Observing With Webb

Dec 2021 + Jan 2022

Why get out there in the cold of December and January?  It’s a time of transitions and wonder.  We’ve got two meteor showers, plenty of lunar encounters, potentially a comet, planets visible but changing, and very long nights.

         Welcome to Observing With Webb, where a high school astronomy teacher tells you what you’re looking at, why it’s so cool, and what you should check out later this month…at night. 

 

Naked-eye PLANETS...

Sunset – Venus, Saturn, Jupiter (and a week of weak Mercury in January)

• Venus (SW) – For the LAST month, Venus stays about 10˚ above the horizon at sunset, setting around 7:30pm, almost all December, but dives toward the horizon around Christmas time. At this point it will be too close to the Sun to see until it pops up in the SE in the mornings of mid-January. 
• Saturn, Jupiter (SW) – Throughout December, Saturn and Jupiter will appear in the Southwest right as it gets dark, but each night they will get lower in the sky and set earlier and earlier. Jupiter will be the bright point of light on the left, with Saturn about 15˚ to the right.  You can anticipate Saturn getting lost in dusk by the first week of January, Jupiter by the end.

Throughout the night – None

Morning – Mars?, then Venus in January

• Mars (SE) – Mars starts December VERY low on the morning SE horizon. It’ll be interesting to see what day we will finally be able to see it clearly in the dawn twilight.  In fact, it doesn’t even progress much higher throughout January, staying about 10-15˚ above the horizon.  Mars will be a challenge, but should get easier in the new year.
• Venus (SE) – Keep an eye out after 6:30am midway through January, looking SE. The super-bright object low on the horizon will be Venus.  It will keep getting a little higher and rising earlier each day.  This time of Venus being a “morning star” will last until September.

 

EVENTS...

December

Morning Crescents (look East in the AM)

New Moon – 4^th (darkest skies)

Evening Crescents (look West after Sunset)

First Quarter Moon – 10^th (Visible until midnight)

Evening Gibbous (Mostly lit, after Sunset)

Full Moon – 18^th (Visible all night)

Waning Gibbous (Mostly lit, rises later at night)

Last Quarter Moon – 26^th (Visible from midnight into the morning)

Morning Crescents (look East in the AM)

 

January

New Moon – 2^nd (darkest skies)

Evening Crescents (look West after Sunset)

First Quarter Moon – 9^th (Visible until midnight)

Evening Gibbous (Mostly lit, after Sunset)

Full Moon – 17^th (Visible all night)

Waning Gibbous (Mostly lit, rises later at night)

Last Quarter Moon – 25^th (Visible from midnight into the morning)

Morning Crescents (look East in the AM)

 

December – Comet Leonard – There is much to say about an comet; it’s track, speed, brightness.  Many variables interfere with being able to say what you’re going to see, if you even see it at all.  At this time, keep an eye out and ears open on social media regarding this comet.  It passes closest to us on the 12^th, and might just become naked-eye visible at some point this month, but there’s more to consider.  When will the Moon be up?  How close to the horizon will it be?  Will it get lost in dusk?

December 6^th – 10^th – Close Encounter – Moon, Venus, Saturn, Jupiter – What a great 5 days of lunar encounters!  We know the planetary setup from the past couple months.  Venus is low in the SW, but SUPER bright and easy to find.  Hold your fist out in front of you with your pinky and pointer fingers extended, and move one width (15˚) up and to the left and you’ll find Saturn.  Go another 15˚ and you’ll see much brighter Jupiter.  But starting on the 6^th, a very thin crescent Moon joins this party.  On the 6^th, the Moon is just 4˚ below Venus.   Each night the Moon will move to the left 13˚, and get a bit thicker.  Hence, on the 7^th, it will be 6˚ below Saturn.  On the 8^th 8˚ below and to the right of Jupiter.  On the 9^th, about the same distance away from Jupiter, but to the left.  Finally, on the 10^th, the Moon starts migrating away from our bright planets, being about 15˚ away from Jupiter, making a nice evenly spaced line up of celestial objects.

