Joined: Feb 17 2002 Posts: 28357 Location: MACS0647-JD
I know some of you have nowt much to do once we get back-endish in December so why not waste your time stargazing?
December is a fine month for evening views of Jupiter, which you can't miss as it's that really bright thing that's not the Moon. Or early risers can see both Venus and Saturn. And if you look carefully, Mercury, which apparently 99% of Earth's population have never seen with their own eyes.
And oh look, what's that bright shiny thingy gliding across the sky? Must be an alien craft. Or... December is going to be a good month for you International Space Station watchers. Quite a few teatime passes, these will be the best ones, cloud cover permitting:-
18 Dec 18:03 - 18:04 20 Dec 5.58 - 6pm 22 Dec 5.54- 5:56pm this is a good one to impress your mates with, as you can predict that shortly after it passes over the Moon, it will "disappear") ie cross into Earth's shadow)
23 Dec 5:04 - 5:07 first pass, which will be fairly cool as the ISS will appear to cross the base of the Moon
Earlier in December a great chance to spend an hour or two watching for meteors, overnight Dec 13/14 when the Geminid meteor shower is due. Articlke with Details
It's a pity that the world will end this December but on the admittedly extremely remote off-chance that it won't, this time next year we should have a real treat with Comet ISON, predicted to be the brightest in living memory, maybe even an object visible in daylight.
And before then, in the early Spring, there will be Comet C/2011 L4 (PanSTARRS) which might reach naked-eye visibility before dawn in early spring 2013.
I know some of you have nowt much to do once we get back-endish in December so why not waste your time stargazing?
December is a fine month for evening views of Jupiter, which you can't miss as it's that really bright thing that's not the Moon. Or early risers can see both Venus and Saturn. And if you look carefully, Mercury, which apparently 99% of Earth's population have never seen with their own eyes.
And oh look, what's that bright shiny thingy gliding across the sky? Must be an alien craft. Or... December is going to be a good month for you International Space Station watchers. Quite a few teatime passes, these will be the best ones, cloud cover permitting:-
18 Dec 18:03 - 18:04 20 Dec 5.58 - 6pm 22 Dec 5.54- 5:56pm this is a good one to impress your mates with, as you can predict that shortly after it passes over the Moon, it will "disappear") ie cross into Earth's shadow)
23 Dec 5:04 - 5:07 first pass, which will be fairly cool as the ISS will appear to cross the base of the Moon
Earlier in December a great chance to spend an hour or two watching for meteors, overnight Dec 13/14 when the Geminid meteor shower is due. Articlke with Details
It's a pity that the world will end this December but on the admittedly extremely remote off-chance that it won't, this time next year we should have a real treat with Comet ISON, predicted to be the brightest in living memory, maybe even an object visible in daylight.
And before then, in the early Spring, there will be Comet C/2011 L4 (PanSTARRS) which might reach naked-eye visibility before dawn in early spring 2013.
Last edited by Ferocious Aardvark on stardate Jun 26, 3013 11:27 am, edited 48,562,867,458,300,023 times in total
Last edited by Ferocious Aardvark on Sun Dec 20, 2015 11:42 am, edited 1 time in total.
Was sitting in the car in central Leeds last week waiting for the eldest to come out of her work when someone on the radio mentioned the full moon that night and right next to it, Jupiter.
I actually got out of the car to have a look as it was a clear cold night - my was I impressed and more impressed when the bloke on the radio said that with a pair of binoculars you might even be able to see some of Jupiters moons.
Someday everything is gonna be different, when I paint my masterpiece ---------------------------------------------------------- Online art gallery, selling original landscape artwork ---------------------------------------------------------- JerryChicken - The Blog ----------------------------------------------------------
JerryChicken wrote:Was sitting in the car in central Leeds last week waiting for the eldest to come out of her work when someone on the radio mentioned the full moon that night and right next to it, Jupiter.
I actually got out of the car to have a look as it was a clear cold night - my was I impressed and more impressed when the bloke on the radio said that with a pair of binoculars you might even be able to see some of Jupiters moons.
Yup, was impressive, I took some long exposure photo's and got a "lunarbow" which was brilliant.
Joined: Apr 13 2002 Posts: 3569 Location: enjoying the fresh air,moors and beaches of devon and cornwall
Standee wrote:Yup, was impressive, I took some long exposure photo's and got a "lunarbow" which was brilliant.
pics please.
"He is your friend, your partner, your defender, your dog. You are his life, his love, his leader. He will be yours, faithful and true, to the last beat of his heart. You owe it to him to be worthy of such devotion" – -- Unknown
"He is your friend, your partner, your defender, your dog. You are his life, his love, his leader. He will be yours, faithful and true, to the last beat of his heart. You owe it to him to be worthy of such devotion" – -- Unknown
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