Saturday: The moon is spending a fun-filled Saturday night with
seven sisters. (Don’t tell Mrs. Moon.) At 7 p.m., the open star cluster called
the Pleiades, or the seven sisters, is less than one fist to the upper left of
the moon. They stay close together the whole night, finally snuggling under the
covers, I mean setting, at about 6 a.m. tomorrow. Expect the moon to sleep on
the couch tomorrow night.
Sunday: Tonight, the moon is hiding out in the Hyades star
cluster, near the bright star Aldebaran. After spending last night with seven
sisters, the moon is spending time with someone less vibrant. In Inuit
astronomy, Aldebaran is known as the spirit of the polar bear. At 6 p.m., they
are about two fists held upright and at arm’s length above due east with
Aldebaran about a thumb width to the lower right of the moon.
Monday: The full moon occurs late tonight at about 1:30 a.m.
When the Moon is full, it is difficult to see dim objects in the sky because of
the sky glow. But why struggle to find dim objects when there is so much to see
on the big, bright object in front of you? The lunar crater called Tycho is
best seen during a full Moon. Tycho was formed about 109 million years ago when
an asteroid struck the Moon, leaving a crater over 50 miles in diameter and
ejected dust trails that radiate out hundreds of miles in all directions. For
more lunar highlights, go to
http://nightsky.jpl.nasa.gov/docs/ObserveMoon.pdf, a
resource of the Night Sky Network.
Tuesday: Today is Saturnalia, an ancient Roman festival in
honor of their god Saturn, the god of agriculture and time. The holiday
featured a break from work and school, a public banquet, and private gift
giving. Some of these customs influenced the secular aspects of Christmas
celebrations. Celebrate Saturnalia at 6:30 a.m. by viewing the planet Saturn, one
and a half fists above due southeast. Seeing the real Saturn on the morning of
December 17? As Leonard said on The Big Bang Theory, “It’s a Saturnalia miracle.”
Wednesday: This is a moon-intensive week. Tonight we’ll
follow the moon as it moves near the planet Jupiter and the bright stars
Procyon, Pollux, and Castor. At 9 p.m., Jupiter is a half a fist to the upper
left of the moon and Procyon is about a fist below it. Pollux and Castor are on
the opposite of Jupiter from the moon.
Thursday: On these cold mornings, it is difficult to get
going. You just want to plop into a chair and sit still. But, are you really
sitting still? You’re moving at about 700 miles per hour due to the rotation of
the Earth on its axis and 66,000 miles per hour due to the revolution of the
Earth around the Sun. If that’s not enough, the entire solar system is orbiting
the center of the galaxy at a whopping 480,000 miles per hour! So while you may
be sitting still with respect to your living room (and all of the over
achievers in your house), you are NOT sitting still with respect to the center
of the galaxy. For more information about this concept, go to http://goo.gl/lPVPS. Before you barf from all
of that motion, go outside at 6:30 a.m. and observe Saturn, less than a fist
above the moon in the southeast sky. Because of Saturn’s rapid rotation, only
10.5 hours, it appears visible flattened.
Friday: Venus is a fist above the southwest horizon at 5
p.m.
The positional information in this column about stars and
planets is typically accurate for the entire week. For up to date information
about the night sky, go to https://nightsky.jpl.nasa.gov/planner.cfm.
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