Backyard Stargazer for December 2016
By Francis Parnell
For early evening sky watchers or early risers, December offers views of all five bright planets.
In bright twilight on the 1st, you can spot a slender crescent Moon 10-degrees above a very low Mercury in the southwestern sky. And on the 2nd you can find the waxing crescent about 8-degrees to the right of brilliant Venus, and 7-degrees above Venus on the 3rd.
Francis Parnell, the Backyard Stargazer of Darlington
On the 4th, the slightly fatter crescent is approximately 6-degrees to the right or lower right of Red Mars. On the 5th, the Moon is 7-degrees to the upper left of Mars.
The “Geminids”, that old and reliable meteor shower, peaks on the night of the 13th -14th. But this year the December “Cold Moon” is full on the 13th at 7:04 p.m. Because of the Moonlight, only the brightest meteors can be seen. If you’re a “night owl” and stay up to try and see a few meteors – good luck!
At 5:44 a.m. on the morning of the 21st, the Sun is 23.5-degrees below the Equator at the Solstice and Winter officially begins in the Northern Hemisphere. It’s also the longest night of the year. At Darlington’s latitude of 34.3-degrees North, darkness lasts about 14.5 hours.
The waning crescent Moon is a few degrees to the upper right of yellowish Jupiter before dawn on the 22nd. The next morning old Luna forms a nice compact triangle with Jupiter and “Spica”, the brightest star in Virgo.
Just before dawn on the 27th, the Moon is 4-degrees above yellow Saturn, low in the southeast.
If you would like to start 2017 by wishing on a star, go out right near midnight on the 31st and look south and 40-degrees above the horizon and you can’t miss sparkling, bright white “Sirius”, the Dog star in Canis Major, the Big Dog. At midnight every December 31st, “Sirius” is due south in our sky.
While you’re making your New Year’s wish, look to the upper right of “Sirius” and you’ll find the constellation of “ORION”, the Mighty Hunter.” More about him next month. Check the inset for the constellation chart.
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year! Remember, “Keep Looking Up!”
constellation
Francis Parnell of Darlington has been an amateur astronomer for over 46 years, and was on the staff and helped out at the Francis Marion University Observatory from 1982 until 2006 by showing visitors “what’s out there.” With the help of a friend, Mr. Ernest Lowry, he built his own telescope in 1986. And, because of light pollution, for the last 31 years he has been advocating for the advantages of using fully-shielded lighting at night.