DECEMBER

OBSERVING HIGHLIGHTS

 

 

EARTH SATELLITES:

 

Moon ---Last Quarter Moon occurs December 1 at 7:44 a.m. EDT

               New Moon occurs December 9 at 12:40 p.m. EST

               First Quarter Moon occurs December 17 at 5:18 a.m. EST

               Full Moon occurs December 23 at 8:16 p.m. EST

 

Artificial Satellites --- Reference the following web site for information on observing

                artificial satellites: http:www.calsky.com/cs.cgi

 

PLANETS:

 

Mercury will not be visible at our latitude.  

 

Venus at about -4.2 magnitude will be visible in the early morning hours and will be near the waning Moon on December 4. It is best viewed with a telescope. Binoculars or small telescope will yield fine views of a gibbous Venus.

 

Mars will peak at -1.6 magnitude in mid to late December. It will be visible in the East after sunset. Mars will be less than ½ degree north of the star Epsilon (e) in the constellation Geminorum on December 2 and 3. On December 18 Mars will be 54.8 million miles from Earth at 7 p.m. EST, its closest approach until 2016.   

 

Jupiter and Pluto are lost in the sun’s afterglow and will not be visible.

 

Saturn will be between +0.6 and +0.7 magnitude during the month. It can be found in the constellation Leo rising around mid-night on December 1. A telescopic view will show Saturn’s rings close to edge-on.

 

Neptune and Uranus are in the constellations Capricornus and Aquarius, respectively. They can be observed with binoculars in the evening hour.

 

COMETS:

 

Comet 8/Tuttle may be a naked eye object as it crosses the constellation Cassiopeia in late December.

 

 

DEEP SKY:

 

The constellations Auriga, Orion, Taurus, Gemini, Leo, Ursa Major, Canis Major and Canis Minor will dominate the night skies this month. The stars of Aldebaren in Taurus, Capella in Auriga, the Twins Castor and Pollux in Gemini along with the Pleiades star cluster can be observed. The bright star Sirius can be seen in Canis Major.

 

Nebula

 

The Eskimo Nebula (NGC 2392) also known as the Clown Face Nebula is a planetary nebula in the constellation Gemini. It is observable with a telescope; however, you will need a relatively large telescope with high magnification to make out any details. It has a an apparent magnitude of 8.3 and is 3,000 light-years distant.

 

The Crab Nebula (M1) in Taurus can be observed with binoculars while the Horsehead Nebula and the Great Orion Nebula in Orion are great telescopic objects.  

 

Clusters

 

Pleiades (M45) a.k.a. the Seven Sisters be seen with the naked eye. This open cluster is in the constellation Taurus. It has an apparent magnitude of 1.2 with a size of 13 light-years and a distance of 400 light-years.

 

Other open clusters in December for the naked eye include the Hyades and the Beehive Cluster (M44)

 

Galaxies

 

NGC 2903 is a barred spiral galaxy found in the constellation Leo. You can find NGC 2903 about 1.5 degrees below and 2 degrees to the right of Epsilon Leonis, the star that forms the sharp end of Leo’s sickle. This galaxy can be seen in small telescopes. It has an apparent magnitude of 9.0 and is 73 thousand light-years in size with a distance of 20 million light-years.

 

Other galaxies in the night sky are M65 (seen with binoculars) and the Pinwheel Galaxy (M33) (a telescopic object).

 

OTHER

 

The Geminids meteor shower will be best seen the night of December 13-14.

 

 

 

Ref11/15/07