December 13^th – 14^th – Geminid Meteor Shower – This is a decent year for the strongest annual meteor shower known as the Geminids, especially if you don’t mind getting up early.  The waxing gibbous Moon will make evening observing less fruitful, given its light pollution, but it will set around 3am, which is also when the peak will occur.  So get out there in the morning and take advantage of the possible 150 meteors per hour!  But be well prepared…

• When? The peak is the morning of December 14^th, 2am local time.  Commit yourself to staying out at least 20 minutes.
• Where do I go? Dark area, away from lights, comfortable chair, pool float, hammock.
• Where do I look? The whole sky, but note Gemini is where the radiant is - where the meteors will appear to be coming from. Gemini will be in the East after sunset, South after midnight, West in the morning.
• Check the weather to see if the skies will be clear
• BUNDLE UP! Far more layers than you think.
• Adapt your eyes to the dark by staying away from light sources for 20 minutes or using a red light if you need to look at a star chart or not trip over something. 
• If you’re feeling extra nerdy, do a scientific meteor count (S&T and IMO)

December 21^st – Winter Solstice - The longest night and shortest day of the year for the Northern Hemisphere. More info here: http://www.timeanddate.com/calendar/december-solstice.html

December 31^st – Close Encounter – Moon, Mars, Antares – After 5:30am, but before sunrise, find a great view of the SE horizon, and you’ll find a VERY thin crescent Moon, with ruddy red Mars just below it and to the left, and Antares (known as the “rival of Mars”) just below and to the right of the Moon.

January 1st – Mercury Appears – Mercury doesn’t make much of an appearance these two months, however, you might be able to catch it this evening.  Watch the sun set, find Venus (super bright in the SW), and just 8˚ to the left and little bit up from Venus will be the winged messenger Mercury.  Mercury will still be in that spot for a few days, but it’s hard to find once Venus disappears.

January 3^rd – 6^th – Close Encounter – Moon, Mercury, Saturn, Jupiter – Similar to December, a great string of lunar encounters!  The planetary setup has changed a bit, with bright Jupiter easiest to find in the SW.  Saturn is 20˚ (two fist-widths) down and to the right, with Mercury (if you can see it) about 7˚ below and to the right of Saturn.  Starting on the 3^rd, a very thin crescent Moon joins this party.  On the 3^rd, if you have binoculars, find the Moon just 5˚ below Mercury.   Each night the Moon will move to the left 13˚, and get a bit thicker.  Hence, on the 4^th, it will be 4˚ to the left of Saturn.  On the 5^th 6˚ below Jupiter.  Finally, on the 10^th, the Moon starts migrating away from our bright planets, being about 10˚ away from Jupiter, making a nice, but oddly-spaced, line up of celestial objects.

January 3^rd & 4^th – Quadrantid Meteor Shower – This shower’s peak lasts only around 4 hours, but there are still some meteors to be seen on either side of the peak, especially since the Moon is not lit up this time around.  Hence, getting out in the early mornings (3am) these two days is likely to modestly pay off.  Follow the same advice as the Geminids, except that the radiant is in a space in between the stick figure constellations of Ursa Major, Bootes, and Draco.  This space is a former constellation known as Quadrans Muralis.

January 29^th – Close Encounter – Moon, Venus, Mars – After 5:30am, but before sunrise, find a great view of the SE horizon, and you’ll find a VERY thin crescent Moon, with the very bright Venus just 13˚ to the left.  If you’re good, you’ll be able to spot ruddy red Mars in between the two, but closer to the Moon.  Bring binoculars.

 

CONSTELLATIONS...

Use a sky map from www.skymaps.com to help you out.

