Archive
04/29/2022 – Ephemeris – Previewing the skies of May 2022
This is Bob Moler with Ephemeris for Arbor Day, Friday, April 29th. Today the Sun will be up for 14 hours and 9 minutes, setting at 8:45, and it will rise tomorrow at 6:34. The Moon, 1 day before new, will rise at 6:36 tomorrow morning.
Let’s look at the month of May’s skies. Daylight hours in the Interlochen/Traverse City area will increase from 14 hours and 15 minutes this Sunday the 1st to 15 hours 19 minutes on May 31st. The altitude, or angle, of the Sun above the southern horizon at local noon will ascend from 60 degrees Sunday 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 length of daylight will be a few minutes longer. Local apparent noon this month, when the Sun passes due south, will be about 1:38 p.m. The Eta Aquariid meteor shower will reach its peak about 3 a.m. on the 5th. The big event this month will be a total eclipse of the Moon starting late Sunday evening the 15th.
The astronomical event times given are for the Traverse City/Interlochen area of Michigan (EDT, UT – 4 hours). They may be different for your location.
Addendum
May Evening Star Chart

Star Chart for May 2022 (11 p.m. EDT May 15, 2022). 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 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, 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, 2022 (4 a.m. EDT, May 15, 2022). Click on image to enlarge. Created using my LookingUp program.
For a list of constellation names to go with the abbreviations click here.
- Pointer stars at the front of the bowl of the Big Dipper point to Polaris the North Star.
- 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 Eta Aquariid meteor shower that peaks on the 6th.
Twilight Limits, Nautical and Astronomical
EDT | |||||||
Morning | Twilight | Evening | Twilight | Dark | Night | Moon | |
Date | Astro. | Nautical | Nautical | Astro. | Start | End | Illum. |
2021-05-01 | 4h40m | 5h24m | 22h02m | 22h47m | 22h47m | 1h35m | 0.67 |
2021-05-02 | 4h38m | 5h23m | 22h04m | 22h49m | 22h49m | 2h32m | 0.57 |
2021-05-03 | 4h36m | 5h21m | 22h05m | 22h51m | 22h51m | 3h17m | 0.46 |
2021-05-04 | 4h33m | 5h19m | 22h07m | 22h53m | 22h53m | 3h52m | 0.36 |
2021-05-05 | 4h31m | 5h17m | 22h09m | 22h55m | 22h55m | 4h20m | 0.27 |
2021-05-06 | 4h29m | 5h16m | 22h10m | 22h57m | 22h57m | 4h29m | 0.18 |
2021-05-07 | 4h27m | 5h14m | 22h12m | 22h59m | 22h59m | 4h27m | 0.11 |
2021-05-08 | 4h25m | 5h12m | 22h13m | 23h01m | 23h01m | 4h25m | 0.06 |
2021-05-09 | 4h23m | 5h11m | 22h15m | 23h03m | 23h03m | 4h23m | 0.02 |
2021-05-10 | 4h21m | 5h09m | 22h16m | 23h05m | 23h05m | 4h21m | 0 |
2021-05-11 | 4h19m | 5h07m | 22h18m | 23h07m | 23h07m | 4h19m | 0 |
2021-05-12 | 4h17m | 5h06m | 22h19m | 23h09m | 23h09m | 4h17m | 0.02 |
2021-05-13 | 4h15m | 5h04m | 22h21m | 23h11m | 23h11m | 4h15m | 0.05 |
2021-05-14 | 4h13m | 5h03m | 22h23m | 23h13m | – | 4h13m | 0.1 |
2021-05-15 | 4h11m | 5h01m | 22h24m | 23h15m | 0h07m | 4h11m | 0.17 |
2021-05-16 | 4h09m | 5h00m | 22h26m | 23h17m | 1h00m | 4h09m | 0.25 |
2021-05-17 | 4h07m | 4h58m | 22h27m | 23h19m | 1h46m | 4h07m | 0.34 |
2021-05-18 | 4h05m | 4h57m | 22h28m | 23h21m | 2h25m | 4h05m | 0.44 |
2021-05-19 | 4h03m | 4h56m | 22h30m | 23h23m | 2h58m | 4h03m | 0.54 |
2021-05-20 | 4h01m | 4h54m | 22h31m | 23h24m | 3h26m | 4h01m | 0.65 |
2021-05-21 | 4h00m | 4h53m | 22h33m | 23h26m | 3h51m | 4h00m | 0.76 |
2021-05-22 | 3h58m | 4h52m | 22h34m | 23h28m | – | – | 0.85 |
2021-05-23 | 3h56m | 4h51m | 22h36m | 23h30m | – | – | 0.92 |
2021-05-24 | 3h54m | 4h49m | 22h37m | 23h32m | – | – | 0.98 |
2021-05-25 | 3h53m | 4h48m | 22h38m | 23h34m | – | – | 1 |
2021-05-26 | 3h51m | 4h47m | 22h40m | 23h36m | – | – | 0.99 |
2021-05-27 | 3h49m | 4h46m | 22h41m | 23h38m | – | – | 0.95 |
2021-05-28 | 3h48m | 4h45m | 22h42m | 23h39m | 23h39m | – | 0.89 |
2021-05-29 | 3h46m | 4h44m | 22h43m | 23h41m | 23h41m | 0h19m | 0.81 |
2021-05-30 | 3h45m | 4h43m | 22h45m | 23h43m | 23h43m | 1h11m | 0.72 |
2021-05-31 | 3h44m | 4h42m | 22h46m | 23h44m | 23h44m | 1h52m | 0.61 |
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
Date Time Event May 1 Su Venus: 42.4° W 1 Su 3:52 pm Moon Ascending Node 2 Mo 10:17 am Moon-Mercury: 2° N 5 Th 4:57 am Uranus Conjunction 5 Th 8:46 am Moon Apogee: 405300 km 5 Th 11:55 am Moon North Dec.: 27° N 6 Fr 4:00 am Eta Aquarid Shower: ZHR = 60 6 Fr 6:56 pm Moon-Pollux: 2.3° N 7 Sa 8:23 pm Moon-Beehive: 4° S 8 Su 8:21 pm First Quarter 15 Su 7:44 pm Moon Descending Node 16 Mo 12:11 am Total Lunar Eclipse 16 Mo 12:14 am Full Flower Moon 17 Tu 11:23 am Moon Perigee: 360300 km 18 We 9:21 pm Moon South Dec.: 27° S 21 Sa 3:14 pm Mercury Inferior Conj. 22 Su 12:43 am Moon-Saturn: 4.6° N 22 Su 2:43 pm Last Quarter 24 Tu 3:24 pm Moon-Mars: 2.9° N 24 Tu 7:59 pm Moon-Jupiter: 3.4° N 26 Th 10:52 pm Moon-Venus: 0.2° N 28 Sa 10:33 pm Moon Ascending Node 29 Su 4:57 am Mars-Jupiter: 0.6° N 30 Mo 7:30 am New Moon Jun 1 We Venus: 36.5° W
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 May, 2022 Local time zone: EDT +-----------------------------------------------------------------------+ | DATE | SUN SUN DAYLIGHT| TWILIGHT* |MOON RISE OR ILLUM | | | RISE SET HOURS | END START |PHASE SET** TIME FRACTN| +=======================================================================+ |Sun 1| 06:32a 08:47p 14:15 | 10:00p 05:20a | Set 09:56p 1%| |Mon 2| 06:31a 08:49p 14:17 | 10:01p 05:18a | Set 11:02p 4%| |Tue 3| 06:29a 08:50p 14:20 | 10:03p 05:17a | Set 12:05a 9%| |Wed 4| 06:28a 08:51p 14:23 | 10:04p 05:15a | Set 01:03a 15%| |Thu 5| 06:27a 08:52p 14:25 | 10:06p 05:13a | Set 01:53a 23%| |Fri 6| 06:25a 08:53p 14:28 | 10:08p 05:11a | Set 02:35a 31%| |Sat 7| 06:24a 08:55p 14:30 | 10:09p 05:10a | Set 03:10a 40%| +------+-----------------------+----------------+-----------------------+ |Sun 8| 06:23a 08:56p 14:33 | 10:11p 05:08a |F Qtr Set 03:39a 50%| |Mon 9| 06:21a 08:57p 14:35 | 10:12p 05:06a | Set 04:03a 60%| |Tue 10| 06:20a 08:58p 14:38 | 10:14p 05:05a | Set 04:25a 69%| |Wed 11| 06:19a 08:59p 14:40 | 10:15p 05:03a | Set 04:45a 79%| |Thu 12| 06:18a 09:01p 14:43 | 10:17p 05:02a | Set 05:06a 87%| |Fri 13| 06:16a 09:02p 14:45 | 10:18p 05:00a | Set 05:28a 93%| |Sat 14| 06:15a 09:03p 14:47 | 10:20p 04:59a | Set 05:53a 98%| +------+-----------------------+----------------+-----------------------+ |Sun 15| 06:14a 09:04p 14:49 | 10:21p 04:57a | Set 06:25a 100%| |Mon 16| 06:13a 09:05p 14:52 | 10:23p 04:56a |Full Rise 10:13p 99%| |Tue 17| 06:12a 09:06p 14:54 | 10:24p 04:54a | Rise 11:33p 95%| |Wed 18| 06:11a 09:07p 14:56 | 10:26p 04:53a | Rise 12:43a 89%| |Thu 19| 06:10a 09:08p 14:58 | 10:27p 04:51a | Rise 01:40a 80%| |Fri 20| 06:09a 09:09p 15:00 | 10:29p 04:50a | Rise 02:23a 70%| |Sat 21| 06:08a 09:11p 15:02 | 10:30p 04:49a | Rise 02:56a 59%| +------+-----------------------+----------------+-----------------------+ |Sun 22| 06:07a 09:12p 15:04 | 10:32p 04:47a |L Qtr Rise 03:22a 48%| |Mon 23| 06:06a 09:13p 15:06 | 10:33p 04:46a | Rise 03:44a 37%| |Tue 24| 06:05a 09:14p 15:08 | 10:34p 04:45a | Rise 04:03a 27%| |Wed 25| 06:05a 09:15p 15:10 | 10:36p 04:44a | Rise 04:22a 18%| |Thu 26| 06:04a 09:16p 15:11 | 10:37p 04:43a | Rise 04:42a 11%| |Fri 27| 06:03a 09:16p 15:13 | 10:38p 04:42a | Rise 05:03a 6%| |Sat 28| 06:02a 09:17p 15:15 | 10:39p 04:41a | Rise 05:27a 2%| +------+-----------------------+----------------+-----------------------+ |Sun 29| 06:02a 09:18p 15:16 | 10:41p 04:40a | Rise 05:56a 0%| |Mon 30| 06:01a 09:19p 15:18 | 10:42p 04:39a |New Set 09:56p 0%| |Tue 31| 06:00a 09:20p 15:19 | 10:43p 04:38a | Set 10:56p 2%| +-----------------------------------------------------------------------+ * Nautical Twilight ** Moonrise or moonset, whichever occurs between sunrise and sunset
Generated using my LookingUp for DOS program.
03/31/2022 – Ephemeris – Previewing April Skies
This is Ephemeris for Thursday, March 31st. Today the Sun will be up for 12 hours and 43 minutes, setting at 8:09, and it will rise tomorrow at 7:23. The Moon, 1 day before new, will rise at 7:51 tomorrow morning.
The 4th month of the year begins tomorrow. Daylight hours in the Interlochen/Traverse City area will increase from 12 hours and 46 minutes tomorrow to 14 hours and 12 minutes on April 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 April 30th. The altitude of the Sun in the Straits area will be a degree lower, but their daylight hours will be a bit longer. The actual time of local apparent noon, when the Sun passes due south, will be about 1:43 p.m. The Lyrid meteor shower will reach its peak on the afternoon of the 22nd. So the hours from 10 pm and 3am on the 21st and 22nd will be the best time to see them in dark skies.
The astronomical event times given are for the Traverse City/Interlochen area of Michigan (EDT, UT – 4 hours). They may be different for your location.
Addendum
April Evening Star Chart

Star Chart for April 2022 (10 p.m. EDT, April 15, 2022). Click on image to enlarge. Created using my LookingUp program. Click on image to enlarge. Created using my LookingUp program.
April Morning Star Chart

