Monthly Night Sky Report: December 2020

    November seemed warmer than usual but still had many cloudy nights (and days) here in Utah.  As is usually the case, it seemed that the weather knew which days would work best for my personal schedule for stargazing and decided to be cloudy during those times.  Nevertheless, I was still able to witness a few of the astronomical highlights for the month.  Towards the end of the month, the 21st to be exact, I was able to view Mercury rising over the mountains just before the brilliance of the Sun drowned out twinkle of this tiny planet.  I was also able to see Jupiter, Saturn, and Mars nearly every clear night and Venus on the clear mornings.  The Moon was also a welcome sight, as it is to me every winter when the nights are clear.  Orion was easy to spot creeping over the mountains at night and again sinking towards the western horizon in the morning. 

    

    December will likely bring more clouds as well as less free time to stargaze due to the holidays.  However, this month offers many great astronomical treats for those able and willing to brave the colder temperatures.  December offers one of the best meteor showers of the year which will peak with a Moon-free sky.  The 21st this month marks the Winter Solstice, the period in the Earth's orbit when the Northern Hemisphere has the longest night.  There will be a conjunction (close encounter of two objects in our night sky) between two planets this month as well, the like that has not been seen for nearly 400 years!  This month also offers a total solar eclipse for those that live in or are willing to travel to South America.    

    

Mercury

   Mercury will be a hard target to spot throughout December.  Your best chance of seeing the innermost planet will be during the first week of the month.  At this time, Mercury will be further from the Sun so you may catch a glimpse of it before the sunrise glow outshines this tiny world.  Mercury will then be too close to the Sun to view until January 2021, at which time this planet will be found in the evening instead of the predawn sky.    

  

Venus

  The second planet from the Sun can be found in the morning sky.  At the beginning of the month, Venus will rise about two and a half hours before the Sun.  As our sister planet continues its orbit around the Sun, it will rise later and later, causing it to peak above the Rocky Mountains nearly an hour later by the 31st.  During the second week of the month, a crescent Moon will join Venus in the morning sky.  

Mars

    The Earth-Mars distance has been increasing throughout November and will continue to do so.  As the distance increases, the magnitude and the amount of Martian detail that can be seen diminishes.  This planet can still easily be seen in the night sky due to its rusty-red color contrasting the other points of light in the sky, the brightness that it shines, as well as its location in the night sky.  It can be found approaching the southeastern sky at sunset and will follow Jupiter and Saturn towards the western horizon.     

Jupiter

Saturn

    Jupiter will be an easy target to spot in the night sky shortly after sunset due to its magnitude.  It can be found in the southwest with Saturn becoming visible roughly 30-45 minutes later.  As the month marches on, Jupiter and Saturn will move closer together until finally reaching a spectacular conjunction on the 21st.  When using binoculars or a telescope, the two planets and their visible moons will appear in one field of view.  How awesome it will be to see the cloud bands of Jupiter and the rings of Saturn together!  These two planets have a conjunction roughly every 20 years, however, they have not been this close for nearly 400 years!  The last time these two giant planets were this close was the time when Galileo used his telescope to discover the Galilean Moons of Jupiter and the rings of Saturn!  During conjunction, the two planets will be approximately 0.1° apart which is about 1/5 of the diameter of the full Moon in our night sky.  Leading up to the 21st, the Moon can be found just 3° below this pair of gas giants on the 16th.  

   

Neptune

Uranus

    The outer two planets are best viewed through a telescope but can still be seen through a pair of binoculars.  Uranus can be found chasing after Mars in the constellation of Aries the Ram throughout the month and will be joined by the Moon on the 24th.  In January, Mars' eastward motion will bring the pair of planets close together from our point of view.  The most distant planet, Neptune, can be found in the constellation of Aquarius throughout December.  The Moon will also be found in the constellation of Aquarius on the 20th, bringing it close to Neptune.  

Meteor Shower

    December brings the return of the Geminid Meteor Shower.  This is one of the best, if not the best meteor shower of the year.  Unfortunately, it is likely one of the least viewed meteor showers due to the inclement weather and cold temperatures.  This shower is active between December 4th and the 17th meaning that you will likely see some meteors from this shower if viewing between these dates.  The peak date is the night of the 13th and morning of the 14th at which time you may be able to see up to 150 meteors per hour!  As mentioned in the introduction, the Moon will not be in the sky which will increase your chances and the number of meteors that you can see.  If you are able to get away from city lights, you should be able to see even the faintest meteors.  These meteors will appear to radiate from the constellation of Gemini which can be found to the left (east) of Betelgeuse, the left shoulder of Orion.  

Spot Me....🕵️  

    I've had you try to spot quite a few different objects in the night sky, most of which require a telescope. During 2020, we have been able to see a few comets, most notable was NEOWISE.  I have included pictures of NEOWISE in my August Monthly Sky Report from this year if you would like to look at them again.  This month, take out your telescope or binoculars to view the great conjunction between Jupiter and Saturn, you will be glad you did!  If weather permits, you should also try to view the Geminid Meteor Shower since it is one of the best of the year.  Be sure to dress warm, use hand warmers, and have a nice mug of hot chocolate with you!  

  

    As always, leave a comment to let me and others know what you see!

