Starwatch Newsletter Minnesota Starwatch is a tape-recorded message describing the night sky in the Midwest, which can be called by telelphone number (612) 624-2001 It is updated montly, and is produced by the Department of Astronomy, University of Minnesota 116 Church Street SE, Minneapolis, MN 55455

The month starts off with the Moon just shy of full, third quarter is on the 7th, new Moon is on the 14th, first quarter on the 22nd, and full Moon is on the 30th of December.

Saturn is the planet to watch this month. Saturn is pale yellow, and can be seen low in the eastern sky early December, right after dusk; it will climb higher in the sky as the evening progresses. As December rolls along, Saturn will get higher and higher in the sky. Saturn reaches opposition on December 2-3, that is, it is on the opposite side of the sky than the Sun, as seen from the vantage point of the Earth. This is the brightest Saturn will be for nearly 3 decades, so this is a good chance to get a glimpse of that ringed planet. Unfortunately, the rings cannot be seen with the naked eye, but a modest telescope is sufficient to reveal the glory of the rings. This month is special for Saturn gazers, as they will witness not one, but two occultations of Saturn by the Moon, on the evening of November 30th, and on the morning of December 28th. On November 30th, Saturn will disappear behind the Moon (approaching it from the left side) around 7pm, and reappear on the other side about half an hour later. Because the Moon is full on that day, Saturn will disappear behind the bright limb of the Moon, so, sadly, it will not be possible to see the rings gradually disappear behind our satellite, even though the whole disappearing act will take over a minute! On December 28th, just before dawn, Saturn will sneak behind the dark limb of the Moon, but at that time the Moon will be one day short of full, and so still probably too bright for Saturn's rings passage to be seen.

Jupiter will be seen throughout the month in the east/northeast sky late in the evening. It is very bright, about eight times brighter than Saturn. On New Year's Eve Jupiter will be in opposition. Mars will shine orange in the Southern sky at dusk and will get closer to horizon in the southwest later in the evening. Uranus and Neptune can be seen to the lower right of Mars (with binoculars!).

Another interesting event this month is the annular eclipse of the Sun, which will take place December 14th, during the new Moon. The path of annular eclipse passes through Central America and Mexico. In our locale, in Minnesota, we will see a 15% piece of the Sun taken out by obscuring Moon; the eclipse will end at sunset. As always, don't look at the Sun directly---use a pin-hole camera, or an appropriate filter.

Friday night telescope viewing begins at 8pm. Please call 626-0034 for more information.

The Minneapolis Planetarium offers a wide variety of programs for all ages. For more information, call (612) 630-6150.

For those interested in the Minnesota Astronomical Society, call (651) 649-4861 for information on their upcoming events.

Minnesota Starwatch is available online at http://www.astro.umn.edu/Outreach/pub_out.html.

This has been Minnesota Starwatch, produced by the University of Minnesota Astronomy Department in cooperation with WCCO Weather Center.

Last Updated: Fri Dec 14 13:07:08 2001