08/01/2022 – Ephemeris – Previewing August skies

This is Ephemeris for Monday, August 1st. Today the Sun will be up for 14 hours and 39 minutes, setting at 9:08, and it will rise tomorrow at 6:30. The Moon, halfway from new to first quarter, will set at 11:18 this evening.

Let’s look ahead at the month of August in the skies. Daylight hours will decrease from 14 hours and 39 minutes today to 13 hours 17 minutes on the 31st. The altitude of the Sun at local noon, that is degrees of angle above the southern horizon, will decrease from 63 degrees today to just over 53 degrees on the 31st. Straits area listeners can subtract one more degree from those angles. Local noon, when the Sun is due south, is about 1:43 p.m. The Perseid meteor shower will reach its peak all on the 12th. Unfortunately, the Moon will be only one day past full, so only the brightest meteors will be seen. However, for the next few days or so, the meteors can compete with the weaker moonlight of the waxing crescent Moon, though their numbers won’t be as high as it would be on a dark night of the peak.

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

August Evening Star Chart

Star Chart for August 2022 (10 pm EDT, August 15, 2022). Click on image to enlarge it. Created using my LookingUp program.

Star Chart for August 2022 (10 pm EDT, August 15, 2022). 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, 2022). Click on image to enlarge. Created using my LookingUp program.

Star Chart for August mornings, (5 a.m. EDT, August 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.
• 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.
2022-08-01	4h31m	5h19m	22h27m	23h15m	23h18m	4h31m	0.18
2022-08-02	4h33m	5h21m	22h25m	23h13m	23h37m	4h33m	0.27
2022-08-03	4h35m	5h22m	22h24m	23h11m	23h57m	4h35m	0.37
2022-08-04	4h37m	5h24m	22h22m	23h09m	–	4h37m	0.47
2022-08-05	4h38m	5h25m	22h20m	23h07m	0h19m	4h38m	0.58
2022-08-06	4h40m	5h27m	22h19m	23h05m	0h46m	4h40m	0.69
2022-08-07	4h42m	5h28m	22h17m	23h03m	1h20m	4h42m	0.8
2022-08-08	4h44m	5h30m	22h15m	23h00m	2h05m	4h44m	0.88
2022-08-09	4h46m	5h31m	22h13m	22h58m	3h04m	4h46m	0.95
2022-08-10	4h48m	5h33m	22h11m	22h56m	4h16m	4h48m	0.99
2022-08-11	4h50m	5h34m	22h10m	22h54m	–	–	1
2022-08-12	4h52m	5h36m	22h08m	22h52m	–	–	0.98
2022-08-13	4h53m	5h37m	22h06m	22h49m	–	–	0.94
2022-08-14	4h55m	5h38m	22h04m	22h47m	–	–	0.87
2022-08-15	4h57m	5h40m	22h02m	22h45m	22h45m	22h55m	0.79
2022-08-16	4h59m	5h41m	22h00m	22h43m	22h43m	23h16m	0.7
2022-08-17	5h01m	5h43m	21h58m	22h41m	22h41m	23h38m	0.6
2022-08-18	5h02m	5h44m	21h56m	22h38m	22h38m	–	0.5
2022-08-19	5h04m	5h46m	21h55m	22h36m	22h36m	0h03m	0.4
2022-08-20	5h06m	5h47m	21h53m	22h34m	22h34m	0h32m	0.31
2022-08-21	5h08m	5h49m	21h51m	22h32m	22h32m	1h08m	0.23
2022-08-22	5h10m	5h50m	21h49m	22h29m	22h29m	1h52m	0.15
2022-08-23	5h11m	5h52m	21h47m	22h27m	22h27m	2h44m	0.09
2022-08-24	5h13m	5h53m	21h45m	22h25m	22h25m	3h43m	0.04
2022-08-25	5h15m	5h55m	21h43m	22h23m	22h23m	4h47m	0.01
2022-08-26	5h16m	5h56m	21h41m	22h20m	22h20m	5h16m	0
2022-08-27	5h18m	5h57m	21h39m	22h18m	22h18m	5h18m	0.01
2022-08-28	5h20m	5h59m	21h37m	22h16m	22h16m	5h20m	0.04
2022-08-29	5h21m	6h00m	21h35m	22h14m	22h14m	5h21m	0.08
2022-08-30	5h23m	6h02m	21h33m	22h12m	22h12m	5h23m	0.15
2022-08-31	5h25m	6h03m	21h31m	22h09m	22h24m	5h25m	0.23