Monthly Breakdown

    December 07:  Last Quarter Moon 🌗

    December 12:  Moon passes within 1° of Venus

    December 13:  Geminid Meteor Shower Peaks

    December 14:  New Moon 🌑

    December 16:  Moon passes within 3° of Jupiter and Saturn

    December 20:  Moon passes within 5° of Neptune

    December 21:  Jupiter and Saturn conjunction

    December 21:  Winter Solstice

    December 21:  First Quarter Moon 🌓

    December 22:  Venus passes within 6° of Antares

    December 23:  Moon passes within 6° of Mars

    December 24:  Moon passes within 3° of Uranus

    December 29:  Full Moon 🌕 

    

Think About This....💡

   

    As 2020 comes to a close, remember all of those around you that you have to be thankful for.  You should also be thankful for everything that you have.  While we may look at others and how fortunate they seem to be, don't forget that there may be some less fortunate looking to you and admiring all that you seem to have.  This year has been a rough one for many people, but remember to take time and show kindness to those around you.  Showing a little kindness and gratitude can go a long way!

    Unfortunately, I do not have any new pictures to share this month, but will hopefully have something for you next month!  

 

    Stay tuned for more exciting news and events!  

Now get outside and look up!

Planet images taken by NASA.

Andrew vs. the Cosmos taken by Jeff Greenland.

    

Midmonth Check-In: November 2020

    Starting this month, I thought I would add a new monthly post.  The intentions of these posts are to remind you about the things that you can see for the remainder of the month and to also discuss recent findings related to astronomy, physics principles, or other similar topics.  I will also bring to your attention astronomy events for the month that I may have forgotten to include in the monthly night sky report!

    For November, I thought I would talk about asteroids since the Earth had a close encounter, astronomically speaking, at the beginning of the month.  Before talking about asteroids, I should remind you of the difference between meteoroids, meteors, meteorites, comets, and asteroids. As you might guess from the object names, meteoroids, meteors, and meteorites are all related.  A meteoroid is a small pebble sized object, typically a small piece of an asteroid or comet.  When a meteoroid enters the Earth's atmosphere, it burns up creating a streak of light across the sky.  When this happens, we call them meteors or "shooting stars".  As you have learned from reading my blog, we have many meteor showers throughout the year.  These showers are caused by the Earth passing through the debris left by a comet as it approaches the Sun, then accelerates back to the outer solar system.  A meteorite is what we call a meteor that does not completely burn up in the atmosphere and makes it to the surface of the planet.  Many meteorites are made up of large quantities of iron, such as a small one that I have that came from the Sikhote-Alin Mountains in Russia.  This meteorite fragment is from a much larger meteorite which fell to the Earth in 1947.  

    Comets come from the outer solar system and are typically made up of rock and ice.  They have earned the name of "dirty snowballs" for this reason.  As the comet approaches the Sun, the heat and solar wind cause a tail to form, such as the tail that can be seen in my pictures of NEOWISE from earlier this year.  This tail, called a dust tail, is usually the brightest tail that can be seen on a comet.  A dimmer tail, called the ion tail, usually has a blue color and is formed by the ultraviolet light from the Sun interacting with gas from the comet.  The gas is not exhaust fumes!  The gas can be formed when the ice sublimates (solid form to gas form) as the solar wind and heat from the Sun warms the comet.  The ion tail points straight out from the Sun, while the dust tail can sometimes curve as the comet moves around the Sun.  

    Asteroids are large chunks of iron and rock.  They come in all shapes and sizes like a potato.  In fact, sometimes asteroids are referred to as "space potatoes!"  When an asteroid impacts the Earth, it leaves a large crater, which you can see using Google Earth or other satellite images.  A famous one that is located close to Utah, is Meteor Crater in Arizona.  This was caused by a 150 foot asteroid exploding just before impacting the Earth.  Meteor Crater is one of the most well preserved impact craters on Earth, mostly due to its young age of only 50,000 years, and the dry climate in Arizona.

    While on the topic of impact craters, Meteor Crater is fairly small in size, but may seem large if you were to visit it.  The diameter of this crater is less than a mile and can be difficult to see from the International Space Station which orbits at about 250 miles above the Earth.  From Earth, an observer can easily see the craters on the Moon.  Perhaps the easiest one to see is Tycho Crater at the "bottom" of the Moon.  Tycho Crater is about 53 miles in diameter, which is still small compared to the largest crater on the Moon, known as South Pole-Aitken basin.  This crater has a diameter of roughly 1,600 miles!  This is currently the largest known crater in the solar system and is, unfortunately, located on the far side of the Moon.  Below are a couple of images taken through my telescope with my phone.  The first shows the entire illuminated Moon from the particular night it was taken. On the left you can see Tycho Crater, the bright, white crater.  The second image is using a higher power eyepiece just to show the many craters on this particular area of the Moon.  This was also taken on the same night.  

    Some day in the future, the Earth will be impacted (again) by an asteroid.  Hopefully it will be a small impact over an unpopulated area of the Earth.  NASA and other space agencies around the world are on the lookout for asteroids that have the potential to cause harm to those of us on Earth.  These and other teams are working on ways to help divert these potentially hazardous objects so it will completely miss the Earth.  Perhaps some of my young readers will grow up and join the team that helps find these objects and keep them safely away from Earth!

    I want to remind you to look for Comet Howell.  Beginning on the 15th, this comet can be found below Jupiter.  Each passing night, the comet will move eastward so if looking for the comet later in the month, you will want to scan the sky southeast of Jupiter. Don't forget to watch for the Leonid Meteor Shower which peaks on the 17th.  Hopefully my readers outside of Utah will have a better chance of seeing this shower as meteorologists are predicting cloudy skies in Utah.  More notably, there is the lunar eclipse on the 30th which will peak at 2:45 AM Utah time.  Hopefully the clouds won't interfere!!  Remember that this is not a total lunar eclipse so that only part of the Moon will pass through the shadow of the Earth.  

    Check back in a couple of weeks for my next monthly sky report!