I first documented how to determine Durin's Day in 2007 and when the day arrived, it was too cloudy to observe. In 2008 it was Friday, November 28th and this year (drum-roll, please!) it will be December 17th.
Here's how I arrived at this conclusion. For Cleveland Heights, Cuyahoga County, Ohio (longitude W81.6, latitude N41.5):
- Wednesday, 16 December 2009
- New Moon at 7:03 a.m. Eastern Standard Time
- Sunrise at 7:46 a.m.
- Sunset at 4:58 p.m.
- Moonset at 5:03 p.m.
- Thursday, 17 December 2009
- Sunset 4:58 p.m.
- Moonset 6:01 p.m.
- Friday, 18 December 2009
- Sunset 4:58 p.m.
- Moonset 7:03 p.m.
- Monday, 21 December 2009
- Solstice 1747 UTC
Wednesday is the New Moon (7:03 a.m.) and so there is not likely to be any crescent visible after 4:58 p.m. when the sun sets. However, on Thursday, the Moon will be a waxing crescent with approximately 1% of its visible disk illuminated. And on Friday, it will have approximately 4% of its visible disk illuminated.
Stellarium seems to agree.
