![[Starwatch Logo]](StarwatchLogo.gif)
|
Starwatch NewsletterMinnesota Starwatch is a newsletter describing the night sky in the Midwest.
It is updated monthly, and is produced by the |
Minnesota Starwatch for December 2006
Around the 10th of the month look for a close grouping in the sky of three of the Solar System's planets: Mercury, Mars and Jupiter. A pair of binoculars may come in handy as the grouping can be seen about 30 minutes to 1 hour before runrise in the South East sky not too far above the horizon. At that time of the pre-dawn the glare of the Sun, even though it is still below the horizon, is sufficiently bright to make even three closely packed planets appear rather dim.
On December 3rd and on the very last day of the year, December 31st, watch the waxing gibbous Moon occult the young star cluster Pleiades. If you are patient you can observe some of the brighter stars of Pleiades disappear behind the dark limb of the Moon, as the sky 'rotates'. You won't be able to see these stars reappear on the other side of the Moon because the sunlit limb of the Moon is very bright.
December 13th will be the perfect night to watch for the Geminid meteor shower, arguably the best meteor show of the year. Starting late evening and continuing until a couple of hours after midnight on that moonless night you will treated to up to 100 meteors per hour! So, get yourself a warm coat or a blanket and hope for a clear sky.
December is a good month to observe Andromeda galaxy (M31), the closest large galaxy to the Milky Way. Andromeda is a diffuse blur of starlight, and so is best observed on a dark night---try to go to a place far from urban lights. M31 is in the constellation Andromeda, and can be seen early to late evening, almost directly overhead. It is rather large, about 3 degrees or 6 full-moons across, but because of its faintness you may want to try to locate it first using your peripheral vision, instead of looking for it directly.
In other astronomy related news, winter begins on the 21st of December, the shortest day of the year.
The Minnesota Starwatch is produced by the University of Minnesota Astronomy Department.