07:48p  12:23 | 08:51p  06:21a |      Rise 10:11p   80%|
 |Thu 19| 07:26a  07:46p  12:20 | 08:49p  06:22a |      Rise 10:42p   71%|
 |Fri 20| 07:27a  07:44p  12:17 | 08:47p  06:23a |      Rise 11:19p   62%|
 |Sat 21| 07:28a  07:42p  12:14 | 08:45p  06:24a |L Qtr Rise 12:03a   51%|
 +------+-----------------------+----------------+-----------------------+
 |Sun 22| 07:29a  07:40p  12:10 | 08:43p  06:26a |      Rise 12:57a   40%|
 |Mon 23| 07:30a  07:38p  12:07 | 08:41p  06:27a |      Rise 02:01a   30%|
 |Tue 24| 07:32a  07:36p  12:04 | 08:40p  06:28a |      Rise 03:13a   20%|
 |Wed 25| 07:33a  07:34p  12:01 | 08:38p  06:29a |      Rise 04:30a   11%|
 |Thu 26| 07:34a  07:33p  11:58 | 08:36p  06:31a |      Rise 05:49a    5%|
 |Fri 27| 07:35a  07:31p  11:55 | 08:34p  06:32a |      Rise 07:09a    1%|
 |Sat 28| 07:36a  07:29p  11:52 | 08:32p  06:33a |New   Set  07:56p    0%|
 +------+-----------------------+----------------+-----------------------+
 |Sun 29| 07:38a  07:27p  11:49 | 08:30p  06:34a |      Set  08:25p    2%|
 |Mon 30| 07:39a  07:25p  11:46 | 08:28p  06:36a |      Set  08:55p    7%|
 +-----------------------------------------------------------------------+
 * Nautical Twilight
 ** Moonrise or moonset, whichever occurs between sunrise and sunset

Generated using my LookingUp for DOS program.