Astronomy Essentials

Looking for sky almanacs? EarthSky recommends …

Want to know the rising and setting times for the sun, moon and planets in your sky? Here are some resources for you. We can’t answer every inquiry individually, but we can direct you to to some wonderful almanacs that provide this information.

Rising and setting times are for locations with a level horizon.

Custom Sunrise Sunset Calendar

This site provides a printable monthly calendar that gives you the sunrise/sunset and moonrise/moonset times, and the phases of the moon. Optional features include times for civil, nautical and astronomical twilight, and the definitions for these different shades of twilight.

Old Farmer’s Almanac

Calculate rise and set times for the sun, moon and planets (including the dwarf planet Pluto!) for any location in the U.S. and Canada.

timeanddate.com sunrise/sunset calculator

Find the sunrise/sunset times for cities all around the world.

timeanddate.com planet guide

Gives the rising and setting times for Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune for any chosen location.

Australian National University

Gives rise/transit/set times for the sun, moon and bright planets for anyplace worldwide. You need to know your latitude and longitude. Try latlong.net.

Heavens-Above

Information on when the International Space Station and other satellites are visible in your sky.

Almanacs: Deep red sunset over a sea inlet with a distant silhouetted lighthouse.
Photo via EarthSky Facebook friend Lewis Brown. Thank you, Lewis!

Bottom line: Find out rising and setting times for the sun, the moon, planets, and satellites at the almanac sites linked here.

Posted 
April 11, 2013
 in 
Astronomy Essentials

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Bruce McClure

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