Star Chart for April mornings, 2022 (5 a.m. EDT, April 15, 2022). Click on image to enlarge. Created using my LookingUp program.
For a list of constellation names to go with the abbreviations, click here.
- Pointer stars at the front of the bowl of the Big Dipper point to Polaris, the North Star.
- The leaky bowl of the Big Dipper drips on Leo.
- Follow the arc of the handle of the Big Dipper to the star Arcturus, then
- Follow the spike to Spica.
- The Summer Triangle appears in red.
- LyrR is the radiant of the Lyrid meteor shower, which will reach peak on the afternoon of the 22nd.
Twilight Limits, Nautical and Astronomical
EDT | |||||||
Morning | Twilight | Evening | Twilight | Dark | Night | Moon | |
Date | Astro. | Nautical | Nautical | Astro. | Start | End | Illum. |
2021-04-01 | 5h46m | 6h23m | 21h18m | 21h54m | 21h54m | 0h11m | 0.74 |
2021-04-02 | 5h44m | 6h21m | 21h19m | 21h56m | 21h56m | 1h29m | 0.64 |
2021-04-03 | 5h42m | 6h19m | 21h20m | 21h57m | 21h57m | 2h42m | 0.52 |
2021-04-04 | 5h39m | 6h17m | 21h22m | 21h59m | 21h59m | 3h44m | 0.42 |
2021-04-05 | 5h37m | 6h15m | 21h23m | 22h01m | 22h01m | 4h35m | 0.31 |
2021-04-06 | 5h35m | 6h13m | 21h25m | 22h02m | 22h02m | 5h16m | 0.22 |
2021-04-07 | 5h33m | 6h11m | 21h26m | 22h04m | 22h04m | 5h33m | 0.14 |
2021-04-08 | 5h31m | 6h09m | 21h27m | 22h05m | 22h05m | 5h31m | 0.08 |
2021-04-09 | 5h28m | 6h07m | 21h29m | 22h07m | 22h07m | 5h28m | 0.03 |
2021-04-10 | 5h26m | 6h05m | 21h30m | 22h09m | 22h09m | 5h26m | 0.01 |
2021-04-11 | 5h24m | 6h03m | 21h32m | 22h10m | 22h10m | 5h24m | 0 |
2021-04-12 | 5h22m | 6h01m | 21h33m | 22h12m | 22h12m | 5h22m | 0.01 |
2021-04-13 | 5h20m | 5h59m | 21h35m | 22h14m | 22h14m | 5h20m | 0.04 |
2021-04-14 | 5h17m | 5h57m | 21h36m | 22h16m | 23h12m | 5h17m | 0.08 |
2021-04-15 | 5h15m | 5h55m | 21h38m | 22h17m | – | 5h15m | 0.14 |
2021-04-16 | 5h13m | 5h53m | 21h39m | 22h19m | 0h14m | 5h13m | 0.22 |
2021-04-17 | 5h11m | 5h51m | 21h41m | 22h21m | 1h15m | 5h11m | 0.3 |
2021-04-18 | 5h09m | 5h49m | 21h42m | 22h23m | 2h12m | 5h09m | 0.39 |
2021-04-19 | 5h06m | 5h47m | 21h44m | 22h24m | 3h03m | 5h06m | 0.49 |
2021-04-20 | 5h04m | 5h45m | 21h45m | 22h26m | 3h47m | 5h04m | 0.59 |
2021-04-21 | 5h02m | 5h43m | 21h47m | 22h28m | 4h25m | 5h02m | 0.7 |
2021-04-22 | 5h00m | 5h41m | 21h48m | 22h30m | 4h56m | 5h00m | 0.79 |
2021-04-23 | 4h57m | 5h39m | 21h50m | 22h32m | – | – | 0.88 |
2021-04-24 | 4h55m | 5h37m | 21h51m | 22h34m | – | – | 0.94 |
2021-04-25 | 4h53m | 5h35m | 21h53m | 22h35m | – | – | 0.99 |
2021-04-26 | 4h51m | 5h34m | 21h55m | 22h37m | – | – | 1 |
2021-04-27 | 4h49m | 5h32m | 21h56m | 22h39m | – | – | 0.98 |
2021-04-28 | 4h46m | 5h30m | 21h58m | 22h41m | 22h41m | 23h06m | 0.94 |
2021-04-29 | 4h44m | 5h28m | 21h59m | 22h43m | 22h43m | – | 0.87 |
2021-04-30 | 4h42m | 5h26m | 22h01m | 22h45m | 22h45m | 0h25m | 0.78 |
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 Fr Venus: 46.1° W 1 Fr 2:24 am New Moon 2 Sa 7:05 pm Mercury Superior Conj. 4 Mo 9:05 am Moon Ascending Node 4 Mo 9:16 pm Moon-Pleiades: 4° N 4 Mo 9:45 pm Mars-Saturn: 0.3° N 7 Th 3:11 pm Moon Apogee: 404400 km 8 Fr 4:15 am Moon North Dec.: 26.9° N 9 Sa 2:48 am First Quarter 9 Sa 11:14 am Moon-Pollux: 2.4° N 10 Su 12:27 pm Moon-Beehive: 3.9° S 16 Sa 2:55 pm Full Pink Moon 18 Mo 10:01 am Moon Descending Node 19 Tu 11:16 am Moon Perigee: 365100 km 21 Th 1:41 pm Moon South Dec.: 26.9° S 22 Fr 2:25 pm Lyrid Shower: ZHR = 20 23 Sa 7:56 am Last Quarter 24 Su 4:56 pm Moon-Saturn: 4.6° N 25 Mo 6:06 pm Moon-Mars: 4.1° N 26 Tu 9:51 pm Moon-Venus: 4° N 27 We 4:23 am Moon-Jupiter: 3.8° N 29 Fr 3:59 am Mercury Elongation: 20.6° E 29 Fr 3:29 pm Mercury-Pleiades: 1.4° S 30 Sa 3:56 pm Venus-Jupiter: 0.2° N 30 Sa 4:28 pm New Moon 30 Sa 4:42 pm Partial Solar Eclipse (South Pacific and
Southern South America) May 1 Su Venus: 42.4° W
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, 2022 Local time zone: EDT +-----------------------------------------------------------------------+ | DATE | SUN SUN DAYLIGHT| TWILIGHT* |MOON RISE OR ILLUM | | | RISE SET HOURS | END START |PHASE SET** TIME FRACTN| +=======================================================================+ |Fri 1| 07:23a 08:10p 12:46 | 09:15p 06:18a |New Set 08:47p 1%| |Sat 2| 07:21a 08:11p 12:50 | 09:16p 06:16a | Set 09:55p 3%| +------+-----------------------+----------------+-----------------------+ |Sun 3| 07:19a 08:12p 12:53 | 09:18p 06:14a | Set 11:03p 8%| |Mon 4| 07:18a 08:14p 12:56 | 09:19p 06:13a | Set 12:10a 14%| |Tue 5| 07:16a 08:15p 12:59 | 09:20p 06:11a | Set 01:15a 21%| |Wed 6| 07:14a 08:16p 13:02 | 09:22p 06:09a | Set 02:16a 29%| |Thu 7| 07:12a 08:17p 13:05 | 09:23p 06:07a | Set 03:11a 38%| |Fri 8| 07:10a 08:19p 13:08 | 09:25p 06:05a | Set 03:58a 47%| |Sat 9| 07:09a 08:20p 13:11 | 09:26p 06:03a |F Qtr Set 04:37a 57%| +------+-----------------------+----------------+-----------------------+ |Sun 10| 07:07a 08:21p 13:14 | 09:28p 06:01a | Set 05:10a 66%| |Mon 11| 07:05a 08:22p 13:17 | 09:29p 05:59a | Set 05:37a 75%| |Tue 12| 07:03a 08:24p 13:20 | 09:31p 05:57a | Set 06:01a 83%| |Wed 13| 07:01a 08:25p 13:23 | 09:32p 05:55a | Set 06:22a 90%| |Thu 14| 07:00a 08:26p 13:26 | 09:34p 05:53a | Set 06:43a 96%| |Fri 15| 06:58a 08:27p 13:29 | 09:35p 05:51a | Set 07:04a 99%| |Sat 16| 06:56a 08:29p 13:32 | 09:37p 05:49a |Full Rise 08:36p 100%| +------+-----------------------+----------------+-----------------------+ |Sun 17| 06:55a 08:30p 13:35 | 09:38p 05:47a | Rise 09:56p 98%| |Mon 18| 06:53a 08:31p 13:38 | 09:40p 05:45a | Rise 11:17p 93%| |Tue 19| 06:51a 08:32p 13:41 | 09:41p 05:43a | Rise 12:37a 86%| |Wed 20| 06:49a 08:34p 13:44 | 09:43p 05:41a | Rise 01:51a 77%| |Thu 21| 06:48a 08:35p 13:47 | 09:44p 05:39a | Rise 02:54a 67%| |Fri 22| 06:46a 08:36p 13:50 | 09:46p 05:37a | Rise 03:43a 56%| |Sat 23| 06:45a 08:37p 13:52 | 09:47p 05:35a |L Qtr Rise 04:22a 44%| +------+-----------------------+----------------+-----------------------+ |Sun 24| 06:43a 08:39p 13:55 | 09:49p 05:33a | Rise 04:52a 33%| |Mon 25| 06:41a 08:40p 13:58 | 09:50p 05:31a | Rise 05:16a 24%| |Tue 26| 06:40a 08:41p 14:01 | 09:52p 05:29a | Rise 05:37a 15%| |Wed 27| 06:38a 08:42p 14:04 | 09:53p 05:28a | Rise 05:56a 8%| |Thu 28| 06:37a 08:44p 14:06 | 09:55p 05:26a | Rise 06:16a 4%| |Fri 29| 06:35a 08:45p 14:09 | 09:57p 05:24a | Rise 06:36a 1%| |Sat 30| 06:34a 08:46p 14:12 | 09:58p 05:22a |New Set 08:49p 0%| +-----------------------------------------------------------------------+ * Nautical Twilight ** Moonrise or moonset, whichever occurs between sunrise and sunset
Generated using my LookingUp for DOS program.
03/01/2022 – Ephemeris – Previewing March skies
This is Ephemeris for Fat Tuesday, March 1st. Today the Sun will be up for 11 hours and 10 minutes, setting at 6:30, and it will rise tomorrow at 7:18. The Moon, 1 day before new, will rise at 7:44 tomorrow morning.
Let’s look at the skies for the month of March. The Sun will cross the celestial equator in March as the promising season of spring will begin. Daylight hours in the Interlochen/Traverse City area and will increase from 11 hours and 10 minutes today to 12 hours 43 minutes on the 31st. The altitude, or angle, of the Sun above the southern horizon at local noon will be just under 38 degrees today and will ascend to nearly 50 degrees on the 31st. The altitude of the Sun in the Straits area will be a degree lower. Local apparent noon this month, when the Sun passes due south, will be about 12:51 p.m. and an hour later when Daylight Saving Time starts on the 13th. Spring will begin on the 20th at 11:33 am.
Addendum
March Evening Star Chart

Star Chart for March 2022 (10 pm EDT, March 15, 2022). Click on the image to enlarge it. 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. Note that Traverse City is located approximately 45 minutes behind our time meridian. (An hour and 45 minutes behind our Daylight Saving Time meridian during EDT). To duplicate the star positions on a planisphere (rotating star finder) you may have to set it to 45 minutes or 1 hour 45 minutes earlier than your current time.
Note the chart times of 10 p.m. and 6 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. For planet positions on dates other than the 15th, check the Wednesday planet posts on this blog.
March Morning Star Chart

