07/08/2022 – Ephemeris – Polaris the North Star

This is Ephemeris for Friday, July 8th. Today the Sun will be up for 15 hours and 24 minutes, setting at 9:29, and it will rise tomorrow at 6:06. The Moon, 2 days past first quarter, will set at 2:17 tomorrow morning.

The bright star Polaris is a very important star. It is also known as the North Star and the Pole Star. Its unique position is nearly directly at the zenith at the Earth’s North Pole, making it a very important navigational star. It’s about 40 minutes of arc, or about one and a third Moon diameters away from the extension of the Earth’s axis into the sky. As a rule of thumb, its angular altitude above the northern horizon is approximately one’s latitude, and it stands about at the due north compass point. Polaris is found using the Big Dipper, using the two stars at the front of the dipper bowl to point to it. It’s located at the tip of the handle of the very dim Little Dipper which, this time of year in the evening, appears to be standing on its handle.

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

Polaris finder and location animation. Three frames: visual appearance in the sky, lines of the asterisms of the Big and Little Dippers, addition of the equatorial grid of celestial coordinates analogous to longitude and latitude on the Earth. The right ascension (like longitude) lines converge over the Earth’s North Pole, with Polaris close by. Created using Stellarium and GIMP.

The two stars at the front of the Big Dipper’s bowl, at the bottom of the dipper as it appears now in the evening, point to Polaris near the 11-hour right ascension line. Right ascension, though the same as earthly longitude, is measured in hours, rather than degrees. An hour equals 15 degrees, making 24 hours equal 360 degrees.

01/18/2021 – Ephemeris – The Drinking Gourd

This is Bob Moler with Ephemeris for Martin Luther King Jr. Day, Monday, January 18th. Today the Sun will be up for 9 hours and 18 minutes, setting at 5:32, and it will rise tomorrow at 8:13. The Moon, 2 days before first quarter, will set at 11:34 this evening.

This day is set aside to honor the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. who gave his life for the struggle for equality for blacks and other minorities and to end segregation. A struggle that continues to this day. In the decades before the Civil War runaway slaves would travel, often at night, northward from the slave states of the south to the northern free states and Canada over the metaphorical Underground Railroad following the Drinking Gourd, the Big Dipper as their compass. Over the last several millennia the Great Bear, Ursa Major has been that northward pointer. For much of that time the North Pole of the sky had been passing near the handle of the Big Dipper or bear’s tail.

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

Addendum

An animation showing the Big Dipper, also known as the Drinking Gourd pointing to Polaris, the North Star which is just about due north. This is for 9 pm January 18th, about 3 1/2 hours after sunset. Created using Stellarium with additional annotations.

04/08/2019 – Ephemeris – How to find Polaris, the North Star

Ephemeris for Monday, April 8th. Today the Sun will be up for 13 hours and 7 minutes, setting at 8:18, and it will rise tomorrow at 7:09. The Moon, 3 days past new, will set at 11:54 this evening.

The most useful of the navigation stars for the average person is Polaris, the North Star or Pole Star. It is very close to the point in the sky that the Earth’s axis points to in the north. Currently it is about three-quarters of a degree from the pole, about one and a half moon diameters. In 2110 or thereabouts it will approach to slightly less than a moon diameter from the pole before slowly heading away. Polaris is always closer to true north than a magnetic compass in Michigan. To find it use the two stars in front of the Big Dipper’s bowl to point to it. This time of year the Big Dipper is above Polaris, so the pointer stars, that’s what they are called, point down to it. Polaris is at the end of the handle of the faint Little Dipper.  The reason for Polaris’ motion is the slow 26,000 year wobbling of the Earth’s axis, called precession.

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

Addendum

Ursa Major and Minor, the Big and Little Dippers. See how the two stars at the front of the bowl point to Polaris. It happens that the pointer stars are close to the 11th hour of right ascension (longitude in the sky). The right ascension lines converge at the north celestial pole, just as the longitude lines converge at the Earth’s north pole. Created using Stellarium.

The year I was born, 1941, Polaris was a whole degree from the celestial north pole.

If you’ve ever wondered why right ascension is in hours instead of degrees it’s because the Earth rotates within the celestial sphere, so it’s easier to keep track of the east-west position in the sky by using a clock that set to gain 3 minutes and 56 seconds a day.  Such a clock keeps sidereal (star) time rather than solar (sun) time.  One hour equals 15 angular degrees or 4 minutes a degree.

 

05/14/2018 – Ephemeris – Big Dipper: Pointer to the Stars

Ephemeris for Monday, May 14th. Today the Sun will be up for 14 hours and 47 minutes, setting at 9:03, and it will rise tomorrow at 6:14. The Moon, 1 day before new, will rise at 6:45 tomorrow morning.

The Big Dipper points to other stars and constellations. Right now the Big Dipper is nearly overhead. The front bowl stars point to Polaris, the North Star which never seems to move in the sky. The handle can be used to find two stars. First follow the arc of the handle away from the bowl to find the fourth brightest night-time star Arcturus in the base of the kite shaped constellation of Boötes. Straighten the arc to a spike and continue to the south and you will come to the bright blue-white star Spica in Virgo the virgin. You can remember these stars with the phrase “Follow the arc of the handle to Arcturus and then spike to Spica” or if you prefer the alternate pronunciation of the latter star “Speak to Speeka”.

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

Addendum

As can be seen below, there was one pointer function that didn’t make it into the program:  A leaky dipper drips on Leo.

Using the Big Dipper as a pointer to other stars. The pointers to Polaris could be life saving, since it is always north. The view is southward. The cross displayed near the center is the zenith. One might want to lay down to take all this in. Created using my LookingUp program.

03/27/2015 – Ephemeris – The North Star, Polaris

Ephemeris for Friday, March 27th.  The Sun will rise at 7:33.  It’ll be up for 12 hours and 30 minutes, setting at 8:03.   The Moon, at first quarter today, will set at 3:49 tomorrow morning.

Tonight we turn our eyes northward to Polaris, the North Star.  It is the closest bright star to the north pole of the sky.  It appears nearly stationary as all the other stars appear to revolve around it as the Earth rotates.  Some folks, think that Polaris is the brightest star in the sky.  It’s not.  It is a good solid second magnitude star, about the brightness of a Big Dipper star.  The Big Dipper can be used to point to it, by using the two stars at the front of the bowl.  Polaris is at the end of the handle of the Little Dipper.  The Little Dipper has four dim stars in its rather oddly bent handle and back of its bowl.  The two stars at the front of the bowl of the Little Dipper are Kochab and the dimmer Pherkad, which are also called the Guard Stars or the Guardians of the Pole.

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

Addendum

How to find Polaris. The grid is the equatorial grid showing the proximity to the pole. Created using Stellarium.