After Dinner:

Cassiopeia, Andromeda, & Perseus - Look pretty much straight up you’ll be able to see Andromeda curving off of one corner of Pegasus. If your skies are decently dark, you might catch the faint fuzz that is the Andromeda Galaxy.  Cassiopeia will be relatively easy to find as the “W” in the sky, whose right angle points right to Andromeda and her galaxy.  Perseus is the other cornucopia-shaped constellation, but opposite of Andromeda, with its curves emptying out toward the Pleiades

Before Bed:

Taurus & the Pleiades – Look almost straight up, but down toward the South a little bit and you’ll find the lovely cluster of stars known as the Pleiades, the Seven Sisters, Subaru, or the mini-mini-dipper. You can easily see 5 or 6 of them with the unaided eye, and perhaps a 7^th, depending on light pollution and your eyes.  To the left about 5˚ will be the V constellation of Taurus the bull, with bright red Aldebaran as its brightest, and one eye of the bull. Oh, and if you follow a line connecting these two to the left about 10˚, you’ll find Orion.

Before Work:

Leo – Look South, halfway up the sky, to find the backward question mark and right triangle that is Leo the Lion.

Don’t forget this podcast is found on my Podbean page, Stitcher, and iTunes.  There’s also a video version on my YouTube Channel and I can be found on Twitter and Instagram as @mrwebbpv. The Pequea Valley Planetarium and its events and updates are on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram as @pvplanetarium.

November 2021

 

WATCH this on YouTube
LISTEN as a podcast on Podbean, Stitcher, or iTunes

Social Media: @mrwebbpv on Twitter and Instagram

@pvplanetarium on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram

 

         Why get out there at night in November?  It’s Lunar Eclipse Month! Well, partially…   Venus, Saturn, and Jupiter are rocking the sunsets, we technically have a meteor shower, turkey day night will be awesome, and, most importantly, we can witness an almost total lunar eclipse.

         Welcome to Observing With Webb, where a high school astronomy teacher tells you what you’re looking at, why it’s so cool, and what you should check out later this month…at night. 

 

Naked-eye PLANETS...

Sunset – Venus, Saturn, Jupiter

• Venus (SW) – Once again, staying about 10˚ above the horizon all month, Venus is a glorious sight for those looking West after sunset. Venus sets around 8:30pm.
• Saturn, Jupiter (S) – Throughout November, Saturn and Jupiter will appear in the South right as it gets dark. Excitingly, they move closer and closer to Venus in the SW until they are almost equally separated by the 30^th.  Jupiter will be the bright point of light on the left, with Saturn about 15˚ to the right.    In the beginning of the month Saturn sets at midnight, with Jupiter trailing at 1am.  By the end of the month, Saturn and Jupiter set in the SW at about 10pm and 11:30pm, respectively.

Throughout the night – None

Morning – None

 

EVENTS...

Morning Crescents (look East in the AM)

New Moon – 4^th (darkest skies)

Evening Crescents (look West after Sunset)

First Quarter Moon – 11^th (Visible until midnight)

Evening Gibbous (Mostly lit, after Sunset)

Full Moon – 19^th (Visible all night)

Waning Gibbous (Mostly lit, rises later at night)

Last Quarter Moon – 27^th (Visible from midnight into the morning)

 

2^nd – 3^rd – Close Encounter – Moon, Mercury – Even though this would be a tough find, maybe you’ll get lucky.  Look ESE after 6:30am, but before sunrise.  You might catch a glimpse of a VERY thin crescent Moon VERY low on the horizon.  If you’re even luckier, you’ll see Mercury just 3˚ (pinky-widths held at arm’s length) below it.  In this moment you are looking at two objects in the solar system that, when shown up-close pictures, are often confused for each other.

7^th – Daylight Savings Time Ends

7^th – 12^th – Close Encounter – Moon, Venus, Saturn, Jupiter – What a great week of encounters!  Imagine the planetary setup.  Venus is low in the SW, but SUPER bright and easy to find.  Hold your fist out in front of you with your pinky and pointer fingers extended, and move three of these widths (15˚ each) up and to the left and you’ll find the pretty darn bright planet Jupiter (the brightest part of that area of the sky).  If you backtrack 1/3 of the way toward Venus, you’ll find the modestly bright Saturn.  But starting on the 7^th, a very thin crescent Moon joins this party.  On the 7^th, the Moon is all the way to right of them, just 4˚ to the right of Venus.   Each night the Moon will move to the left 13˚, and get a bit thicker.  Hence, on the 8^th, it will be between Venus and Saturn, but closer to Venus.  On the 9^th, still in between, but closer to Saturn.  Then on the 10^th, the Moon moves to about 5˚ below and to the left of Saturn.  On the 11^th 5˚ below and to the left of Jupiter, and now a First Quarter Moon.  Finally, on the 12^th, the Moon starts migrating away from our bright planets, being 15˚ away from Jupiter.