Star Chart for March mornings, 2022 (6 a.m. EDT March 15, 2022). Click on image to enlarge. Created using my LookingUp program.
Only Venus of all the morning planets has yet to rise at chart time on 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.
- The leaky bowl of the Big Dipper drips on Leo.
- Follow the arc of the handle of the Big Dipper to the star Arcturus, and
- Extend it as a spike to Spica.
- 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. |
2022-03-01 | 5h44m | 6h18m | 19h32m | 20h06m | 20h06m | 5h44m | 0 |
2022-03-02 | 5h42m | 6h16m | 19h33m | 20h07m | 20h07m | 5h42m | 0 |
2022-03-03 | 5h40m | 6h14m | 19h35m | 20h09m | 20h09m | 5h40m | 0.03 |
2022-03-04 | 5h39m | 6h13m | 19h36m | 20h10m | 20h57m | 5h39m | 0.07 |
2022-03-05 | 5h37m | 6h11m | 19h37m | 20h11m | 22h06m | 5h37m | 0.13 |
2022-03-06 | 5h35m | 6h09m | 19h39m | 20h13m | 23h13m | 5h35m | 0.21 |
2022-03-07 | 5h33m | 6h07m | 19h40m | 20h14m | – | 5h33m | 0.29 |
2022-03-08 | 5h31m | 6h05m | 19h41m | 20h15m | 0h20m | 5h31m | 0.38 |
2022-03-09 | 5h30m | 6h04m | 19h43m | 20h17m | 1h25m | 5h30m | 0.48 |
2022-03-10 | 5h28m | 6h02m | 19h44m | 20h18m | 2h28m | 5h28m | 0.57 |
2022-03-11 | 5h26m | 6h00m | 19h45m | 20h19m | 3h26m | 5h26m | 0.66 |
2022-03-12 | 5h24m | 5h58m | 19h46m | 20h21m | 4h18m | 5h24m | 0.75 |
2022-03-13 | 6h22m | 6h56m | 20h48m | 21h22m | 6h03m | 6h22m | 0.83 |
2022-03-14 | 6h20m | 6h54m | 20h49m | 21h24m | – | – | 0.9 |
2022-03-15 | 6h18m | 6h53m | 20h50m | 21h25m | – | – | 0.95 |
2022-03-16 | 6h16m | 6h51m | 20h52m | 21h26m | – | – | 0.99 |
2022-03-17 | 6h14m | 6h49m | 20h53m | 21h28m | – | – | 1 |
2022-03-18 | 6h12m | 6h47m | 20h54m | 21h29m | – | – | 0.99 |
2022-03-19 | 6h10m | 6h45m | 20h56m | 21h31m | 21h31m | 21h42m | 0.96 |
2022-03-20 | 6h12m | 6h47m | 21h01m | 21h36m | 21h36m | 22h58m | 0.9 |
2022-03-21 | 6h10m | 6h45m | 21h02m | 21h37m | 21h37m | – | 0.82 |
2022-03-22 | 6h08m | 6h43m | 21h04m | 21h39m | 21h39m | 0h15m | 0.73 |
2022-03-23 | 6h06m | 6h41m | 21h05m | 21h40m | 21h40m | 1h34m | 0.62 |
2022-03-24 | 6h04m | 6h39m | 21h06m | 21h42m | 21h42m | 2h50m | 0.5 |
2022-03-25 | 6h02m | 6h37m | 21h08m | 21h43m | 21h43m | 3h59m | 0.39 |
2022-03-26 | 6h00m | 6h35m | 21h09m | 21h45m | 21h45m | 4h57m | 0.28 |
2022-03-27 | 5h58m | 6h33m | 21h10m | 21h46m | 21h46m | 5h43m | 0.19 |
2022-03-28 | 5h55m | 6h31m | 21h12m | 21h48m | 21h48m | 5h55m | 0.11 |
2022-03-29 | 5h53m | 6h29m | 21h13m | 21h49m | 21h49m | 5h53m | 0.05 |
2022-03-30 | 5h51m | 6h27m | 21h15m | 21h51m | 21h51m | 5h51m | 0.01 |
2022-03-31 | 5h49m | 6h25m | 21h16m | 21h52m | 21h52m | 5h49m | 0 |
Twilight calendar was generated using Cartes du Ciel (Sky Charts).
See my blog post: Twilight Zone for the definitions of the different periods of twilight here: https://bobmoler.wordpress.com/2019/09/27/
NASA Calendar of Planetary Events
Date Time Event Mar 1 Tu Venus: 45° W 2 We 10:48 am Mercury-Saturn: 0.7° N 2 We 12:35 pm New Moon 5 Sa 7:51 am Jupiter Solar Conjunction 8 Tu 3:22 am Moon Ascending Node 10 Th 5:45 am First Quarter 10 Th 6:05 pm Moon Apogee: 404,300 km 11 Fr 7:14 pm Moon Northernmost Declination: 26.7° N 13 Su 1:58 am Moon-Pollux: 2.6° N 13 Su 6:08 am Neptune Solar Conjunction 14 Mo 3:55 am Moon-Beehive: 3.7° S 15 Tu 11:12 pm Venus-Mars: 3.9° N 18 Fr 3:17 am Full Worm Moon 20 Su 5:59 am Venus Elongation: 46.6° West 20 Su 11:33 am Vernal Equinox 22 Tu 4:12 am Moon Descending Node 23 We 7:28 pm Moon Perigee: 369,800 km 25 Fr 1:37 am Last Quarter 25 Fr 7:58 am Moon Southernmost Declination: 26.8° S 27 Su 10:54 pm Moon-Mars: 4.2° N 28 Mo 5:50 am Moon-Venus: 6.9° N 28 Mo 7:43 am Moon-Saturn: 4.5° N 28 Mo 8:53 pm Venus-Saturn: 2.1° N Apr 1 Fr Venus: 46.1° W
All event times are given for UTC-5:00: Eastern Standard Time before the 14th or UTC-4:00 Daylight Saving Time thereafter.
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.
Note that the site is now kept up for archival purposes. Fred Espenak retired from NASA several years ago and has his own site, AstroPixels, which contain the same information: http://astropixels.com/almanac/almanac.html.
Sun and Moon Rising and Setting Events
LU Ephemeris of Sky Events for Interlochen/TC March, 2022 Local time zone: EST +-----------------------------------------------------------------------+ | DATE | SUN SUN DAYLIGHT| TWILIGHT* |MOON RISE OR ILLUM | | | RISE SET HOURS | END START |PHASE SET** TIME FRACTN| +=======================================================================+ |Tue 1| 07:20a 06:30p 11:10 | 07:33p 06:17a | Rise 07:44a 1%| |Wed 2| 07:18a 06:31p 11:13 | 07:35p 06:15a |New Set 06:32p 0%| |Thu 3| 07:16a 06:33p 11:16 | 07:36p 06:13a | Set 07:46p 2%| |Fri 4| 07:15a 06:34p 11:19 | 07:37p 06:12a | Set 08:56p 6%| |Sat 5| 07:13a 06:35p 11:22 | 07:39p 06:10a | Set 10:05p 12%| +------+-----------------------+----------------+-----------------------+ |Sun 6| 07:11a 06:37p 11:25 | 07:40p 06:08a | Set 11:13p 19%| |Mon 7| 07:09a 06:38p 11:28 | 07:41p 06:06a | Set 12:19a 27%| |Tue 8| 07:07a 06:39p 11:32 | 07:42p 06:04a | Set 01:25a 36%| |Wed 9| 07:06a 06:41p 11:35 | 07:44p 06:03a | Set 02:28a 46%| |Thu 10| 07:04a 06:42p 11:38 | 07:45p 06:01a |F Qtr Set 03:26a 55%| |Fri 11| 07:02a 06:43p 11:41 | 07:46p 05:59a | Set 04:18a 64%| |Sat 12| 07:00a 06:45p 11:44 | 07:48p 05:57a | Set 05:02a 73%| +------+-----------------------+----------------+-----------------------+ | EDT | Time Change | | | |Sun 13| 07:58a 07:46p 11:47 | 08:49p 06:55a | Set 06:39a 81%| |Mon 14| 07:56a 07:47p 11:50 | 08:50p 06:53a | Set 07:10a 88%| |Tue 15| 07:55a 07:49p 11:53 | 08:52p 06:52a | Set 07:36a 94%| |Wed 16| 07:53a 07:50p 11:57 | 08:53p 06:50a | Set 07:59a 98%| |Thu 17| 07:51a 07:51p 12:00 | 08:54p 06:48a | Set 08:20a 100%| |Fri 18| 07:49a 07:52p 12:03 | 08:56p 06:46a |Full Rise 08:28p 99%| |Sat 19| 07:47a 07:54p 12:06 | 08:57p 06:44a | Rise 09:42p 96%| +------+-----------------------+----------------+-----------------------+ |Sun 20| 07:45a 07:55p 12:09 | 08:58p 06:42a | Rise 10:57p 91%| |Mon 21| 07:43a 07:56p 12:12 | 09:00p 06:40a | Rise 12:15a 84%| |Tue 22| 07:42a 07:57p 12:15 | 09:01p 06:38a | Rise 01:34a 75%| |Wed 23| 07:40a 07:59p 12:18 | 09:02p 06:36a | Rise 02:50a 64%| |Thu 24| 07:38a 08:00p 12:22 | 09:04p 06:34a | Rise 03:59a 53%| |Fri 25| 07:36a 08:01p 12:25 | 09:05p 06:32a |L Qtr Rise 04:56a 41%| |Sat 26| 07:34a 08:02p 12:28 | 09:06p 06:30a | Rise 05:42a 30%| +------+-----------------------+----------------+-----------------------+ |Sun 27| 07:32a 08:04p 12:31 | 09:08p 06:28a | Rise 06:18a 21%| |Mon 28| 07:30a 08:05p 12:34 | 09:09p 06:26a | Rise 06:47a 12%| |Tue 29| 07:29a 08:06p 12:37 | 09:11p 06:24a | Rise 07:10a 6%| |Wed 30| 07:27a 08:07p 12:40 | 09:12p 06:22a | Rise 07:31a 2%| |Thu 31| 07:25a 08:09p 12:43 | 09:13p 06:20a | Rise 07:51a 0%| +-----------------------------------------------------------------------+ * Nautical Twilight ** Moonrise or moonset, whichever occurs between sunrise and sunset
Created using my LookingUp for DOS output as text.
02/01/2022 – Ephemeris – Let’s look ahead at our short month of February
This is Bob Moler with Ephemeris for Tuesday, February 1st. Today the Sun will be up for 9 hours and 49 minutes, setting at 5:51, and it will rise tomorrow at 8:00. The Moon is new today, and won’t be visible.
Let’s look ahead at our short month of February. We’re in the depths of winter, but the Sun is continuing its return to northern climes. This is reflected in the increase in daylight hours, from 9 hours 49 minutes today to 11 hours 7 minutes on the 28th. These times are for the Interlochen/Traverse City area. The duration of daylight is slightly shorter in the northern part of our listening area and slightly longer to the south. As the month goes on, the weather should generally warm and clear up. We will be slowly losing Jupiter from the evening sky this month. Venus is moving away from the Sun and will pass Mars in the morning sky on the 12th. Neither Mercury nor Saturn will be visible this month because they will be lost in the Sun’s glare.
The astronomical event times given are for the Traverse City/Interlochen area of Michigan (EST, UT – 5 hours). They may be different for your location.
Addendum
February Evening Star Chart
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. (An hour 45 minutes behind our daylight saving time meridian during EDT). To duplicate the star positions on a planisphere (rotating star finder) you may have to set it to 1 hour 45 minutes earlier than the current time.
Note the chart times of 9 p.m. and 6 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.
February Morning Star Chart
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
- Extend like a spike to Spica,
- The Summer Triangle is in red.
Twilight Limits, Nautical and Astronomical
EST | |||||||
Morning | Twilight | Evening | Twilight | Dark | Night | Moon | |
Date | Astro. | Nautical | Nautical | Astro. | Start | End | Illum. |
2022-02-01 | 6h22m | 6h56m | 18h56m | 19h30m | 19h30m | 6h22m | 0.01 |
2022-02-02 | 6h21m | 6h55m | 18h57m | 19h31m | 19h43m | 6h21m | 0.05 |
2022-02-03 | 6h20m | 6h54m | 18h59m | 19h33m | 20h57m | 6h20m | 0.11 |
2022-02-04 | 6h19m | 6h53m | 19h00m | 19h34m | 22h08m | 6h19m | 0.19 |
2022-02-05 | 6h18m | 6h52m | 19h01m | 19h35m | 23h17m | 6h18m | 0.28 |
2022-02-06 | 6h17m | 6h51m | 19h02m | 19h36m | – | 6h17m | 0.37 |
2022-02-07 | 6h16m | 6h50m | 19h04m | 19h38m | 0h23m | 6h16m | 0.47 |
2022-02-08 | 6h15m | 6h49m | 19h05m | 19h39m | 1h29m | 6h15m | 0.56 |
2022-02-09 | 6h13m | 6h47m | 19h06m | 19h40m | 2h34m | 6h13m | 0.65 |
2022-02-10 | 6h12m | 6h46m | 19h08m | 19h41m | 3h38m | 6h12m | 0.74 |
2022-02-11 | 6h11m | 6h45m | 19h09m | 19h43m | 4h39m | 6h11m | 0.82 |
2022-02-12 | 6h10m | 6h43m | 19h10m | 19h44m | 5h35m | 6h10m | 0.89 |
2022-02-13 | 6h08m | 6h42m | 19h11m | 19h45m | – | – | 0.94 |
2022-02-14 | 6h07m | 6h41m | 19h13m | 19h47m | – | – | 0.98 |
2022-02-15 | 6h06m | 6h39m | 19h14m | 19h48m | – | – | 1 |
2022-02-16 | 6h04m | 6h38m | 19h15m | 19h49m | – | – | 1 |
2022-02-17 | 6h03m | 6h37m | 19h17m | 19h50m | – | – | 0.98 |
2022-02-18 | 6h01m | 6h35m | 19h18m | 19h52m | 19h52m | 20h32m | 0.93 |
2022-02-19 | 6h00m | 6h34m | 19h19m | 19h53m | 19h53m | 21h43m | 0.87 |
2022-02-20 | 5h58m | 6h32m | 19h20m | 19h54m | 19h54m | 22h55m | 0.79 |
2022-02-21 | 5h57m | 6h31m | 19h22m | 19h55m | 19h55m | – | 0.69 |
2022-02-22 | 5h55m | 6h29m | 19h23m | 19h57m | 19h57m | 0h10m | 0.58 |
2022-02-23 | 5h54m | 6h28m | 19h24m | 19h58m | 19h58m | 1h26m | 0.47 |
2022-02-24 | 5h52m | 6h26m | 19h26m | 19h59m | 19h59m | 2h43m | 0.36 |
2022-02-25 | 5h51m | 6h24m | 19h27m | 20h01m | 20h01m | 3h58m | 0.25 |
2022-02-26 | 5h49m | 6h23m | 19h28m | 20h02m | 20h02m | 5h04m | 0.16 |
2022-02-27 | 5h47m | 6h21m | 19h30m | 20h03m | 20h03m | 5h47m | 0.08 |
2022-02-28 | 5h46m | 6h19m | 19h31m | 20h05m | 20h05m | 5h46m | 0.03 |
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/2019/09/27/
NASA Calendar of Planetary Events
Date Time Event Feb 1 Tu Venus: 32° W 1 Tu 12:46 am New Moon
2 We 4:08 pm Moon-Jupiter: 4.4° N 4 Fr 1:34 pm Saturn Solar Conjunction 8 Tu 8:50 am First Quarter 9 We 1:12 am Moon Ascending Node 10 Th 9:39 pm Moon Apogee: 404,900 km 12 Sa 11:45 am Moon North Dec.: 26.4° N 12 Sa 8:00 pm Venus-Mars: 6.6° N 13 Su 5:52 pm Moon-Pollux: 2.8° N 13 Su Venus greatest brilliancy 14 Mo 6:42 pm Moon-Beehive: 3.5° S 16 We 11:57 am Full Snow Moon 16 We 3:59 pm Mercury Elongation: 26.3° West 23 We 1:54 am Moon Descending Node 23 We 5:32 pm Last Quarter 26 Sa 1:37 am Moon South Dec.: 26.6° S 26 Sa 5:18 pm Moon Perigee: 367,800 km 27 Su 4:00 am Moon-Mars: 3.5° N 28 Mo 3:07 pm Moon-Mercury: 3.8° N 28 Mo 6:47 pm Moon-Saturn: 4.3° N Mar 1 Tu Venus: 45° W
All event times are given for UTC-5:00: Eastern Standard or 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 February, 2022 Local time zone: EST +-----------------------------------------------------------------------+ | DATE | SUN SUN DAYLIGHT| TWILIGHT* |MOON RISE OR ILLUM | | | RISE SET HOURS | END START |PHASE SET** TIME FRACTN| +=======================================================================+ |Tue 1| 08:01a 05:51p 09:49 | 06:57p 06:55a |New Set 06:23p 1%| |Wed 2| 08:00a 05:52p 09:52 | 06:58p 06:54a | Set 07:42p 4%| |Thu 3| 07:59a 05:54p 09:54 | 07:00p 06:53a | Set 08:57p 10%| |Fri 4| 07:58a 05:55p 09:57 | 07:01p 06:52a | Set 10:08p 17%| |Sat 5| 07:56a 05:57p 10:00 | 07:02p 06:51a | Set 11:16p 26%| +------+-----------------------+----------------+-----------------------+ |Sun 6| 07:55a 05:58p 10:03 | 07:04p 06:50a | Set 12:23a 35%| |Mon 7| 07:54a 06:00p 10:05 | 07:05p 06:49a | Set 01:29a 44%| |Tue 8| 07:53a 06:01p 10:08 | 07:06p 06:48a |F Qtr Set 02:34a 54%| |Wed 9| 07:51a 06:02p 10:11 | 07:07p 06:46a | Set 03:37a 63%| |Thu 10| 07:50a 06:04p 10:14 | 07:09p 06:45a | Set 04:38a 72%| |Fri 11| 07:48a 06:05p 10:16 | 07:10p 06:44a | Set 05:34a 80%| |Sat 12| 07:47a 06:07p 10:19 | 07:11p 06:42a | Set 06:24a 87%| +------+-----------------------+----------------+-----------------------+ |Sun 13| 07:46a 06:08p 10:22 | 07:13p 06:41a | Set 07:05a 93%| |Mon 14| 07:44a 06:10p 10:25 | 07:14p 06:40a | Set 07:40a 97%| |Tue 15| 07:43a 06:11p 10:28 | 07:15p 06:38a | Set 08:09a 99%| |Wed 16| 07:41a 06:12p 10:31 | 07:16p 06:37a |Full Rise 06:11p 100%| |Thu 17| 07:39a 06:14p 10:34 | 07:18p 06:36a | Rise 07:21p 98%| |Fri 18| 07:38a 06:15p 10:37 | 07:19p 06:34a | Rise 08:32p 94%| |Sat 19| 07:36a 06:17p 10:40 | 07:20p 06:33a | Rise 09:42p 88%| +------+-----------------------+----------------+-----------------------+ |Sun 20| 07:35a 06:18p 10:43 | 07:22p 06:31a | Rise 10:55p 81%| |Mon 21| 07:33a 06:19p 10:46 | 07:23p 06:30a | Rise 12:09a 71%| |Tue 22| 07:32a 06:21p 10:49 | 07:24p 06:28a | Rise 01:26a 61%| |Wed 23| 07:30a 06:22p 10:52 | 07:26p 06:26a |L Qtr Rise 02:43a 49%| |Thu 24| 07:28a 06:23p 10:55 | 07:27p 06:25a | Rise 03:57a 38%| |Fri 25| 07:27a 06:25p 10:58 | 07:28p 06:23a | Rise 05:04a 27%| |Sat 26| 07:25a 06:26p 11:01 | 07:29p 06:22a | Rise 05:59a 18%| +------+-----------------------+----------------+-----------------------+ |Sun 27| 07:23a 06:27p 11:04 | 07:31p 06:20a | Rise 06:43a 10%| |Mon 28| 07:21a 06:29p 11:07 | 07:32p 06:18a | Rise 07:17a 4%| +-----------------------------------------------------------------------+ * Nautical Twilight ** Moonrise or moonset, whichever occurs between sunrise and sunset
Created using my LookingUp for DOS output as HTML.
12/31/2021 – Ephemeris – January 2022 preview
This is Ephemeris for New Year’s Eve, Friday, December 31st. The Sun will rise at 8:20. It’ll be up for 8 hours and 52 minutes, setting at 5:12. The Moon, 1 day before new, will rise at 7:20 tomorrow morning.
Tomorrow starts the new year of 2022. The daylight hours are slowly getting longer and will accelerate during the month. Daylight hours will increase from 8 hours and 52 minutes tomorrow to 9 hours and 47 minutes on the 31st. The sunrise time will decrease from 8:20 tomorrow to 8:02 at month’s end. The sunset times will increase from 5:13 tomorrow to 5:50 on the 31st. Along with that, the altitude of the sun at noon will increase from 22 degrees tomorrow to nearly 28 degrees at month’s end. It will be a degree lower for folks in the Straits area because they are a degree of latitude farther north. Local noon, by the way, for Interlochen and Traverse City is about 12:51 p.m. in January. Here’s wishing you a Happy New Year.
The astronomical event times given are for the Traverse City/Interlochen area of Michigan (EST, UT – 5 hours). They may be different for your location.
Addendum
Updated to replace twilight table at 5:07 pm.
January Evening Star Chart

