Big Sur, California, USA

Friday, December 22, 2023

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Big Sur, California, USA

That morning

Sunrise

7:15 AM

7:15 AM

Clears the mountains at 7:59 AM, 44 min after sunrise

6:46 AM Blue hour
7:15 AM Sunrise
7:55 AM Golden hour ends

Rocket launch

Firefly Alpha | FLTA004

Partial failure - a long shot from here

Lifted off 9:32 AM

Very LowExcellent
Look
SSE
Crossing your sky
When
9:32 AM
Highest around 9:35 AM
Distance
124 mi
Climbs to
21°
Lighting
Daylight
Launch site
Space Launch Complex 2W
Vandenberg SFB, CA, USA

In daylight it reads as a thin contrail, and only briefly.

Sunset

4:56 PM

4:56 PM

Behind the mountains at 3:11 PM, 105 min before sunset

Too far ahead for a weather forecast. These are the sunrise and sunset times - they will not change.

4:16 PM Golden hour, best color
4:56 PM Sunset
5:25 PM Blue hour ends

Best color is when the sky has actually looked its best, learned from 52 camera photos of past sunsets here.

Meteor shower

Ursids

Best around 4:56 AM

Very LowExcellent
6:26 PM Dark enough
4:02 AM Moonset
4:56 AM Best
5:45 AM Too light
Estimate
A few/hour
from a dark spot here
Radiant climbs to
44°
Under a perfect sky
10/hour
Moonlight
No interference
Speed
33 km/s

Where they come from: Comet Tuttle (8P/Tuttle)

Dust from Comet Tuttle, which comes round every 13.6 years. A quiet shower most years, around the winter solstice, with now and then a burst of much higher rates.

The estimate is how many you might really see from a dark spot here, allowing for how high the shower climbs and for moonlight. "Under a perfect sky" is the best case. The bar also counts the forecast cloud at the best time, so a clouded-out night sits at the bottom, as does rain on the radar now.

From most of the Northern Hemisphere it never sets, so you can watch it all night.

Moon

Waxing gibbous

81% lit

1:43 PM – 4:02 AM

ENE WNW
1:43 PM Moonrise
2:04 PM 4°
8:48 PM Highest, 72°
3:40 AM 4°
4:02 AM Moonset

Between the two 4° marks the Moon is clear of haze and most of what stands on the horizon.

Timetable

  • Moonset 2:53 AM
  • Morning blue hour 6:46 AM–7:15 AM
  • Sunrise 7:15 AM
  • Morning golden hour 7:15 AM–7:55 AM
  • Morning best color 7:16 AM
  • Moonrise 1:43 PM
  • Evening golden hour 4:16 PM–4:56 PM
  • Sunset 4:56 PM
  • Evening blue hour 4:56 PM–5:25 PM
  • Fully dark 6:28 PM–5:43 AM
  • Dark, no Moon 4:08 AM–5:43 AM

Upcoming celestial events for Big Sur, California, USA

Northern Taurids Still active, a few an hour
Thu 12 Nov 2026 6:31 PM Southern Taurids Still active, a few an hour
Thu 12 Nov 2026 6:31 PM International Space Station Modest pass, WNW to NNW, 16 deg up
Fri 13 Nov 2026 6:52 PM Leonids Around 11 an hour
Mon 16 Nov 2026 6:28 PM Falcon 9 Block 5 | USSF-317 Marginal, look SSE
Tue 17 Nov 2026 7:14 PM Falcon 9 Block 5 | USSF-266 Long shot, look SSE
Wed 18 Nov 2026 8:49 AM Partial lunar eclipse 6% of the Moon in shadow
Tue 11 Jan 2028 8:13 PM Partial solar eclipse 54.1% of the Sun covered
Sun 14 Jan 2029 8:21 AM Total lunar eclipse 48% of it above your horizon
Mon 25 Jun 2029 8:22 PM Partial solar eclipse 0.9% of the Sun covered
Fri 14 Nov 2031 1:27 PM Partial solar eclipse 34.5% of the Sun covered
Wed 30 Mar 2033 10:20 AM Total lunar eclipse Totality lasts 78 minutes
Fri 7 Oct 2033 3:55 AM Partial solar eclipse 3.5% of the Sun covered
Sun 2 Sep 2035 7:33 PM Total lunar eclipse 45% of it above your horizon
Wed 6 Aug 2036 7:51 PM Partial solar eclipse 7.2% of the Sun covered
Thu 9 Apr 2043 11:41 AM Partial solar eclipse 81.6% of the Sun covered
Tue 23 Aug 2044 7:05 PM Partial solar eclipse 88.4% of the Sun covered
Sat 12 Aug 2045 9:17 AM

Every celestial event, and where else to see it