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

Aug  1  Mo            Venus: 21.7° W
     4  Th  12:58 am  Mercury-Regulus: 0.7° N
     5  Fr   7:06 am  First Quarter
     5  Fr   4:30 pm  Moon Descending Node
     6  Sa   5:33 am  Venus-Pollux: 6.5° S
     7  Su   4:29 am  Moon-Antares: 2.8° S
     9  Tu   2:36 am  Moon South Dec.: 27° S
    10  We   1:14 pm  Moon Perigee: 359,800 km
    11  Th   9:36 pm  Full Sturgeon Moon
    11  Th  11:55 pm  Moon-Saturn: 3.9° N
    12  Fr   9:20 pm  Perseid Shower: ZHR = 90
    14  Su  12:35 pm  Saturn Opposition
    15  Mo   5:37 am  Moon-Jupiter: 1.9° N
    17  We  12:02 pm  Venus-Beehive: 0.9° S
    18  Th   6:59 am  Moon Ascending Node
    19  Fr  12:36 am  Last Quarter
    19  Fr   6:32 am  Moon-Pleiades: 3.4° N
    19  Fr   8:16 am  Moon-Mars: 2.9° S
    20  Sa   4:36 am  Mars-Pleiades: 5.6° S
    22  Mo  11:08 am  Moon North Dec.: 27.1° N
    22  Mo   5:53 pm  Moon Apogee: 405,400 km
    23  Tu   8:17 pm  Moon-Pollux: 2.3° N
    24  We   9:46 pm  Moon-Beehive: 3.8° S
    25  Th   4:58 pm  Moon-Venus: 4.7° S
    27  Sa   4:17 am  New Moon
    27  Sa  11:59 am  Mercury Elongation: 27.3° E
Sep  1  Th            Venus: 13.6° W

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
August, 2022    Local time zone: EDT
+-----------------------------------------------------------------------+
| DATE |  SUN     SUN  DAYLIGHT|   TWILIGHT*    |MOON  RISE OR    ILLUM |
|      |  RISE    SET    HOURS |  END    START  |PHASE SET** TIME FRACTN|
+=======================================================================+
|Mon  1| 06:29a  09:08p  14:39 | 10:23p  05:13a |      Set  11:18p   17%|
|Tue  2| 06:30a  09:07p  14:37 | 10:22p  05:14a |      Set  11:37p   25%|
|Wed  3| 06:31a  09:05p  14:34 | 10:20p  05:16a |      Set  11:56p   34%|
|Thu  4| 06:32a  09:04p  14:32 | 10:18p  05:17a |      Set  12:19a   45%|
|Fri  5| 06:33a  09:03p  14:29 | 10:17p  05:19a |F Qtr Set  12:45a   56%|
|Sat  6| 06:34a  09:01p  14:27 | 10:15p  05:20a |      Set  01:19a   67%|
+------+-----------------------+----------------+-----------------------+
|Sun  7| 06:35a  09:00p  14:24 | 10:13p  05:22a |      Set  02:04a   77%|
|Mon  8| 06:37a  08:59p  14:21 | 10:11p  05:23a |      Set  03:03a   86%|
|Tue  9| 06:38a  08:57p  14:19 | 10:10p  05:25a |      Set  04:15a   94%|
|Wed 10| 06:39a  08:56p  14:16 | 10:08p  05:26a |      Set  05:37a   98%|
|Thu 11| 06:40a  08:54p  14:14 | 10:06p  05:28a |Full  Rise 09:18p  100%|
|Fri 12| 06:41a  08:53p  14:11 | 10:04p  05:29a |      Rise 09:48p   99%|
|Sat 13| 06:42a  08:51p  14:08 | 10:02p  05:31a |      Rise 10:13p   95%|
+------+-----------------------+----------------+-----------------------+
|Sun 14| 06:44a  08:50p  14:05 | 10:00p  05:32a |      Rise 10:34p   88%|
|Mon 15| 06:45a  08:48p  14:03 | 09:58p  05:34a |      Rise 10:55p   80%|
|Tue 16| 06:46a  08:46p  14:00 | 09:57p  05:35a |      Rise 11:15p   71%|
|Wed 17| 06:47a  08:45p  13:57 | 09:55p  05:37a |      Rise 11:37p   62%|
|Thu 18| 06:48a  08:43p  13:54 | 09:53p  05:38a |      Rise 12:02a   52%|
|Fri 19| 06:49a  08:41p  13:52 | 09:51p  05:40a |L Qtr Rise 12:32a   42%|
|Sat 20| 06:51a  08:40p  13:49 | 09:49p  05:41a |      Rise 01:08a   33%|
+------+-----------------------+----------------+-----------------------+
|Sun 21| 06:52a  08:38p  13:46 | 09:47p  05:43a |      Rise 01:51a   24%|
|Mon 22| 06:53a  08:36p  13:43 | 09:45p  05:44a |      Rise 02:43a   17%|
|Tue 23| 06:54a  08:35p  13:40 | 09:43p  05:46a |      Rise 03:42a   10%|
|Wed 24| 06:55a  08:33p  13:37 | 09:41p  05:47a |      Rise 04:46a    5%|
|Thu 25| 06:57a  08:31p  13:34 | 09:39p  05:48a |      Rise 05:52a    2%|
|Fri 26| 06:58a  08:30p  13:31 | 09:37p  05:50a |      Rise 07:00a    0%|
|Sat 27| 06:59a  08:28p  13:28 | 09:35p  05:51a |New   Set  09:04p    1%|
+------+-----------------------+----------------+-----------------------+
|Sun 28| 07:00a  08:26p  13:25 | 09:33p  05:53a |      Set  09:24p    3%|
|Mon 29| 07:01a  08:24p  13:23 | 09:31p  05:54a |      Set  09:43p    7%|
|Tue 30| 07:02a  08:22p  13:20 | 09:29p  05:56a |      Set  10:02p   13%|
|Wed 31| 07:04a  08:21p  13:17 | 09:27p  05:57a |      Set  10:23p   21%|
+-----------------------------------------------------------------------+
* Nautical Twilight
** Moonrise or moonset, whichever occurs between sunrise and sunset

Generated using my LookingUp for DOS program.