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

Star Chart for January 2022 mornings, based on 6 a.m. EST, January 15, 2022. Click on image to enlarge. Created using my LookingUp program.
Note that Traverse City is located approximately 45 minutes behind our time meridian, West 75° longitude. (An hour 45 minutes behind our daylight saving time meridian during EDT). For a list of constellation names to go with the abbreviations, click here.
The planets are also plotted for the 15th. For a check on the current whereabouts of the five naked eye planets, see the Wednesday post most weeks.
- Pointer stars at the front of the bowl of the Big Dipper point to Polaris, the North Star.
- The leaky bowl of the Big Dipper drips on Leo.
- Follow the arc of the handle of the Big Dipper to the star Arcturus, then
- Follow the spike to Spica.
- QuadR on the star charts is the radiant of the Quadrantid meteor shower, which peaks on the 3rd, but is best seen in the early morning hours of the 3rd or 4th.
Twilight Limits, Nautical and Astronomical
EST | |||||||
Morning | Twilight | Evening | Twilight | Dark | Night | Moon | |
Date | Astro. | Nautical | Nautical | Astro. | Start | End | Illum. |
2022-01-01 | 6h35m | 7h11m | 18h22m | 18h57m | 18h57m | 6h35m | 0 |
2022-01-02 | 6h35m | 7h11m | 18h23m | 18h58m | 18h58m | 6h35m | 0 |
2022-01-03 | 6h35m | 7h11m | 18h24m | 18h59m | 18h59m | 6h35m | 0.03 |
2022-01-04 | 6h35m | 7h11m | 18h25m | 19h00m | 19h35m | 6h35m | 0.08 |
2022-01-05 | 6h35m | 7h11m | 18h26m | 19h01m | 20h53m | 6h35m | 0.16 |
2022-01-06 | 6h35m | 7h11m | 18h26m | 19h02m | 22h08m | 6h35m | 0.25 |
2022-01-07 | 6h35m | 7h11m | 18h27m | 19h03m | 23h19m | 6h35m | 0.35 |
2022-01-08 | 6h35m | 7h10m | 18h28m | 19h04m | – | 6h35m | 0.45 |
2022-01-09 | 6h35m | 7h10m | 18h29m | 19h05m | 0h27m | 6h35m | 0.55 |
2022-01-10 | 6h35m | 7h10m | 18h30m | 19h06m | 1h32m | 6h35m | 0.64 |
2022-01-11 | 6h35m | 7h10m | 18h31m | 19h07m | 2h37m | 6h35m | 0.73 |
2022-01-12 | 6h35m | 7h10m | 18h33m | 19h08m | 3h41m | 6h35m | 0.81 |
2022-01-13 | 6h34m | 7h09m | 18h34m | 19h09m | 4h45m | 6h34m | 0.88 |
2022-01-14 | 6h34m | 7h09m | 18h35m | 19h10m | 5h48m | 6h34m | 0.93 |
2022-01-15 | 6h34m | 7h08m | 18h36m | 19h11m | – | – | 0.97 |
2022-01-16 | 6h33m | 7h08m | 18h37m | 19h12m | – | – | 0.99 |
2022-01-17 | 6h33m | 7h08m | 18h38m | 19h13m | – | – | 1 |
2022-01-18 | 6h32m | 7h07m | 18h39m | 19h14m | – | – | 0.99 |
2022-01-19 | 6h32m | 7h07m | 18h40m | 19h15m | 19h15m | 19h15m | 0.95 |
2022-01-20 | 6h31m | 7h06m | 18h41m | 19h16m | 19h16m | 20h23m | 0.9 |
2022-01-21 | 6h31m | 7h05m | 18h43m | 19h17m | 19h17m | 21h32m | 0.83 |
2022-01-22 | 6h30m | 7h05m | 18h44m | 19h18m | 19h18m | 22h41m | 0.75 |
2022-01-23 | 6h29m | 7h04m | 18h45m | 19h20m | 19h20m | 23h51m | 0.65 |
2022-01-24 | 6h29m | 7h03m | 18h46m | 19h21m | 19h21m | – | 0.54 |
2022-01-25 | 6h28m | 7h03m | 18h47m | 19h22m | 19h22m | 1h04m | 0.43 |
2022-01-26 | 6h27m | 7h02m | 18h49m | 19h23m | 19h23m | 2h19m | 0.32 |
2022-01-27 | 6h27m | 7h01m | 18h50m | 19h24m | 19h24m | 3h37m | 0.21 |
2022-01-28 | 6h26m | 7h00m | 18h51m | 19h25m | 19h25m | 4h56m | 0.13 |
2022-01-29 | 6h25m | 6h59m | 18h52m | 19h27m | 19h27m | 6h11m | 0.06 |
2022-01-30 | 6h24m | 6h58m | 18h54m | 19h28m | 19h28m | 6h24m | 0.01 |
2022-01-31 | 6h23m | 6h57m | 18h55m | 19h29m | 19h29m | 6h23m | 0 |
Twilight calendar was generated using Cartes du Ciel (Sky Charts).
See my blog post: Twilight Zone for the definitions of the different periods of twilight here: https://bobmoler.wordpress.com/2018/09/27/.
NASA Calendar of Planetary Events
Date Time Event Jan 1 Sa Venus: 12.4° E 1 Sa 6:00 pm Moon Perigee: 358000 km 2 Su 8:35 am Moon South Dec.: 26.3° S 2 Su 1:33 pm New Moon 3 Mo 3:56 pm Quadrantid Shower: ZHR = 120 3 Mo 7:59 pm Perihelion: 0.9833 AU 4 Tu 11:50 am Moon-Saturn: 4.2° N 5 We 7:09 pm Moon-Jupiter: 4.5° N 7 Fr 5:59 am Mercury Elongation: 19.2° E 8 Sa 7:50 pm Venus Inferior Conj. 9 Su 1:11 pm First Quarter 12 We 11:17 pm Mercury-Saturn: 3.4° N 12 We 11:19 pm Moon Ascending Node 14 Fr 4:27 am Moon Apogee: 405800 km 16 Su 5:16 am Moon North Dec.: 26.3° N 17 Mo 10:37 am Moon-Pollux: 2.9° N 17 Mo 6:48 pm Full Moon 18 Tu 11:33 am Moon-Beehive: 3.5° S 23 Su 5:25 am Mercury Inferior Conj. 25 Tu 8:41 am Last Quarter 27 Th 1:14 am Moon Descending Node 29 Sa 10:05 am Moon-Mars: 2.4° N 29 Sa 6:26 pm Moon South Dec.: 26.4° S 30 Su 2:09 am Moon Perigee: 362300 km Feb 1 Tu Venus: 32° W
All event times are given for UTC-5 Eastern Standard Time.
Sky Events Calendar by Fred Espenak and Sumit Dutta (NASA’s GSFC),
http://eclipse.gsfc.nasa.gov/SKYCAL/SKYCAL.html.
If you go to the above site you can print out a list like the above for the entire year or calendar pages for your time zone.
Sun and Moon Rising and Setting Events
LU Ephemeris of Sky Events for Interlochen/TC January, 2022 Local time zone: EST +-----------------------------------------------------------------------+ | DATE | SUN SUN DAYLIGHT| TWILIGHT* |MOON RISE OR ILLUM | | | RISE SET HOURS | END START |PHASE SET** TIME FRACTN| +=======================================================================+ |Sat 1| 08:20a 05:13p 08:52 | 06:23p 07:09a | Rise 08:33a 1%| +------+-----------------------+----------------+-----------------------+ |Sun 2| 08:20a 05:13p 08:53 | 06:24p 07:09a |New Set 04:59p 0%| |Mon 3| 08:20a 05:14p 08:54 | 06:25p 07:09a | Set 06:14p 2%| |Tue 4| 08:20a 05:15p 08:55 | 06:25p 07:10a | Set 07:34p 7%| |Wed 5| 08:19a 05:16p 08:57 | 06:26p 07:10a | Set 08:53p 14%| |Thu 6| 08:19a 05:18p 08:58 | 06:27p 07:09a | Set 10:07p 23%| |Fri 7| 08:19a 05:19p 08:59 | 06:28p 07:09a | Set 11:18p 32%| |Sat 8| 08:19a 05:20p 09:00 | 06:29p 07:09a | Set 12:26a 42%| +------+-----------------------+----------------+-----------------------+ |Sun 9| 08:19a 05:21p 09:02 | 06:30p 07:09a |F Qtr Set 01:32a 52%| |Mon 10| 08:18a 05:22p 09:03 | 06:31p 07:09a | Set 02:36a 62%| |Tue 11| 08:18a 05:23p 09:05 | 06:32p 07:09a | Set 03:41a 71%| |Wed 12| 08:17a 05:24p 09:06 | 06:33p 07:08a | Set 04:45a 79%| |Thu 13| 08:17a 05:26p 09:08 | 06:34p 07:08a | Set 05:47a 86%| |Fri 14| 08:17a 05:27p 09:10 | 06:36p 07:08a | Set 06:47a 92%| |Sat 15| 08:16a 05:28p 09:11 | 06:37p 07:07a | Set 07:41a 96%| +------+-----------------------+----------------+-----------------------+ |Sun 16| 08:15a 05:29p 09:13 | 06:38p 07:07a | Set 08:27a 99%| |Mon 17| 08:15a 05:31p 09:15 | 06:39p 07:06a |Full Rise 05:04p 100%| |Tue 18| 08:14a 05:32p 09:17 | 06:40p 07:06a | Rise 06:07p 99%| |Wed 19| 08:13a 05:33p 09:19 | 06:41p 07:05a | Rise 07:15p 96%| |Thu 20| 08:13a 05:34p 09:21 | 06:42p 07:05a | Rise 08:23p 91%| |Fri 21| 08:12a 05:36p 09:23 | 06:44p 07:04a | Rise 09:31p 85%| |Sat 22| 08:11a 05:37p 09:25 | 06:45p 07:04a | Rise 10:41p 76%| +------+-----------------------+----------------+-----------------------+ |Sun 23| 08:10a 05:39p 09:28 | 06:46p 07:03a | Rise 11:51p 67%| |Mon 24| 08:09a 05:40p 09:30 | 06:47p 07:02a | Rise 01:03a 56%| |Tue 25| 08:09a 05:41p 09:32 | 06:48p 07:01a |L Qtr Rise 02:19a 45%| |Wed 26| 08:08a 05:43p 09:35 | 06:50p 07:01a | Rise 03:37a 34%| |Thu 27| 08:07a 05:44p 09:37 | 06:51p 07:00a | Rise 04:56a 24%| |Fri 28| 08:06a 05:45p 09:39 | 06:52p 06:59a | Rise 06:10a 14%| |Sat 29| 08:05a 05:47p 09:42 | 06:53p 06:58a | Rise 07:15a 7%| +------+-----------------------+----------------+-----------------------+ |Sun 30| 08:04a 05:48p 09:44 | 06:55p 06:57a | Rise 08:07a 2%| |Mon 31| 08:02a 05:50p 09:47 | 06:56p 06:56a | Rise 08:48a 0%| +-----------------------------------------------------------------------+ * Nautical Twilight ** Moonrise or moonset, whichever occurs between sunrise and sunset
Generated using my LookingUp for DOS program.
11/30/2021 – Ephemeris – Previewing December skies
This is Ephemeris for Tuesday, November 30th. Today the Sun will be up for 9 hours and 4 minutes, setting at 5:03, and it will rise tomorrow at 8:00. The Moon, 3 days past last quarter, will rise at 4:24 tomorrow morning.
Let’s look ahead at the skies of December. We are now in the holiday season and about to celebrate the southernmost travel of the Sun in the sky and its return northward. The Sun will stop its travel south, the winter solstice on the 21st at 10:59 a.m. That will make that day the shortest day in terms of daylight hours. However, the earliest sunset and latest sunrise don’t coincide with that date. The reason is the Earth is closer to the Sun than average and is moving faster in its orbit than it normally does. It skews the sunrise and sunset times, making them later than they would be on average. We have a comet, C/2021 A1 (Leonard), that will be bright enough to be visible in binoculars coming into view in the morning later this week and into the next.
The astronomical event times given are for the Traverse City/Interlochen area of Michigan (EST, UT – 5 hours). They may be different for your location.
Addendum
December Evening Star Chart

