Plan your dark-sky gazing around the deep nights shown on this page: The calendar below shows the hours of "deep night" -- without the Moon in the sky -- for the night beginning on the date indicated. Please note: * Friday evenings with Friday and Saturday nights in bold, [ ] = New moon, ) = First Quarter, (--) = Full Moon and ( = Last Quarter. These circumstances are calculated for Tuckahoe State Park, MD at 38° 59' N and 75° 56' W.
Shading reflects the hours of deepnight. At the start of this year, dark nights run in the latter half of the month. Following the advance of the Moon's phases, deepnight runs span the middle of the month by year's end. For example, the March column shows that Friday and Saturday nights, the 23rd and 24th, will each have 8.7 hours of deepnight, with a New Moon on the 24th. This is also the best weekend for a Messier Marathon.
At Tuckahoe: Latest sunrise, 5 January; Latest beginning of twilight, 8 January; Earliest sunrise 14 June; Earliest beginning of twilight 17 June; Shortest nights: 14-26 June at 5.1 h; Latest end of twilight, 24 June; Latest sunset, 27 June; Earliest end of twilight, 3 December; Earliest sunset, 6 December; Longest nights, 14-27 December at 11.4 h; Longest deep nights, 14-15 December at 11.4 h.
Eastern
Standard Time is 5 hours behind Universal Time; Daylight Time is 4 hours
behind.
Between
1 April and 28 October 2001, remember to add one hour for events in daylight
time.
Everywhere on Earth: Perihelion, 4 January; Equinox, 20 March; Solstice, 21 June; Aphelion, 4 July; Equinox, 22 September, Solstice; 21 December 2001. Eclipses of the Moon: 9 January (total), 5 July (partial), 30 December (penumbral); Eclipses of the Sun: 21 June (total), 14 December (annular). (All times in UT.)
Also, a graphical Moon Phase Calendar for 2001 is available in bitmap format.
Moondark is written by Doug Miller and published on the web and in the Delmarva Star Gazers'Star Gazer News. Please address comments and suggestions to dcmiller@dmv.com. This document was last revised on 15 January '01. All text and images copyright © 2000 - 2001 Douglas C. Miller, All Rights Reserved. This material may not be reproduced in any form without prior permission.
