Dec. 7 Moon and Planets
Three planets bracket the crescent Moon early tomorrow: Venus,
Mars and Jupiter. They line up in the southeast at dawn. Jupiter
stands to the upper right of the Moon, with Venus and Mars to the
lower left. Venus is by far the brighter of the two.
Dec. 7 Moon and Planets
Three planets bracket the crescent Moon early tomorrow: Venus, Mars and Jupiter. They line up in the southeast at dawn. Jupiter stands to the upper right of the Moon, with Venus and Mars to the lower left. Venus is by far the brighter of the two.
Dec. 8 Moon and
Planets II
Look for the planet Mars to the lower left of the crescent Moon at dawn tomorrow. It looks like a moderately bright orange star. A little farther along the same line, look for the brilliant planet Venus, the brightest object in the night sky other than the Moon.
Dec. 9 Gemini’s Twins
Many cultures have seen two human figures in the star pattern known as Gemini. Twin streamers of stars extend from Castor and Pollux, the bright “twins” that give Gemini its name. The streamers are roughly parallel to each other, like two people standing side by side.
Dec. 10 Betelgeuse
Betelgeuse, one of the biggest stars in our part of the Milky Way galaxy, slides across the southeastern sky this evening. It marks one of the shoulders of Orion, the hunter.
Dec. 11 New Moon
The Moon is new at 5:29pm PST today as it crosses between Earth and Sun. It is lost from view in the Sun’s intense glare. The Moon should return to view as a thin crescent shortly after sunset on Monday.
Dec. 12 Vega
Vega, one of the night sky’s brightest stars, is disappearing from evening view this month. Tonight, it sets around 9:30pm, but by month’s end it will set before 8:30. Try to catch a glimpse of it in early evening, low in the northwest.
Dec. 13 Geminid
Meteor Shower
Nature contributes to the holiday season this weekend with its own colorful light show: the Geminid meteor shower. The Moon isn’t around to interfere with the shower, so it could be a good display.
– By StarDate online the University of Texas McDonald Observatory