17^th – Leonid Meteor Shower – This annual, weak (10-15 per hour), meteor shower can have some wonderful years. This is not one of them Why? We essentially have an almost Full Moon, so there’s far too much light pollution interfering with our observing.  That said, you never know when a nice meteor will burn up, to take a nice look at the sky in general, noting that the meteors will appear to go from the radiant in the head of Leo and outward.

19^th – Partial Lunar Eclipse (almost Total) – This one snuck up on me! 97% of the Moon’s surface will be in the shadow of the Earth at the deepest part of this eclipse, making it a partial lunar eclipse, meaning that 3% of the Moon (just a sliver) will be lit up, while the rest is somewhere between a dark yellow and brown.  North America can pretty much see all of it, with the rest of the world seeing only portions.  Here’s the game plan:

           2:18am EST – Partial Eclipse Begins – Just look West-ish to find the Full Moon, and watch as the Earth’s shadow appears to nibble on the Moon from the top down, but a little off-center to the right. It will take about 1 hour and 45 minutes to reach maximum eclipse. (You might hear that the penumbral portion of the eclipse starts before this.  While true, it is essentially undetectable with the naked eye.)

           4:04am EST – Maximum Eclipse – 97% of the surface is in the shadow of the Earth.  With your naked eye, you should easily be able to see the bright portion lit up on the left, with the rest ranging from dark yellow to brown.  With a camera, these distinctions are harder to pick up. For the next roughly 1 hour and 45 minutes, the shadow appears to move down and away from the Moon.

           5:47am EST – Partial Eclipse Ends

        Other things to notice during the eclipse

• As the Moon gets darker, more and more stars will be visible
• The Pleiades are up and to the right of the Moon
• Taurus is up and to the left of the Moon
• Orion is off to the left of Taurus
• If you’re in the Eastern U.S., the Moon will finish at about 15˚ above the horizon, leaving some room for good foreground objects in pictures

25^th – Thanksgiving – After feasting on food, feast your eyes on the sky:  Venus will be super bright low in the SW after sunset until about 7pm., with Saturn and Jupiter up higher and longer (9:30pm and 10:50pm set times).  Definitely worth a good look through the telescope.  At about 9pm the Waning Gibbous Moon will rise in the ENE, joining the Fall and Winter constellations of Pegasus, Andromeda, Taurus, Orion, and Gemini.  With the corn all cut down, watching the Moon rise and turn orange to white amidst the stars will be truly enjoyable.

 

CONSTELLATIONS...

Use a sky map from www.skymaps.com to help you out.

After Dinner:

Pegasus & Andromeda - Look pretty much straight up you’ll be able to see the Great Square of Pegasus, with Andromeda curving off of one corner. If your skies are decently dark, you might catch the faint fuzz that is the Andromeda Galaxy.

Before Bed:

Andromeda, Perseus, Triangulum, Aries – Find Pegasus off to the West a little bit to find the cornucopia shaped Andromeda again. Keep following the cornucopia shape to find Perseus, which has kind of a similar shape, except opening up toward the southern horizon and the Pleiades.  Below Perseus and Andromeda will be Triangulum, a small thin triangle, and Aries the Ram, which looks more like a curved walking cane on its side.

Before Work:

Orion – Look southwest to find the vertical bow-tie that is Orion the Hunter.

Don’t forget this podcast is found on my Podbean page, Stitcher, and iTunes.  There’s also a video version on my YouTube Channel and I can be found on Twitter and Instagram as @mrwebbpv. The Pequea Valley Planetarium and its events and updates are on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram as @pvplanetarium.