Observing With Webb

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A monthly look at the night sky from your favorite Astronomy teacher at Pequea Valley High School

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Monday Nov 30, 2020

December 2020

Monday Nov 30, 2020

CONJUNCTION MONTH! If there’s nothing else you do this month, mark your calendar, get your warm clothes set aside, and get ready for a very, very rare conjunction between Jupiter and Saturn on the 21^st. More details to come. If you do more than that one thing, we also have another meteor shower and some good close encounters between the Moon and the planets.

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 – Saturn, Jupiter

Saturn, Jupiter (S) – Jupiter and Saturn bow out for the year with a glorious finale. By the end of the month, these two will set just after sunset, but until then, just look Southwest after sunset, but before 8pm and find the two really bright points of light fairly close together. Jupiter will be the brighter one. KEEP WATCHING day after day, and you’ll notice them getting noticeably closer every day, until the 21^st when they are 1/10^th of one degree apart. This is a very rare event and something that everyone needs to go out and see. Watch the sunset, look southwest, and enjoy the view. More on this in the events section.

Throughout the night – Mars

Mars (SEàSàW) – Look SE after sunset to find the non-twinkling reddish-orange dot, much brighter than everything around it. Sets around 2 or 3am in the West.

Morning – Venus

Venus (E) – Venus rises in the East after 5am on Dec 1^st, and after 6am on the 31^st. Bright, brilliant, and gorgeous. Get your looks in now, since it dives closer and closer to the Sun through December, and stays close to the Sun until Summer of 2021.

EVENTS...

Waning Gibbous (Mostly lit, rises later at night)

Last Quarter Moon – 7^th (Visible from midnight into the morning)

Morning Crescents (look East in the AM)

New Moon – 14^th (darkest skies)

Evening Crescents (look West after Sunset)

First Quarter Moon – 21^st (Visible until midnight)

Evening Gibbous (Mostly lit, after Sunset)

Full Moon – 30^th (Visible all night)

12^th – Close Encounter – Moon, Venus – Get up early on Saturday morning and make sure you have a nice view of the SE horizon between 5:30am and 7:00am. Venus and the Moon should be easy to spot, with Venus being VERY bright, and the Moon being a thin beautiful crescent.

13th, 14th – Geminid Meteor Shower – This is a VERY good year for the Geminids. We have no Moon in the sky and the peak will occur during the evening hours on Sunday the 13^th. So get out there after dinner and take advantage of the possible 150 meteors per hour! But be well prepared…

When? The peak is the night of December 13^th, 2am local time

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)

14th – You might hear some things about a total solar eclipse, but it’s in Chile and Argentina.

21^st – CONJUNCTION OF JUPITER AND SATURN – This only happens every, say, couple hundred years. Jupiter and Saturn will be within 1/10^th of 1˚ of each other! This is the event of the month, perhaps even the year. They will be close to each other for most of the month, but they will be closest on the night of the 21^st. How do you see it?

Get dressed VERY warmly, and head outside after sunset (4:42pm)

Look SW, where the sun just set. Jupiter and Saturn should appear fairly quickly as the first two objects you see in the night sky just 15˚ (1.5 fist-widths) above the horizon.

Don’t waste your time getting out there, though. The pair sets below the horizon before 7pm, leaving you not more than an hour and half of viewing time, if your horizon is fairly flat and unobstructed.

Definitely bring binoculars, but enjoy the entire sky.

If you have a telescope, you can get both the planets in the same eyepiece view!

21st – 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

23^rd – Close Encounter – Moon, Mars – Get out there after sunset but before 2am and find the waxing Gibbous Moon in the SE with red, ruddy Mars close and bright just 5˚ above it.

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.

Friday Nov 13, 2020

November 2020

Friday Nov 13, 2020

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Social Media: @mrwebbpv on Twitter and Instagram

@pvplanetarium on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram

November this year is quite the month of change. We have an election, daylight savings time ends, and the nights quickly get longer and longer. All five naked-eye planets are easily visible at different parts of the night, the Leonids will grace the mid-month skies, and the Moon makes its monthly visits in line with the planets.