Star Chart for December 2021 (9 p.m. EST December 15, 2021). 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 pm EST in the evening and 6 a.m. for the morning chart. These are the chart times. Note that Traverse City is located approximately 45 minutes behind our time meridian, West 75° longitude. (An hour 45 minutes behind our daylight saving time meridian during EDT).
December Morning Star Chart

Star Chart for December mornings, 2021 (6 a.m. EST December 15, 2021). Click on image to enlarge. Created using my LookingUp program.
For a list of constellation names to go with the abbreviations click here.
- Pointer stars at the front of the bowl of the Big Dipper point to Polaris, the North Star.
- The leaky bowl of the Big Dipper drips on Leo.
- Follow the arc of the handle of the Big Dipper to the star Arcturus, then
- Follow the spike to Spica.
- The Summer Triangle is in red.
- GemR on the star charts is the radiant of the Geminid meteor shower, which peaks on the morning of the 14th.
Twilight Limits, Nautical and Astronomical
EST | |||||||
Morning | Twilight | Evening | Twilight | Dark | Night | Moon | |
Date | Astro. | Nautical | Nautical | Astro. | Start | End | Illum. |
2021-12-01 | 6h20m | 6h56m | 18h15m | 18h51m | 18h51m | 4h24m | 0.07 |
2021-12-02 | 6h21m | 6h57m | 18h15m | 18h50m | 18h50m | 5h45m | 0.02 |
2021-12-03 | 6h22m | 6h57m | 18h15m | 18h50m | 18h50m | 6h22m | 0 |
2021-12-04 | 6h23m | 6h58m | 18h15m | 18h50m | 18h50m | 6h23m | 0.01 |
2021-12-05 | 6h24m | 6h59m | 18h15m | 18h50m | 18h50m | 6h24m | 0.05 |
2021-12-06 | 6h25m | 7h00m | 18h15m | 18h50m | 19h27m | 6h25m | 0.12 |
2021-12-07 | 6h26m | 7h01m | 18h15m | 18h50m | 20h43m | 6h26m | 0.21 |
2021-12-08 | 6h27m | 7h02m | 18h15m | 18h50m | 22h00m | 6h27m | 0.31 |
2021-12-09 | 6h28m | 7h03m | 18h15m | 18h50m | 23h14m | 6h28m | 0.41 |
2021-12-10 | 6h28m | 7h04m | 18h15m | 18h50m | – | 6h28m | 0.52 |
2021-12-11 | 6h29m | 7h05m | 18h15m | 18h50m | 0h25m | 6h29m | 0.62 |
2021-12-12 | 6h30m | 7h05m | 18h15m | 18h51m | 1h32m | 6h30m | 0.71 |
2021-12-13 | 6h31m | 7h06m | 18h15m | 18h51m | 2h38m | 6h31m | 0.79 |
2021-12-14 | 6h31m | 7h07m | 18h16m | 18h51m | 3h42m | 6h31m | 0.87 |
2021-12-15 | 6h32m | 7h07m | 18h16m | 18h51m | 4h46m | 6h32m | 0.92 |
2021-12-16 | 6h33m | 7h08m | 18h16m | 18h52m | 5h50m | 6h33m | 0.97 |
2021-12-17 | 6h29m | 7h05m | 18h13m | 18h48m | – | – | 0.99 |
2021-12-18 | 6h30m | 7h05m | 18h13m | 18h48m | – | – | 1 |
2021-12-19 | 6h30m | 7h06m | 18h13m | 18h49m | – | – | 0.99 |
2021-12-20 | 6h31m | 7h07m | 18h14m | 18h49m | – | – | 0.96 |
2021-12-21 | 6h31m | 7h07m | 18h14m | 18h50m | 18h50m | 19h11m | 0.92 |
2021-12-22 | 6h32m | 7h07m | 18h15m | 18h50m | 18h50m | 20h16m | 0.86 |
2021-12-23 | 6h32m | 7h08m | 18h15m | 18h51m | 18h51m | 21h23m | 0.78 |
2021-12-24 | 6h33m | 7h08m | 18h16m | 18h51m | 18h51m | 22h31m | 0.7 |
2021-12-25 | 6h33m | 7h09m | 18h17m | 18h52m | 18h52m | 23h40m | 0.6 |
2021-12-26 | 6h34m | 7h09m | 18h17m | 18h53m | 18h53m | – | 0.49 |
2021-12-27 | 6h34m | 7h09m | 18h18m | 18h53m | 18h53m | 0h50m | 0.38 |
2021-12-28 | 6h34m | 7h10m | 18h19m | 18h54m | 18h54m | 2h02m | 0.27 |
2021-12-29 | 6h34m | 7h10m | 18h19m | 18h55m | 18h55m | 3h18m | 0.18 |
2021-12-30 | 6h35m | 7h10m | 18h20m | 18h55m | 18h55m | 4h38m | 0.1 |
2021-12-31 | 6h35m | 7h10m | 18h21m | 18h56m | 18h56m | 6h00m | 0.04 |
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 We Venus: 41.4° E 3 Fr 9:58 am Moon Descending Node 4 Sa 2:34 am Total Solar Eclipse (Antarctica, Southern Ocean) 4 Sa 2:43 am New Moon 4 Sa 5:01 am Moon Perigee: 356800 km 5 Su 9:25 pm Moon South Dec.: 26.3° S 6 Mo 7:48 pm Moon-Venus: 1.9° N 7 Tu 8:52 pm Moon-Saturn: 4.2° N 9 Th 1:07 am Moon-Jupiter: 4.6° N 10 Fr 8:36 pm First Quarter 14 Tu 1:44 am Geminid Shower: ZHR = 120 16 Th 7:12 pm Moon Ascending Node 17 Fr 9:16 pm Moon Apogee: 406300 km 18 Sa 11:36 pm Full Moon 19 Su 11:32 pm Moon North Dec.: 26.3° N 21 Tu 4:20 am Moon-Pollux: 2.9° N 21 Tu 10:59 am Winter Solstice 22 We 5:28 am Moon-Beehive: 3.6° S 22 We 10:00 am Ursid Shower: ZHR = 10 26 Su 9:24 pm Last Quarter 27 Mo 4:17 am Mars-Antares: 4.5° N 28 Tu 11:49 pm Mercury-Venus: 4.2° N 30 Th 8:07 pm Moon Descending Node 31 Fr 3:13 pm Moon-Mars: 0.9° N
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, 2021 Local time zone: EST +-----------------------------------------------------------------------+ | DATE | SUN SUN DAYLIGHT| TWILIGHT* |MOON RISE OR ILLUM | | | RISE SET HOURS | END START |PHASE SET** TIME FRACTN| +=======================================================================+ |Wed 1| 08:00a 05:03p 09:03 | 06:12p 06:50a | Rise 05:45a 8%| |Thu 2| 08:01a 05:03p 09:01 | 06:12p 06:51a | Rise 07:09a 3%| |Fri 3| 08:02a 05:02p 09:00 | 06:12p 06:52a | Rise 08:33a 0%| |Sat 4| 08:03a 05:02p 08:59 | 06:12p 06:53a |New Set 05:18p 1%| +------+-----------------------+----------------+-----------------------+ |Sun 5| 08:04a 05:02p 08:57 | 06:12p 06:54a | Set 06:17p 4%| |Mon 6| 08:05a 05:02p 08:56 | 06:12p 06:55a | Set 07:27p 11%| |Tue 7| 08:06a 05:02p 08:55 | 06:12p 06:56a | Set 08:43p 19%| |Wed 8| 08:07a 05:02p 08:54 | 06:12p 06:57a | Set 10:00p 28%| |Thu 9| 08:08a 05:02p 08:53 | 06:12p 06:58a | Set 11:14p 39%| |Fri 10| 08:09a 05:02p 08:52 | 06:12p 06:59a |F Qtr Set 12:25a 49%| |Sat 11| 08:10a 05:02p 08:51 | 06:12p 06:59a | Set 01:32a 60%| +------+-----------------------+----------------+-----------------------+ |Sun 12| 08:11a 05:02p 08:51 | 06:12p 07:00a | Set 02:37a 69%| |Mon 13| 08:11a 05:02p 08:50 | 06:12p 07:01a | Set 03:41a 78%| |Tue 14| 08:12a 05:02p 08:49 | 06:13p 07:02a | Set 04:45a 85%| |Wed 15| 08:13a 05:02p 08:49 | 06:13p 07:02a | Set 05:50a 91%| |Thu 16| 08:14a 05:03p 08:49 | 06:13p 07:03a | Set 06:53a 96%| |Fri 17| 08:14a 05:03p 08:48 | 06:14p 07:04a | Set 07:56a 99%| |Sat 18| 08:15a 05:03p 08:48 | 06:14p 07:04a |Full Rise 04:34p 100%| +------+-----------------------+----------------+-----------------------+ |Sun 19| 08:16a 05:04p 08:48 | 06:14p 07:05a | Rise 05:19p 99%| |Mon 20| 08:16a 05:04p 08:48 | 06:15p 07:05a | Rise 06:12p 97%| |Tue 21| 08:17a 05:05p 08:48 | 06:15p 07:06a | Rise 07:11p 93%| |Wed 22| 08:17a 05:05p 08:48 | 06:16p 07:06a | Rise 08:16p 87%| |Thu 23| 08:18a 05:06p 08:48 | 06:16p 07:07a | Rise 09:23p 80%| |Fri 24| 08:18a 05:06p 08:48 | 06:17p 07:07a | Rise 10:31p 71%| |Sat 25| 08:18a 05:07p 08:48 | 06:18p 07:08a | Rise 11:40p 62%| +------+-----------------------+----------------+-----------------------+ |Sun 26| 08:19a 05:08p 08:49 | 06:18p 07:08a |L Qtr Rise 12:50a 51%| |Mon 27| 08:19a 05:08p 08:49 | 06:19p 07:08a | Rise 02:02a 40%| |Tue 28| 08:19a 05:09p 08:50 | 06:20p 07:09a | Rise 03:18a 30%| |Wed 29| 08:19a 05:10p 08:50 | 06:20p 07:09a | Rise 04:37a 20%| |Thu 30| 08:19a 05:11p 08:51 | 06:21p 07:09a | Rise 06:00a 11%| |Fri 31| 08:20a 05:12p 08:52 | 06:22p 07:09a | Rise 07:20a 5%| +-----------------------------------------------------------------------+ * Nautical Twilight ** Moonrise or moonset, whichever occurs between sunrise and sunset
Generated using my LookingUp for DOS program.
Comet Leonard

Comet Leonard’s positions at 6:30 am on the dates indicated. The labels are Month-Day Total Magnitude. The star’s position relative to the horizon and the position of Mars are for November 27th. The star field will be shifting to the upper right each morning at 6:30 from the November 27th date. Comets always appear dimmer than their magnitude suggests because they are extended objects, not points like stars. Also, comet magnitudes can be unpredictable. Plus, the comet tails will not appear as long. The tail may not actually be visible visually. Created using Cartes du Ciel (Sky Charts). Reprinted from my article in the December 2021 issue of the Stellar Sentinel, the newsletter for the Grand Traverse Astronomical Society.
This is our best shot at spotting the comet. After it passes the Sun and enters the evening sky, the comet will hug the southwest to southern horizon in twilight. I’ll have more on Comet Leonard in the rest of the programs this week.
11/01/2021 – Ephemeris – Previewing November skies
This is Ephemeris for Monday, November 1st. The Sun will rise at 8:21. It’ll be up for 10 hours and 9 minutes, setting at 6:31. The Moon, 3 days before new, will rise at 5:18 tomorrow morning.
Let’s look ahead at the skies for the month of November. The Sun is still moving south rapidly at the beginning of the month, but will slow down toward the end. Daylight hours in the Interlochen/Traverse City area and will drop from 10 hours and 9 minutes today to 9 hours 4 minutes on the 30th. The altitude, or angle, of the Sun above the southern horizon at local noon will be at 30 degrees tomorrow and will descend to 23 and a half degrees on the 30th. The altitude of the Sun in the Straits area will be a degree lower. Local noon, this month, is about 12:30 p.m. There will be an almost total eclipse of the Moon on the morning of Friday the 19th. The eclipse will start at 2:18 am. Mid-eclipse with a tiny sliver of the Moon in sunlight will be at 4:05 am. It all ends at 5:47 am.
The astronomical event times given are for the Traverse City/Interlochen area of Michigan (EDT, UT – 4 hours). They may be different for your location.
Addendum
November Evening Star Chart

