05/03/2019 – Ephemeris – How do you take a picture of a black hole? Find out tonight.

Ephemeris for Friday, May 3rd. Today the Sun will be up for 14 hours and 19 minutes, setting at 8:49, and it will rise tomorrow at 6:28. The Moon, 1 day before new, will rise at 6:44 tomorrow morning.

Nearly a month ago the world was presented with the news and the image that the Earth spanning Event Horizon Telescope captured a picture of a black hole 55 million light years away. Tonight NMC Professor Jerry Dobek will explain how it was done at tonight’s meeting of the Grand Traverse Astronomical Society at Northwestern Michigan College’s Rogers Observatory starting at 8 p.m. He will explain how simultaneous observations of the black hole by 8 separate sub-millimeter radio telescopes that were separately recorded on disk.  The disks were brought and processed together to produce the image. Starting at 9 p.m. if it’s clear there will be a star party featuring the brighter wonders of the darkening sky.

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

Addendum

The first image of the black hole in M87. Credit Event Horizon Telescope.

01/04/2019 – Ephemeris – A talk about astrophotography tonight at the GTAS by Dan Dall’olmo

Ephemeris for Friday, January 4th. The Sun will rise at 8:20. It’ll be up for 8 hours and 55 minutes, setting at 5:15. The Moon, 1 day before new, will rise at 7:55 tomorrow morning.

Tonight’s first meeting of the year of the Grand Traverse Astronomical Society at Northwestern Michigan College’s Rogers Observatory starting at 8 p.m. will feature an illustrated talk by Dan Dall’olmo who has been quite successful in the field of astrophotography, or photography of the heavens. My own introduction to astrophotography was as a teenager in the day of file and darkroom chemicals. Things have changed a lot since then. Starting at 9 p.m. if it’s clear there will be a star party featuring the dark winter sky wonders including the Great Orion Nebula, a star nursery. Our next meeting, February first will be our annual telescope clinic to help new and otherwise frustrated telescope owners understand and use their telescopes.

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

Addendum

From a time lapse video by Dan Dall’olmo showing the comet motion as it passed by the Earth the weekend of December 14-16, 2018.
The video is on YouTube here: https://youtu.be/W4GvtPZOE9g

07/01/2016 – Ephemeris – Local astronomy event tonight

Ephemeris for Friday, July 1st.  Today the Sun will be up for 15 hours and 30 minutes, setting at 9:31, and it will rise tomorrow at 6:01.  The Moon, 3 days before new, will rise at 4:36 tomorrow morning.

This evening the Grand Traverse Astronomical Society will host it’s monthly meeting at Northwestern Michigan College’s Rogers Observatory at 8 p.m.  On tap will be yours truly with a program about the last 100 years of developments in astronomy. A most exciting century that I can only hope to touch the highlights. This happens to coincide with the 100th anniversary of the National Park Service.  This is my out of town tryout before I give the same talk on the 23rd at the Visitors Center of the Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore.  At 9 p.m. there will be a star party at the observatory with the viewing of Jupiter, Mars and Saturn plus some of the brighter deep sky objects of summer after 10:30.  The observatory is on Birmley road south of Traverse City.

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

09/04/2015 – Ephemeris – Astronomy tonight, occultation after midnight

Ephemeris for Friday, September 4th.  The Sun will rise at 7:08.  It’ll be up for 13 hours and 6 minutes, setting at 8:14.   The Moon, 1 day before last quarter, will rise at 12:10 tomorrow morning.

This evening at 8 p.m. the Grand Traverse Astronomical Society will hold its monthly meeting at Northwestern Michigan College’s Rogers Observatory featuring a talk by observatory director Jerry Dobek about the deep sky wonders visible in small telescopes from Charles Messier’s catalog.   At 9 p.m. there will be a star party featuring Saturn and some of these wonders in the summer Milky Way.  Not part of the star party, the Moon will rise about 12:10 a.m. covering or occulting the bright star Aldebaran.  For northwest lower Michigan. Aldebaran should pop into view at the Moon’s dark upper edge at around 12:40 a.m.  The exact time is dependent on your actual location, so go out 5 minutes before.  [http://www.lunar-occultations.com/iota/bstar/0905zc692.htm]

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

Addendum

Here’s a website where the occultation of Aldebaran is covered, including a map of the area where it may be viewed.  This includes Europe.