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 – Saturn, Jupiter

Saturn, Jupiter (S) – Just look South or Southwest after sunset, but before 10:30pm (8:30pm at the end of the month) and find the two really bright points of light fairly close together. In fact, they start off 5˚ apart (three finger-widths) and end up on November 30^th being just 2˚ apart (two pinky-widths). To find Jupiter, just look for the brightest spot no more than 30˚ above the horizon. Saturn will be to the left. These make a great pair for getting your binoculars and telescopes out. You can see the rings of Saturn and moons of Jupiter fairly easily, and you don’t have to do too much to switch from one planet to the other. In fact, get your practice in now, because on December 21^st, these two planets will have a brilliant conjunction!

Throughout the night – Mars

Mars (ESE-S-W) – Look East or South East around sunset or South around 10:30pm to find the non-twinkling reddish-orange dot, much brighter than everything around it. If you’re looking in the morning, look West, but make sure you get out there before it sets at 5am at the beginning of the month and 3am at the end of the month.

Morning – Venus, Mercury

Venus (E) – Venus rises in the East around at 4:30am on Nov 1^st, and 5:45am on the 30^th. Bright, brilliant, and gorgeous. Get your looks in now, since it dives closer and closer to the Sun through December, and stays close to the Sun until Summer of 2021.
Mercury (E) – Always tough to see since it’s close to the Sun, but this is a good month to find it, especially right in the middle of November when it’s furthest from the Sun. Get out to look after 6:45am but before sunrise about an hour later and look ESE. It will be low on the horizon, down and to the left of Venus, and dimmer than Venus but brighter than surrounding stars. The last week of November it dives back toward the Sun and is lower and harder to find.

EVENTS...

Waning Gibbous (Mostly lit, rises later at night)

Last Quarter Moon – 8^th (Visible from midnight into the morning)

Morning Crescents (look East in the AM)

New Moon – 15^th (darkest skies)

Evening Crescents (look West after Sunset)

First Quarter Moon – 22^nd (Visible until midnight)

Evening Gibbous (Mostly lit, after Sunset)

Full Moon – 30^th (Visible all night)

11^th – 13^th – Close Encounter – Moon, Venus, Mercury – Make sure you have a nice view of the Eastern horizon at least 45 minutes before sunrise (6:45am). Venus and the Moon should be easy to spot, with Venus being VERY bright, and the Moon being its big beautiful crescent. On the 11^th, the Moon will be about two fist-widths above Venus, with Mercury below Venus. On the 12^th, the Moon will move to within 6˚ or about three finger-widths above Venus. THE BEST PART is on the morning of Friday the 13^th! The Moon will be BETWEEN Venus and Mercury!

17^th – Leonid Meteor Shower – This annual, weak (10-15 per hour), meteor shower can have some wonderful years. 2020 appears to be decent. Why? We essentially have a New Moon, so there’s no extra light pollution to interfere with our observing. This year, you want to get up early in the morning on Thursday the 17^th, between 3:00 and 5:30am, and 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.

18^th – 19^th – Close Encounter – Moon, Jupiter, Saturn – Get out after sunset and find the Moon toward the Southwest, low on the horizon, and a thin waxing crescent. On the 18^th, the Moon will be down and to the right of Jupiter, the brightest point nearby, with Saturn to the left of Jupiter and also bright. Then, on the 19^th, the Moon moves to the left of Saturn, forming a very flat triangle with Jupiter and Saturn. Definitely an easy and worthwhile sight, but get out there before 8pm when they set.

25^th – Close Encounter – Moon, Mars – Get out there after sunset and find the waxing Gibbous Moon in the SE with red, ruddy Mars close and bright just 5˚ above it.

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.