Star Chart for November evenings, 2021 (9 p.m. EST November 15, 2019). Click on image to enlarge. Click on image to enlarge. Created using my LookingUp program.
November Morning Star Chart

Star Chart for November mornings, 2021 (6 a.m. EST November 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.
- 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 17th.
Twilight Limits, Nautical and Astronomical
EDT | |||||||
Morning | Twilight | Evening | Twilight | Dark | Night | Moon | |
Date | Astro. | Nautical | Nautical | Astro. | Start | End | Illum. |
2021-11-01 | 6h47m | 7h21m | 19h39m | 20h13m | 20h13m | 4h03m | 0.1 |
2021-11-02 | 6h48m | 7h22m | 19h38m | 20h12m | 20h12m | 5h18m | 0.04 |
2021-11-03 | 6h49m | 7h23m | 19h36m | 20h10m | 20h10m | 6h36m | 0.01 |
2021-11-04 | 6h51m | 7h25m | 19h35m | 20h09m | 20h09m | 6h51m | 0 |
2021-11-05 | 6h52m | 7h26m | 19h34m | 20h08m | 20h08m | 6h52m | 0.03 |
2021-11-06 | 6h53m | 7h27m | 19h33m | 20h07m | 20h07m | 6h53m | 0.08 |
2021-11-07 | 5h54m | 6h28m | 18h32m | 19h06m | 19h35m | 5h54m | 0.15 |
2021-11-08 | 5h55m | 6h30m | 18h31m | 19h05m | 20h37m | 5h55m | 0.25 |
2021-11-09 | 5h57m | 6h31m | 18h30m | 19h04m | 21h48m | 5h57m | 0.36 |
2021-11-10 | 5h58m | 6h32m | 18h29m | 19h03m | 23h02m | 5h58m | 0.47 |
2021-11-11 | 5h59m | 6h33m | 18h28m | 19h02m | – | 5h59m | 0.57 |
2021-11-12 | 6h00m | 6h34m | 18h27m | 19h01m | 0h16m | 6h00m | 0.68 |
2021-11-13 | 6h01m | 6h36m | 18h26m | 19h00m | 1h27m | 6h01m | 0.77 |
2021-11-14 | 6h02m | 6h37m | 18h25m | 18h59m | 2h35m | 6h02m | 0.85 |
2021-11-15 | 6h03m | 6h38m | 18h24m | 18h59m | 3h41m | 6h03m | 0.91 |
2021-11-16 | 6h05m | 6h39m | 18h23m | 18h58m | 4h45m | 6h05m | 0.96 |
2021-11-17 | 6h06m | 6h40m | 18h23m | 18h57m | 5h50m | 6h06m | 0.99 |
2021-11-18 | 6h07m | 6h41m | 18h22m | 18h56m | – | – | 1 |
2021-11-19 | 6h08m | 6h43m | 18h21m | 18h56m | – | – | 0.99 |
2021-11-20 | 6h09m | 6h44m | 18h20m | 18h55m | – | – | 0.97 |
2021-11-21 | 6h10m | 6h45m | 18h20m | 18h54m | – | – | 0.93 |
2021-11-22 | 6h11m | 6h46m | 18h19m | 18h54m | 18h54m | 19h22m | 0.87 |
2021-11-23 | 6h12m | 6h47m | 18h19m | 18h53m | 18h53m | 20h17m | 0.81 |
2021-11-24 | 6h13m | 6h48m | 18h18m | 18h53m | 18h53m | 21h19m | 0.72 |
2021-11-25 | 6h14m | 6h49m | 18h18m | 18h52m | 18h52m | 22h24m | 0.63 |
2021-11-26 | 6h15m | 6h50m | 18h17m | 18h52m | 18h52m | 23h33m | 0.53 |
2021-11-27 | 6h16m | 6h51m | 18h17m | 18h52m | 18h52m | – | 0.43 |
2021-11-28 | 6h17m | 6h52m | 18h16m | 18h51m | 18h51m | 0h43m | 0.33 |
2021-11-29 | 6h18m | 6h54m | 18h16m | 18h51m | 18h51m | 1h54m | 0.23 |
2021-11-30 | 6h19m | 6h55m | 18h16m | 18h51m | 18h51m | 3h07m | 0.14 |
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 Mo Venus: 47° E 1 Mo 8:17 pm Mercury-Spica: 4.1° N 4 Th 4:15 pm New Moon 4 Th 7:13 pm Uranus Opposition 5 Fr 5:23 pm Moon Perigee: 358800 km 5 Fr 10:38 pm Moon Descending Node 8 Mo 12:21 am Moon-Venus: 1.1° S 8 Mo 11:27 am Moon South Dec.: 26.3° S 10 We 9:27 am Moon-Saturn: 4.2° N 11 Th 7:46 am First Quarter 11 Th 12:12 pm Moon-Jupiter: 4.5° N 12 Fr 6:16 am North Taurid Shower: ZHR = 15 17 We 12:33 pm Leonid Shower: ZHR = 15 19 Fr 3:58 am Full Moon 19 Fr 4:04 am Partial Lunar Eclipse 19 Fr 12:59 pm Moon Ascending Node 20 Sa 9:14 pm Moon Apogee: 406300 km 22 Mo 5:43 pm Moon North Dec.: 26.3° N 23 Tu 10:22 pm Moon-Pollux: 2.8° N 24 We 11:32 pm Moon-Beehive: 3.6° S 27 Sa 7:28 am Last Quarter 28 Su 11:35 pm Mercury Superior Solar Conj.
All event times for November 1-6 are given for UTC-4 Eastern Daylight Saving Time. Dates after that 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 November, 2021 Local time zone: EDT +-----------------------------------------------------------------------+ | DATE | SUN SUN DAYLIGHT| TWILIGHT* |MOON RISE OR ILLUM | | | RISE SET HOURS | END START |PHASE SET** TIME FRACTN| +=======================================================================+ |Mon 1| 08:21a 06:31p 10:09 | 07:36p 07:16a | Rise 05:18a 11%| |Tue 2| 08:22a 06:29p 10:07 | 07:34p 07:17a | Rise 06:35a 5%| |Wed 3| 08:23a 06:28p 10:04 | 07:33p 07:18a | Rise 07:56a 1%| |Thu 4| 08:25a 06:26p 10:01 | 07:32p 07:19a |New Set 06:31p 0%| |Fri 5| 08:26a 06:25p 09:59 | 07:31p 07:21a | Set 07:04p 2%| |Sat 6| 08:27a 06:24p 09:56 | 07:30p 07:22a | Set 07:44p 7%| +------+-----------------------+----------------+-----------------------+ | EST | Time Change | | | |Sun 7| 07:29a 05:23p 09:53 | 06:28p 06:23a | Set 07:35p 14%| |Mon 8| 07:30a 05:21p 09:51 | 06:27p 06:24a | Set 08:37p 23%| |Tue 9| 07:32a 05:20p 09:48 | 06:26p 06:25a | Set 09:48p 33%| |Wed 10| 07:33a 05:19p 09:46 | 06:25p 06:27a | Set 11:02p 44%| |Thu 11| 07:34a 05:18p 09:43 | 06:24p 06:28a |F Qtr Set 12:16a 55%| |Fri 12| 07:36a 05:17p 09:41 | 06:24p 06:29a | Set 01:27a 65%| |Sat 13| 07:37a 05:16p 09:38 | 06:23p 06:30a | Set 02:35a 75%| +------+-----------------------+----------------+-----------------------+ |Sun 14| 07:38a 05:15p 09:36 | 06:22p 06:31a | Set 03:40a 83%| |Mon 15| 07:40a 05:14p 09:34 | 06:21p 06:33a | Set 04:45a 90%| |Tue 16| 07:41a 05:13p 09:31 | 06:20p 06:34a | Set 05:49a 95%| |Wed 17| 07:42a 05:12p 09:29 | 06:19p 06:35a | Set 06:54a 98%| |Thu 18| 07:44a 05:11p 09:27 | 06:19p 06:36a | Set 07:58a 100%| |Fri 19| 07:45a 05:10p 09:25 | 06:18p 06:37a |Full Rise 05:23p 100%| |Sat 20| 07:46a 05:09p 09:23 | 06:17p 06:38a | Rise 05:56p 98%| +------+-----------------------+----------------+-----------------------+ |Sun 21| 07:48a 05:09p 09:21 | 06:17p 06:40a | Rise 06:35p 94%| |Mon 22| 07:49a 05:08p 09:19 | 06:16p 06:41a | Rise 07:22p 89%| |Tue 23| 07:50a 05:07p 09:17 | 06:15p 06:42a | Rise 08:17p 82%| |Wed 24| 07:51a 05:07p 09:15 | 06:15p 06:43a | Rise 09:19p 74%| |Thu 25| 07:53a 05:06p 09:13 | 06:15p 06:44a | Rise 10:24p 65%| |Fri 26| 07:54a 05:05p 09:11 | 06:14p 06:45a | Rise 11:33p 55%| |Sat 27| 07:55a 05:05p 09:09 | 06:14p 06:46a |L Qtr Rise 12:42a 45%| +------+-----------------------+----------------+-----------------------+ |Sun 28| 07:56a 05:04p 09:08 | 06:13p 06:47a | Rise 01:54a 35%| |Mon 29| 07:57a 05:04p 09:06 | 06:13p 06:48a | Rise 03:07a 25%| |Tue 30| 07:59a 05:03p 09:04 | 06:13p 06:49a | Rise 04:24a 15%| +-----------------------------------------------------------------------+ * Nautical Twilight ** Moonrise or moonset, whichever occurs between sunrise and sunsetGenerated using my LookingUp for DOS program.
Preview of the November 19, 2021 partial lunar eclipse at maximum at 4:05 am
09/30/2021 – Ephemeris – Previewing October skies
This is Ephemeris for Thursday, September 30th. Today the Sun will be up for 11 hours and 44 minutes, setting at 7:24, and it will rise tomorrow at 7:41. The Moon, 2 days past last quarter, will rise at 1:42 tomorrow morning.
Let’s look at the skies for this 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 41 minutes tomorrow to 10 hours 12 minutes on the 31st. The altitude of the sun above the southern horizon at local noon will be 42 degrees tomorrow, and will descend to 31 degrees on Halloween, also in the Interlochen/Traverse City area. The Straits area will have the sun a degree lower. Local noon, when the Sun is due south, will be about 1:30 pm in Interlochen and Traverse City. Bits of Halley’s comet will return later in the month as the Orionid meteor shower. However, it will have to compete with a nearly full moon.
The astronomical event times given are for the Traverse City/Interlochen area of Michigan (EDT, UT-4 hours). They may be different for your location.
October Evening Star Chart
October Morning Star Chart
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.
- OriR – Orionid Radiant – Peak 22nd – Zenithal Hourly Rate = 20
Twilight Limits, Nautical and Astronomical
EDT | |||||||
Morning | Twilight | Evening | Twilight | Dark | Night | Moon | |
Date | Astro. | Nautical | Nautical | Astro. | Start | End | Illum. |
2021-10-01 | 6h09m | 6h43m | 20h29m | 21h03m | 21h03m | 1h42m | 0.21 |
2021-10-02 | 6h10m | 6h44m | 20h27m | 21h01m | 21h01m | 2h49m | 0.13 |
2021-10-03 | 6h11m | 6h45m | 20h25m | 20h59m | 20h59m | 4h01m | 0.07 |
2021-10-04 | 6h13m | 6h47m | 20h23m | 20h57m | 20h57m | 5h15m | 0.02 |
2021-10-05 | 6h14m | 6h48m | 20h21m | 20h55m | 20h55m | 6h14m | 0 |
2021-10-06 | 6h15m | 6h49m | 20h19m | 20h54m | 20h54m | 6h15m | 0.01 |
2021-10-07 | 6h16m | 6h50m | 20h18m | 20h52m | 20h52m | 6h16m | 0.04 |
2021-10-08 | 6h18m | 6h52m | 20h16m | 20h50m | 20h50m | 6h18m | 0.1 |
2021-10-09 | 6h19m | 6h53m | 20h14m | 20h48m | 21h10m | 6h19m | 0.19 |
2021-10-10 | 6h20m | 6h54m | 20h12m | 20h46m | 21h53m | 6h20m | 0.29 |
2021-10-11 | 6h21m | 6h55m | 20h11m | 20h44m | 22h46m | 6h21m | 0.4 |
2021-10-12 | 6h23m | 6h57m | 20h09m | 20h43m | 23h50m | 6h23m | 0.51 |
2021-10-13 | 6h24m | 6h58m | 20h07m | 20h41m | – | 6h24m | 0.62 |
2021-10-14 | 6h25m | 6h59m | 20h06m | 20h39m | 1h00m | 6h25m | 0.72 |
2021-10-15 | 6h26m | 7h00m | 20h04m | 20h38m | 2h13m | 6h26m | 0.81 |
2021-10-16 | 6h28m | 7h01m | 20h02m | 20h36m | 3h25m | 6h28m | 0.89 |
2021-10-17 | 6h29m | 7h03m | 20h01m | 20h34m | 4h35m | 6h29m | 0.94 |
2021-10-18 | 6h30m | 7h04m | 19h59m | 20h33m | 5h43m | 6h30m | 0.98 |
2021-10-19 | 6h31m | 7h05m | 19h57m | 20h31m | – | – | 1 |
2021-10-20 | 6h33m | 7h06m | 19h56m | 20h30m | – | – | 1 |
2021-10-21 | 6h34m | 7h08m | 19h54m | 20h28m | – | – | 0.98 |
2021-10-22 | 6h35m | 7h09m | 19h53m | 20h26m | – | – | 0.94 |
2021-10-23 | 6h36m | 7h10m | 19h51m | 20h25m | – | – | 0.89 |
2021-10-24 | 6h37m | 7h11m | 19h50m | 20h24m | 20h24m | 20h56m | 0.82 |
2021-10-25 | 6h39m | 7h12m | 19h48m | 20h22m | 20h22m | 21h38m | 0.74 |
2021-10-26 | 6h40m | 7h14m | 19h47m | 20h21m | 20h21m | 22h29m | 0.66 |
2021-10-27 | 6h41m | 7h15m | 19h45m | 20h19m | 20h19m | 23h27m | 0.56 |
2021-10-28 | 6h42m | 7h16m | 19h44m | 20h18m | 20h18m | – | 0.46 |
2021-10-29 | 6h43m | 7h17m | 19h43m | 20h17m | 20h17m | 0h31m | 0.37 |
2021-10-30 | 6h45m | 7h19m | 19h41m | 20h15m | 20h15m | 1h39m | 0.27 |
2021-10-31 | 6h46m | 7h20m | 19h40m | 20h14m | 20h14m | 2h50m | 0.18 |
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 ET Event Oct 1 Fr Venus: 44.9° E 1 Fr 9:08 am Moon-Beehive: 3.3° S 6 We 7:05 am New Moon 7 Th 11:50 pm Mars Solar Conjunction 8 Fr 1:28 pm Moon Perigee: 363400 km 9 Sa 12:12 pm Mercury Inferior Conj. 9 Sa 2:36 pm Moon-Venus: 2.9° S 9 Sa 3:35 pm Moon Descending Node 10 Su S Taurid peak ZHR = 5 See IMO Calendar 12 Tu 5:09 am Moon South Dec.: 26.2° S 12 Tu 11:25 pm First Quarter 14 Th 3:12 am Moon-Saturn: 4.1° N 15 Fr 5:58 am Moon-Jupiter: 4.3° N 16 Sa 9:24 am Venus-Antares: 1.5° N 20 We 10:57 am Full Moon 21 Th 7:30 am Orionid Shower: ZHR = 20 23 Sa 7:47 am Moon Ascending Node 24 Su 11:30 am Moon Apogee: 405600 km 25 Mo 12:59 am Mercury Greatest Elongation: 18.4° W 26 Tu 12:04 pm Moon North Dec.: 26.3° N 27 We 4:40 pm Moon-Pollux: 2.8° N 28 Th 4:05 pm Last Quarter 28 Th 5:32 pm Moon-Beehive: 3.6° S 29 Fr 5:59 pm Venus Greatest Elongation: 47° E Nov 1 Mo Venus: 47° 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, 2021 Local time zone: EDT +-----------------------------------------------------------------------+ | DATE | SUN SUN DAYLIGHT| TWILIGHT* |MOON RISE OR ILLUM | | | RISE SET HOURS | END START |PHASE SET** TIME FRACTN| +=======================================================================+ |Fri 1| 07:41a 07:22p 11:41 | 08:25p 06:38a | Rise 02:49a 23%| |Sat 2| 07:42a 07:20p 11:38 | 08:23p 06:39a | Rise 04:01a 15%| +------+-----------------------+----------------+-----------------------+ |Sun 3| 07:43a 07:19p 11:35 | 08:21p 06:40a | Rise 05:15a 8%| |Mon 4| 07:44a 07:17p 11:32 | 08:20p 06:41a | Rise 06:30a 3%| |Tue 5| 07:46a 07:15p 11:29 | 08:18p 06:43a | Rise 07:46a 0%| |Wed 6| 07:47a 07:13p 11:26 | 08:16p 06:44a |New Set 07:41p 0%| |Thu 7| 07:48a 07:11p 11:23 | 08:14p 06:45a | Set 08:06p 3%| |Fri 8| 07:49a 07:09p 11:20 | 08:12p 06:46a | Set 08:35p 9%| |Sat 9| 07:51a 07:08p 11:17 | 08:11p 06:47a | Set 09:09p 17%| +------+-----------------------+----------------+-----------------------+ |Sun 10| 07:52a 07:06p 11:14 | 08:09p 06:49a | Set 09:53p 26%| |Mon 11| 07:53a 07:04p 11:11 | 08:07p 06:50a | Set 10:46p 37%| |Tue 12| 07:54a 07:02p 11:08 | 08:05p 06:51a |F Qtr Set 11:50p 48%| |Wed 13| 07:56a 07:01p 11:05 | 08:04p 06:52a | Set 01:00a 59%| |Thu 14| 07:57a 06:59p 11:02 | 08:02p 06:54a | Set 02:13a 70%| |Fri 15| 07:58a 06:57p 10:59 | 08:00p 06:55a | Set 03:25a 79%| |Sat 16| 07:59a 06:55p 10:56 | 07:59p 06:56a | Set 04:35a 87%| +------+-----------------------+----------------+-----------------------+ |Sun 17| 08:01a 06:54p 10:53 | 07:57p 06:57a | Set 05:43a 93%| |Mon 18| 08:02a 06:52p 10:50 | 07:56p 06:58a | Set 06:49a 97%| |Tue 19| 08:03a 06:50p 10:47 | 07:54p 07:00a | Set 07:54a 100%| |Wed 20| 08:05a 06:49p 10:44 | 07:52p 07:01a |Full Rise 07:07p 100%| |Thu 21| 08:06a 06:47p 10:41 | 07:51p 07:02a | Rise 07:29p 98%| |Fri 22| 08:07a 06:46p 10:38 | 07:49p 07:03a | Rise 07:53p 95%| |Sat 23| 08:09a 06:44p 10:35 | 07:48p 07:05a | Rise 08:22p 90%| +------+-----------------------+----------------+-----------------------+ |Sun 24| 08:10a 06:42p 10:32 | 07:46p 07:06a | Rise 08:56p 84%| |Mon 25| 08:11a 06:41p 10:29 | 07:45p 07:07a | Rise 09:38p 76%| |Tue 26| 08:13a 06:39p 10:26 | 07:44p 07:08a | Rise 10:29p 67%| |Wed 27| 08:14a 06:38p 10:23 | 07:42p 07:10a | Rise 11:27p 58%| |Thu 28| 08:15a 06:36p 10:21 | 07:41p 07:11a |L Qtr Rise 12:31a 48%| |Fri 29| 08:17a 06:35p 10:18 | 07:39p 07:12a | Rise 01:39a 38%| |Sat 30| 08:18a 06:33p 10:15 | 07:38p 07:13a | Rise 02:50a 29%| +------+-----------------------+----------------+-----------------------+ |Sun 31| 08:19a 06:32p 10:12 | 07:37p 07:14a | Rise 04:03a 19%| +-----------------------------------------------------------------------+ * Nautical Twilight ** Moonrise or moonset, whichever occurs between sunrise and sunset
Generated using my LookingUp for DOS program.
08/31/2021 – Ephemeris – Previewing September skies
This is Bob Moler with Ephemeris for Tuesday, August 31st. Today the Sun will be up for 13 hours and 16 minutes, setting at 8:20, and it will rise tomorrow at 7:05. The Moon, 1 day past last quarter, will rise at 1:07 tomorrow morning.
Let’s look at the skies for the month of September. The sun will be moving at its greatest speed in its retreat to the south. Daylight hours in the Interlochen/Traverse City area and will drop from 13 hours and 13 minutes tomorrow to 11 hours and 44 minutes on the 30th. The altitude of the Sun above the southern horizon at local noon will be 54 degrees tomorrow, and will descend to 42 degrees on the 30th. Local noon at mid-month will be around 1:37 pm. The season of summer is getting short, so enjoy it while you can. Summer ends and autumn begins at 3:21 p.m. on September 22nd, the autumnal equinox. This year the Harvest Moon, the nearest full moon to the equinox, will fall two days before it on the 20th.
The astronomical event times given are for the Traverse City/Interlochen area of Michigan (EDT, UT – 4 hr). They may be different for your location.
Addendum
September Star Chart
September Morning Star Chart