04/03/2015 – Ephemeris – Learn about meteorites tonight

Ephemeris for Good Friday, Friday, April 3rd.  The Sun will rise at 7:20.  It’ll be up for 12 hours and 52 minutes, setting at 8:12.   The Moon, 1 day before full, will set at 7:24 tomorrow morning.

Meteorites will be the topic given by Joe Brooks local meteorite expert and collector at this evening’s meeting of the Grand Traverse Astronomical Society at 8 p.m. at Northwestern Michigan College’s Rogers Observatory.  He even has a meteorite that’s pretty much been proven to be from the asteroid Vesta.  Today we are all too aware that stones and even bigger asteroids can collide with the earth.    Everyone is welcome.  Also at 9 p.m. there will be a star party at the observatory.  The observatory is located south of Traverse City on Birmley Road between Garfield and Keystone roads.  Remember also the partial lunar eclipse tomorrow morning starting at 6:15 a.m.  The society and the observatory will not hold an event for it.

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

Addendum

If you missed yesterday’s post about tomorrow morning’s lunar eclipse, click here.

01/02/2015 – Ephemeris – Telescope Clinic tonight in Traverse City

Ephemeris for Friday, January 2nd.  The sun will rise at 8:20, the latest sunrise of the year.  It’ll be up for 8 hours and 53 minutes, setting at 5:13.   The moon, 2 days before full, will set at 6:38 tomorrow morning.

Did you or someone in your family get a telescope for Christmas, or have one in a closet or attic because you don’t know how to put it together or operate?  Or maybe you are trying to figure out which one to buy.  Well, tonight’s your night.  The Grand Traverse Astronomical Society will host a telescope clinic at Northwestern Michigan College’s Rogers Observatory on Birmley Road, south of Traverse City starting at 8 p.m.  Telescope experts from the society will help you set up your telescope and give you observing tips.  So bring ’em if you’ve got ’em.  If it’s clear, at 9 p.m., there will be a star party to try out your telescope, or try them out on the lights of Traverse City.  Can’t make it?  We can help you after any meeting.

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

Addenda

Remember the Quadrantid meteor shower tomorrow evening and into Sunday morning:

The moon will interfere with the meteor shower, so only the brightest will be visible.  The radiant will rise from the northeast.  The radiant will be nearly overhead at the start of twilight.  On a dark night up to 120 meteors per hour may be seen according to the International Meteor Organization.

 

The Earth will reach perihelion Sunday.

This is the closest the Earth gets to the Sun in its orbit this year.  The Sun will be 91,402,000 miles or 147,096,000 kilometers away at around 1 a.m. January 4th, 2015 EST or 6 hr UT January 5th 2015.  It makes winter the shortest season because the Earth is moving its fastest during perihelion.  It’s only by a few days.  And in northern Michigan where it seems that winter overlaps half of fall and spring besides, that few days difference is buried under snow.

09/05/2014 – Ephemeris – Supernovae and the Moon this weekend

Ephemeris for Friday, September 5th.  The sun will rise at 7:09.  It’ll be up for 13 hours and 2 minutes, setting at 8:11.   The moon, half way from first quarter to full, will set at 4:07 tomorrow morning.

Tonight the Grand Traverse Astronomical Society will hold their monthly meeting at he Northwestern Michigan College’s Rogers Observatory at 8 p.m. featuring Dr. David Penney, who will talk about Supernovae, the brightest, at optical wavelengths anyway explosions in the universe.  These will either completely destroy a star or leave a neutron star or black hole remnant.  At 9 p.m. there will be a star party featuring the Moon, Saturn and Mars.  The observatory is located on Birmley road.  On Saturday the society will celebrate International Observe the Moon Night with telescopes set up on the 200 block of Front street in Traverse City.  That event starts around 9 p.m., but only if it’s clear.

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

Addendum

Remnant of SN1987A in the Large Magellanic Cloud, 160,000 light years away taken by the Hubble telescope’s WFPC2 camera on three occasions in 1994 and 1995. The outer rings are light echos of the explosions ionizing clouds ejected thousands of years before. Credit NASA.

Supernova 2014J in nearby galaxy M82, 12 million light years away. Credit NASA/Swift/P. Brown, TAMU.