December 2006

Venus, with occasional deference to the moon, is beginning a nine-month reign as the brightest object in the evening skies. Watch Venus from night to night now through next June and you will see this sparkling spot slowly rise higher in the evening skies as stars go by sliding down into the glare of the sun. Next May, Mercury, Venus, and Saturn will line up in the evening sky. Venus will reach its greatest elongation in June, then begin a quick drop to conjunction with the sun in August. It's the kind of slow display that has enchanted night skywatchers for millenia and you can catch it all if you start watching this month!

As December starts, Saturn rises around midnight next to the sickle in Leo. On the 6th, the ringed planet will start moving westward away from the sickle but even so it will rise earlier and earlier each night. By the end of the month, Saturn is up almost all night. Click here for a picture of what to look for.

Look for Jupiter, Mercury, and Mars tightly grouped below the stars of Libra in the east in the morning twilight. During the second week of December, they'll all be within 5 degrees of each other. Many binoculars and lower power telescopes will even show them in the same field of view around the 9th and 10th. They'll all be less than 2 degrees apart then! On the morning of the 10th, look for a star in the direction of a line from Jupiter to Mercury. This star is known by the names Acrab and Graffias, which are Arabic-derived words for scorpion and claws, respectively. Binoculars will reveal it to be a double star. They are 530 light years away and take 16,000 years to orbit each other. You will need a clear horizon as these planetary and stellar gems will be very low. Click here for a simulated picture of this spectacle.

The sun makes its southernmost trek at 00:22 on the 22nd. To some, the winter solstice is the beginning of winter. Others say it is the solstice that occurs during winter. Of course, the distinction is moot in the southern hemisphere where summer is underway.