Star Chart for September 2021 (10 p.m. EDT, September 15, 2021). Click on the image to enlarge it. 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 | |||||||
Morning | Twilight | Evening | Twilight | Dark | Night | Moon | |
Date | Astro. | Nautical | Nautical | Astro. | Start | End | Illum. |
2021-09-01 | 5h26m | 6h04m | 21h28m | 22h06m | 22h06m | 1h07m | 0.24 |
2021-09-02 | 5h28m | 6h06m | 21h26m | 22h04m | 22h04m | 1h57m | 0.16 |
2021-09-03 | 5h29m | 6h07m | 21h24m | 22h02m | 22h02m | 2h55m | 0.09 |
2021-09-04 | 5h31m | 6h08m | 21h22m | 22h00m | 22h00m | 4h01m | 0.04 |
2021-09-05 | 5h32m | 6h10m | 21h20m | 21h57m | 21h57m | 5h11m | 0.01 |
2021-09-06 | 5h34m | 6h11m | 21h18m | 21h55m | 21h55m | 5h34m | 0 |
2021-09-07 | 5h35m | 6h12m | 21h16m | 21h53m | 21h53m | 5h35m | 0.02 |
2021-09-08 | 5h37m | 6h14m | 21h14m | 21h51m | 21h51m | 5h37m | 0.06 |
2021-09-09 | 5h38m | 6h15m | 21h12m | 21h49m | 21h49m | 5h38m | 0.13 |
2021-09-10 | 5h40m | 6h16m | 21h10m | 21h46m | 22h06m | 5h40m | 0.21 |
2021-09-11 | 5h41m | 6h18m | 21h08m | 21h44m | 22h35m | 5h41m | 0.32 |
2021-09-12 | 5h43m | 6h19m | 21h06m | 21h42m | 23h12m | 5h43m | 0.43 |
2021-09-13 | 5h44m | 6h20m | 21h04m | 21h40m | 23h57m | 5h44m | 0.54 |
2021-09-14 | 5h46m | 6h22m | 21h02m | 21h38m | – | 5h46m | 0.65 |
2021-09-15 | 5h47m | 6h23m | 21h00m | 21h36m | 0h53m | 5h47m | 0.76 |
2021-09-16 | 5h48m | 6h24m | 20h58m | 21h34m | 1h59m | 5h48m | 0.84 |
2021-09-17 | 5h50m | 6h25m | 20h56m | 21h31m | 3h10m | 5h50m | 0.91 |
2021-09-18 | 5h51m | 6h27m | 20h54m | 21h29m | 4h24m | 5h51m | 0.96 |
2021-09-19 | 5h53m | 6h28m | 20h52m | 21h27m | 5h37m | 5h53m | 0.99 |
2021-09-20 | 5h54m | 6h29m | 20h50m | 21h25m | – | – | 1 |
2021-09-21 | 5h55m | 6h31m | 20h48m | 21h23m | – | – | 0.99 |
2021-09-22 | 5h57m | 6h32m | 20h46m | 21h21m | – | – | 0.95 |
2021-09-23 | 5h58m | 6h33m | 20h44m | 21h19m | – | – | 0.9 |
2021-09-24 | 6h00m | 6h34m | 20h42m | 21h17m | 21h17m | 21h26m | 0.84 |
2021-09-25 | 6h01m | 6h36m | 20h40m | 21h15m | 21h15m | 21h52m | 0.76 |
2021-09-26 | 6h02m | 6h37m | 20h38m | 21h13m | 21h13m | 22h23m | 0.67 |
2021-09-27 | 6h04m | 6h38m | 20h36m | 21h11m | 21h11m | 23h00m | 0.58 |
2021-09-28 | 6h05m | 6h39m | 20h34m | 21h09m | 21h09m | 23h46m | 0.49 |
2021-09-29 | 6h06m | 6h41m | 20h32m | 21h07m | 21h07m | – | 0.39 |
2021-09-30 | 6h07m | 6h42m | 20h31m | 21h05m | 21h05m | 0h40m | 0.3 |
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
Sep 1 We Venus: 39.9° E 1 We 8:23 pm Moon North Dec.: 25.9° N 4 Sa 12:07 am Moon-Beehive: 3.1° S 5 Su 10:32 am Venus-Spica: 1.6° N 6 Mo 8:52 pm New Moon 9 Th 10:09 pm Moon-Venus: 4.1° S 11 Sa 6:06 am Moon Perigee: 368500 km 12 Su 12:35 pm Moon Descending Node 13 Mo 4:39 pm First Quarter 13 Mo 11:59 pm Mercury Elongation: 26.8° E 14 Tu 4:10 am Neptune Opposition 14 Tu 11:48 pm Moon South Dec.: 26° S 16 Th 10:37 pm Moon-Saturn: 3.9° N 18 Sa 2:50 am Moon-Jupiter: 4.1° N 20 Mo 7:55 pm Full Moon, Harvest Moon 20 Mo 10:03 pm Mercury-Spica: 1.4° S 22 We 3:21 pm Autumnal Equinox 26 Su 3:33 am Moon Ascending Node 26 Su 5:44 pm Moon Apogee: 404600 km 28 Tu 9:57 pm Last Quarter 29 We 4:26 am Moon North Dec.: 26.1° N Oct 1 Fr Venus: 44.9° 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, 2021 Local time zone: EDT +-----------------------------------------------------------------------+ | DATE | SUN SUN DAYLIGHT| TWILIGHT* |MOON RISE OR ILLUM | | | RISE SET HOURS | END START |PHASE SET** TIME FRACTN| +=======================================================================+ |Wed 1| 07:05a 08:18p 13:13 | 09:25p 05:59a | Rise 01:57a 25%| |Thu 2| 07:06a 08:17p 13:10 | 09:23p 06:00a | Rise 02:55a 17%| |Fri 3| 07:07a 08:15p 13:07 | 09:21p 06:01a | Rise 04:01a 10%| |Sat 4| 07:09a 08:13p 13:04 | 09:18p 06:03a | Rise 05:11a 5%| +------+-----------------------+----------------+-----------------------+ |Sun 5| 07:10a 08:11p 13:01 | 09:16p 06:04a | Rise 06:24a 1%| |Mon 6| 07:11a 08:09p 12:58 | 09:14p 06:06a |New Set 08:30p 0%| |Tue 7| 07:12a 08:07p 12:55 | 09:12p 06:07a | Set 08:53p 1%| |Wed 8| 07:13a 08:06p 12:52 | 09:10p 06:08a | Set 09:16p 5%| |Thu 9| 07:14a 08:04p 12:49 | 09:08p 06:10a | Set 09:40p 11%| |Fri 10| 07:16a 08:02p 12:46 | 09:06p 06:11a | Set 10:05p 19%| |Sat 11| 07:17a 08:00p 12:43 | 09:04p 06:12a | Set 10:35p 29%| +------+-----------------------+----------------+-----------------------+ |Sun 12| 07:18a 07:58p 12:40 | 09:02p 06:13a | Set 11:12p 40%| |Mon 13| 07:19a 07:56p 12:37 | 09:00p 06:15a |F Qtr Set 11:57p 52%| |Tue 14| 07:20a 07:54p 12:33 | 08:58p 06:16a | Set 12:53a 63%| |Wed 15| 07:21a 07:52p 12:30 | 08:56p 06:17a | Set 01:59a 73%| |Thu 16| 07:23a 07:51p 12:27 | 08:54p 06:19a | Set 03:10a 82%| |Fri 17| 07:24a 07:49p 12:24 | 08:52p 06:20a | Set 04:24a 90%| |Sat 18| 07:25a 07:47p 12:21 | 08:50p 06:21a | Set 05:37a 95%| +------+-----------------------+----------------+-----------------------+ |Sun 19| 07:26a 07:45p 12:18 | 08:48p 06:23a | Set 06:47a 99%| |Mon 20| 07:27a 07:43p 12:15 | 08:46p 06:24a |Full Rise 08:03p 100%| |Tue 21| 07:29a 07:41p 12:12 | 08:44p 06:25a | Rise 08:23p 99%| |Wed 22| 07:30a 07:39p 12:09 | 08:42p 06:26a | Rise 08:43p 96%| |Thu 23| 07:31a 07:37p 12:06 | 08:40p 06:28a | Rise 09:03p 91%| |Fri 24| 07:32a 07:35p 12:03 | 08:39p 06:29a | Rise 09:26p 85%| |Sat 25| 07:33a 07:33p 12:00 | 08:37p 06:30a | Rise 09:52p 78%| +------+-----------------------+----------------+-----------------------+ |Sun 26| 07:35a 07:32p 11:57 | 08:35p 06:31a | Rise 10:23p 69%| |Mon 27| 07:36a 07:30p 11:53 | 08:33p 06:33a | Rise 11:00p 60%| |Tue 28| 07:37a 07:28p 11:50 | 08:31p 06:34a |L Qtr Rise 11:46p 51%| |Wed 29| 07:38a 07:26p 11:47 | 08:29p 06:35a | Rise 12:40a 41%| |Thu 30| 07:39a 07:24p 11:44 | 08:27p 06:36a | Rise 01:42a 32%| +-----------------------------------------------------------------------+ * Nautical Twilight ** Moonrise or moonset, whichever occurs between sunrise and sunsetGenerated using my LookingUp for DOS program.
07/30/2021 – Ephemeris – Previewing August skies
This is Bob Moler with Ephemeris for Friday, July 30th. Today the Sun will be up for 14 hours and 43 minutes, setting at 9:10, and it will rise tomorrow at 6:28. The Moon, 1 day before last quarter, will rise at 12:38 tomorrow morning.
Let’s look ahead at the month of August in the skies. Daylight hours will decrease from 14 hours and 38 minutes on the 1st to 13 hours 16 minutes on the 31st. The altitude of the Sun at local noon, that is, degrees of angle above the horizon, will decrease from 63 degrees Sunday to just over 53 degrees on the 31st. Straits area listeners can subtract one more degree from those angles, but their daylight hours will be a few minutes longer. Local noon, when the Sun is due south, is about 1:43 p.m. The Perseid meteor shower will reach its peak at between 3 and 6 p.m. on the 12th. That means that more than likely the early mornings of the 12th and 13th will be equally good for viewing them. I tend to prefer viewing before the peak, if given a choice.
The astronomical event times given are for the Traverse City/Interlochen area of Michigan (EDT, UT – 4 hr). They may be different for your location.
Addendum
August Evening Star Chart

