Observing With Webb December 2009
Observing With Webb December 2009 Email and Podcast
The Geminid Meteor Shower highlights the December sky along with the usual Moon and planet conjunctions and a Blue Moon.
Read about the events of the month, where the planets are, and what constellations you can see down below.
Have a question that you've always wondered about? Want to hear about a certain topic on the next podcast and in the next email? Send me a question either by replying to this email or sending me a message on podbean and I will include it next month.
EVENTS...
Full Moon - 2nd at 2:30am
6th-7th - Conjunction - Moon and Mars (Look in the E after sunset - 9° apart)
10th - Conjunction - Moon and Saturn (E - look in morning - Saturn 9° above - good crescent for pictures)
12-15th - Geminid Meteor Shower - Produces meteors at a rate of up to 80/hour. Find the constellation Gemini in the evening, keep a wide view of the sky, and be patient. The night of the 13th and morning of the 14th are the best time to watch, especially since the moon will be almost new and not visible later in the night. Want to conduct a scientific meteor count, reportable to the International Meteor Organization? See www.skyandtelescope.com/MeteorCounting
Some advice for watching:
Find a dark location
Lie down in a reclining chair or swimming pool floaty
Look toward Gemini (in the East). That is where the radiant is - where the meteors will appear to be coming from
Dress in multiple layers and bring hot chocolate Check the weather to see if the skies will be clear (weather.com has a good map here)
Adapt your eyes to the dark by staying away from light sources or using a red light if you need to look at a star chart or not trip over something.
New Moon - 16th (darkest skies)
18th - Conjunction - Moon and Mercury (SW after sunset, 6° below crescent moon)
21st - Winter Solstice - Shortest day and longest night of the year for the Northern Hemisphere and the astronomical first day of winter.
21st - Conjunction - Moon and Jupiter - Look to the southwest after sunset - Jupiter will be about 6° below the moon
Full Moon #2 (Blue Moon) - 31st
PLANETS...well, the ones visible with your naked eye
Planets you can see around Sunset - Jupiter (SE), maybe Mercury
Planets you can see throughout the night - Mars (E - rises between 8pm and 9pm)
Planets you can see in the Morning - Mars (SSW), Saturn (SSE)
Mercury - About 8° above the horizon around sunset in the middle of the month.
Venus - Too close to the Sun right now to get a good, safe glimpse.
MARS - Look close to the horizon in the East after 9pm or look 2/3 of the way from the horizon to the zenith (the point straight above you) to the SSW in the morning before sunrise, and find the reddish "star". If you can find the constellations Leo and Cancer using your star map, look between the two for Mars.
JUPITER - Is already up (in the SW) at sunset and is visible until about 9:30pm when it sets.. Extra Challenge! If you have binoculars or a telescope, see if you can find the 4 Galilean moons right next to Jupiter, as Galileo first saw them.
SATURN - Rises earlier and earlier each day (between 1am and midnight) Look to the SSE in the morning. The rings are getting wider each day.
CONSTELLATIONS... (see sky map link at the bottom for a Star Map for this month - or ask Mr. Webb) Look straight up and you'll see...
Just after Sunset (around 4:30 - 5:00pm) - Cygnus the Swan & Pegasus - Extra Challenge! Using your naked eye (dark-adapted and in a dark area) or binoculars under normal conditions and a star chart, try finding our neighboring Andromeda Galaxy. It'll be a faint, but bigger, fuzzy in the constellation Andromeda.
Between Sunset and Midnight - Pegasus and Perseus
Midnight - Auriga (Taurus and Gemini are nearby)
Early Morning - Ursa Major's legs, Bootes
GENERAL CONSTELLATION FINDING TIPS:
Winter constellations: Orion is easy to spot as he is rising in the East around 7:30pm. You can use Orion to find many other winter constellations.
Using Orion: Find Orion by looking for the three stars in a row that make up Orion's belt in the East around 9pm. If you draw a line from the left star to the right star and keep going right about 20 degrees (about 2 fists at arm's length) until you reach another very bright star, you will have reached the star Aldebaron in Taurus (the V). Follow that line a little more (about another fist) and you'll find the Pleiades.
Draw a line from the right star in Orion's belt to the left star, and keep going left about 20 degrees (2 fists again), you'll come to the brightest star in the sky - Sirius - part of Canis Major.
Above these three constellations are Gemini and Auriga. The brightest stars in each of these constellations form a circle in the sky. Going clockwise - Aldebaron (Taurus) - Rigel (Orion - bottom right foot) - Sirius (Canis Major) - Procyon (Canis Minor) - Castor & Pollux (Gemini) - Capella (Auriga). It makes for great stargazing in the winter sky.
Use a sky map from www.skymaps.com to help you out.
A lot of credit for this information goes to:
SkyMaps.com - Download the monthly sky map here in many formats including Northern Hemisphere, Southern Hemisphere, and Equatorial
...and various sky programs such as Starry Night.
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