Star Chart for August 2020 (10 pm EDT, August 15, 2021). Click on image to enlarge it. 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. 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.
August Morning Star Chart

Star Chart for August mornings, (5 a.m. EDT, August 15, 2021). 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, and
- Extend like a spike to Spica.
- The Summer Triangle is in red.
- PerR is the radiant of the Perseid meteor shower (Peaks on the 12th)
Twilight Limits, Nautical and Astronomical
EDT | |||||||
Morning | Twilight | Evening | Twilight | Dark | Night | Moon | |
Date | Astro. | Nautical | Nautical | Astro. | Start | End | Illum. |
2021-08-01 | 4h31m | 5h19m | 22h26m | 23h15m | 23h15m | 1h00m | 0.35 |
2021-08-02 | 4h32m | 5h20m | 22h25m | 23h13m | 23h13m | 1h25m | 0.26 |
2021-08-03 | 4h34m | 5h22m | 22h23m | 23h11m | 23h11m | 1h55m | 0.18 |
2021-08-04 | 4h36m | 5h23m | 22h21m | 23h08m | 23h08m | 2h31m | 0.11 |
2021-08-05 | 4h38m | 5h25m | 22h20m | 23h06m | 23h06m | 3h16m | 0.06 |
2021-08-06 | 4h40m | 5h26m | 22h18m | 23h04m | 23h04m | 4h09m | 0.02 |
2021-08-07 | 4h42m | 5h28m | 22h16m | 23h02m | 23h02m | 4h42m | 0 |
2021-08-08 | 4h44m | 5h29m | 22h14m | 23h00m | 23h00m | 4h44m | 0 |
2021-08-09 | 4h46m | 5h31m | 22h13m | 22h58m | 22h58m | 4h46m | 0.03 |
2021-08-10 | 4h48m | 5h32m | 22h11m | 22h55m | 22h55m | 4h48m | 0.08 |
2021-08-11 | 4h50m | 5h34m | 22h09m | 22h53m | 22h53m | 4h50m | 0.15 |
2021-08-12 | 4h51m | 5h35m | 22h07m | 22h51m | 23h13m | 4h51m | 0.24 |
2021-08-13 | 4h53m | 5h37m | 22h05m | 22h49m | 23h36m | 4h53m | 0.34 |
2021-08-14 | 4h55m | 5h38m | 22h03m | 22h47m | – | 4h55m | 0.45 |
2021-08-15 | 4h57m | 5h40m | 22h02m | 22h44m | 0h03m | 4h57m | 0.57 |
2021-08-16 | 4h59m | 5h41m | 22h00m | 22h42m | 0h34m | 4h59m | 0.68 |
2021-08-17 | 5h01m | 5h43m | 21h58m | 22h40m | 1h13m | 5h01m | 0.78 |
2021-08-18 | 5h02m | 5h44m | 21h56m | 22h38m | 2h02m | 5h02m | 0.87 |
2021-08-19 | 5h04m | 5h46m | 21h54m | 22h36m | 3h02m | 5h04m | 0.94 |
2021-08-20 | 5h06m | 5h47m | 21h52m | 22h33m | 4h12m | 5h06m | 0.98 |
2021-08-21 | 5h08m | 5h49m | 21h50m | 22h31m | – | – | 1 |
2021-08-22 | 5h09m | 5h50m | 21h48m | 22h29m | – | – | 0.99 |
2021-08-23 | 5h11m | 5h52m | 21h46m | 22h27m | – | – | 0.97 |
2021-08-24 | 5h13m | 5h53m | 21h44m | 22h24m | – | – | 0.92 |
2021-08-25 | 5h15m | 5h54m | 21h42m | 22h22m | – | – | 0.86 |
2021-08-26 | 5h16m | 5h56m | 21h40m | 22h20m | 22h20m | 22h40m | 0.78 |
2021-08-27 | 5h18m | 5h57m | 21h38m | 22h18m | 22h18m | 23h01m | 0.69 |
2021-08-28 | 5h20m | 5h59m | 21h36m | 22h15m | 22h15m | 23h25m | 0.6 |
2021-08-29 | 5h21m | 6h00m | 21h34m | 22h13m | 22h13m | 23h53m | 0.51 |
2021-08-30 | 5h23m | 6h01m | 21h32m | 22h11m | 22h11m | – | 0.42 |
2021-08-31 | 5h24m | 6h03m | 21h30m | 22h09m | 22h09m | 0h26m | 0.32 |
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 Aug 1 Su Venus: 33.1° E 1 Su 10:00 am Mercury Superior Conj. 2 Mo 1:24 am Saturn Opposition 2 Mo 3:35 am Moon Apogee: 404400 km 2 Mo 10:51 pm Moon Ascending Node 5 Th 12:46 pm Moon North Dec.: 25.7° N 8 Su 9:50 am New Moon 11 We 3:00 am Moon-Venus: 4.4° S 12 Th 3:11 pm Perseid Shower: ZHR = 90 15 Su 11:20 am First Quarter 16 Mo 12:04 pm Moon Descending Node 17 Tu 5:23 am Moon Perigee: 369100 km 18 We 6:24 pm Moon South Dec.: 25.8° S 18 We 11:03 pm Mercury-Mars: 0.1° N 19 Th 7:05 pm Jupiter Opposition 20 Fr 6:19 pm Moon-Saturn: 3.8° N 22 Su 12:52 am Moon-Jupiter: 4.1° N 22 Su 8:02 am Full Moon 29 Su 10:22 pm Moon Apogee: 404100 km 30 Mo 1:13 am Moon Ascending Node 30 Mo 3:13 am Last Quarter Sep 1 We Venus: 39.9° E
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 August, 2021 Local time zone: EDT +-----------------------------------------------------------------------+ | DATE | SUN SUN DAYLIGHT| TWILIGHT* |MOON RISE OR ILLUM | | | RISE SET HOURS | END START |PHASE SET** TIME FRACTN| +=======================================================================+ |Sun 1| 06:29a 09:08p 14:38 | 10:23p 05:13a | Rise 01:25a 36%| |Mon 2| 06:30a 09:06p 14:36 | 10:21p 05:15a | Rise 01:55a 28%| |Tue 3| 06:31a 09:05p 14:33 | 10:20p 05:16a | Rise 02:31a 20%| |Wed 4| 06:32a 09:04p 14:31 | 10:18p 05:18a | Rise 03:16a 13%| |Thu 5| 06:33a 09:02p 14:29 | 10:16p 05:19a | Rise 04:09a 7%| |Fri 6| 06:35a 09:01p 14:26 | 10:14p 05:21a | Rise 05:11a 3%| |Sat 7| 06:36a 09:00p 14:23 | 10:13p 05:22a | Rise 06:18a 1%| +------+-----------------------+----------------+-----------------------+ |Sun 8| 06:37a 08:58p 14:21 | 10:11p 05:24a |New Set 09:35p 0%| |Mon 9| 06:38a 08:57p 14:18 | 10:09p 05:25a | Set 10:03p 2%| |Tue 10| 06:39a 08:55p 14:16 | 10:07p 05:27a | Set 10:27p 7%| |Wed 11| 06:40a 08:54p 14:13 | 10:05p 05:28a | Set 10:50p 13%| |Thu 12| 06:42a 08:52p 14:10 | 10:04p 05:30a | Set 11:13p 22%| |Fri 13| 06:43a 08:51p 14:08 | 10:02p 05:31a | Set 11:36p 32%| |Sat 14| 06:44a 08:49p 14:05 | 10:00p 05:33a | Set 12:03a 43%| +------+-----------------------+----------------+-----------------------+ |Sun 15| 06:45a 08:48p 14:02 | 09:58p 05:34a |F Qtr Set 12:34a 54%| |Mon 16| 06:46a 08:46p 13:59 | 09:56p 05:36a | Set 01:13a 65%| |Tue 17| 06:47a 08:44p 13:56 | 09:54p 05:37a | Set 02:02a 76%| |Wed 18| 06:49a 08:43p 13:54 | 09:52p 05:39a | Set 03:02a 85%| |Thu 19| 06:50a 08:41p 13:51 | 09:50p 05:40a | Set 04:11a 92%| |Fri 20| 06:51a 08:39p 13:48 | 09:48p 05:42a | Set 05:26a 97%| |Sat 21| 06:52a 08:38p 13:45 | 09:46p 05:43a | Set 06:40a 100%| +------+-----------------------+----------------+-----------------------+ |Sun 22| 06:53a 08:36p 13:42 | 09:45p 05:44a |Full Rise 09:15p 100%| |Mon 23| 06:54a 08:34p 13:39 | 09:43p 05:46a | Rise 09:39p 97%| |Tue 24| 06:56a 08:33p 13:36 | 09:41p 05:47a | Rise 10:00p 93%| |Wed 25| 06:57a 08:31p 13:34 | 09:39p 05:49a | Rise 10:20p 87%| |Thu 26| 06:58a 08:29p 13:31 | 09:37p 05:50a | Rise 10:40p 79%| |Fri 27| 06:59a 08:27p 13:28 | 09:35p 05:52a | Rise 11:01p 71%| |Sat 28| 07:00a 08:26p 13:25 | 09:33p 05:53a | Rise 11:25p 62%| +------+-----------------------+----------------+-----------------------+ |Sun 29| 07:02a 08:24p 13:22 | 09:31p 05:54a | Rise 11:53p 53%| |Mon 30| 07:03a 08:22p 13:19 | 09:29p 05:56a |L Qtr Rise 12:26a 43%| |Tue 31| 07:04a 08:20p 13:16 | 09:27p 05:57a | Rise 01:07a 34%| +-----------------------------------------------------------------------+ * Nautical Twilight ** Moonrise or moonset, whichever occurs between sunrise and sunset
Generated using my LookingUp for DOS program.