The Ellensburg, WA sky for the week of December 20, 2025

Saturday: Just before Christmas, you look for junk to clean out of your closets so you can re-gift it. I mean, so you can throw it out or recycle it. NASA and other agencies are monitoring thousands of space junk pieces. Some of this junk is dangerous. The International Space Station occasionally performs debris avoidance maneuvers to keep its panels and sensitive instruments safe. NASA has produced simulations to help you visualize the amount of space junk at https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/5258.

Sunday: At 7:00 a.m., Pacific Standard Time, the Sun reaches its lowest point in the sky with respect to the background stars. This point is called the Winter Solstice. During the day that the Sun reaches this point, your noontime shadow is longer than any other day of the year. Also, the Sun spends less time in the sky on the day of the Winter Solstice than any other making this the shortest day of the year. Even though it is the shortest day of the year, it is not the day with the latest sunrise or the earliest sunset. The latest sunrise is during the first week of January and the earliest sunset is during the second week in December. The Sun is at its southernmost point with respect to the background stars on the day of the winter solstice. This means the Sun spends the least amount of time above the horizon on that day. However, the Sun's rise and set times depend on more than its apparent vertical motion with respect to the background stars. It also depends on where the Sun is on the analemma, that skinny figure-8 you see on globes and world maps. During the second week in December, the Sun is not quite to the bottom of the analemma. But it is on the first part of the analemma to go below the horizon. During the first week of January, it is on the last part of the analemma to rise above the horizon meaning that’s when we have the latest sunrises.

Monday: Mercury is less than half a fist held upright and at arm’s length above the southeastern horizon at 7:00 a.m.

Tuesday: One of the biggest astronomy stories of the year was the discovery of 128 new moons orbiting Saturn, bringing its total to 274, the most in the Solar System. Learn more about the discovery here: https://www.youtube.com/shorts/aoNSJlzH6hU. Learn more about Saturn by looking three and a half fists above the south-southwestern horizon at 7:00 p.m.

Wednesday: The bright star Altair is one fist above due west at 7:00 p.m.

Thursday: Where is the one who has been born King of the Jews? We saw Jupiter being eclipsed by the Moon in the east and have come to worship him” (Matthew 2:2, Bruce Palmquist version, informed by Michael Molnar). There are many theories as to the physical explanation of the Star of Bethlehem, the celestial object that guided the wise men to the location of Jesus. Some people think it was a recurring nova, a star that explodes. Some think it was a close alignment of bright planets. Some think it was a miracle that requires no physical explanation. In 1991, astronomer Michael Molnar bought an ancient Roman Empire coin that depicted a ram looking back at a star. Aries the ram was a symbol for Judea, the birthplace of Jesus. The Magi, or “wise men”, who visited the baby Jesus practiced astrology and would have been looking in that region of the sky for the king prophesied in the Old Testament. Molnar, a modern-day wise person, used sky simulation software to model the positions of planets and the Moon in the region of Aries. According to his model, Jupiter was eclipsed, or blocked, by the Moon on the morning of April 17, 6 BC. A book written by the astrologer of Constantine the Great in 334 AD supports Molnar’s theory. The book describes an eclipse of Jupiter in Aries and notes a man of divine nature born during this time. See https://goo.gl/o89A4o for more information.

Libra, Jupiter, and the moon are visible at 7:00 tonight. The moon is three fists above the southwestern horizon, Aries is six fists above the south-southeastern horizon, and Jupiter is one fist above the east-northeastern horizon.

Friday: Did you get a telescope or binoculars for Christmas? The next item on your list should be a sky watching app for your phone. These apps will help you to get familiar with the constellations and bright stars. Then you can zoom into an area of interest and learn about objects that are visible through your telescope. I like SkySafari, a free app or low-cost iPhones app (depending on their promotions at the time). But there are many other good ones to choose from for little or no money. Go to https://www.lifewire.com/best-stargazing-apps-5086553 for seven short reviews. One of your first targets should be the Pleiades open star cluster. It is bright, easy to see with the naked eye and even more interesting in binoculars. It is six fists above due southeast at 8:00 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. All times are Pacific Time unless noted.

The Ellensburg, WA sky for the week of December 13, 2025

Saturday: The Geminid meteor shower peaks tonight and tomorrow morning. Meteor showers are named after the constellation from which the meteors appear to originate. These meteors appear to come from a point in Gemini the twins. This point is about four fists held upright and at arm’s length above due east at midnight tonight. You can follow this point throughout the night, as it will remain near Gemini and the planet Jupiter. By 4:00 a.m., it is four fists above the southwestern horizon. This shower is typically one of the best ones of the year, producing bright, medium speed meteors with up to 80 meteors per hour under ideal conditions near the peak. This year, the moon will be in the waning crescent, leaving the sky dark enough to see the dimmer meteors.

Most meteor showers occur when the Earth passes through the orbital trail of a comet. The broken off comet fragments collide with the Earth and burn up in the atmosphere. Astronomers had searched for a comet source for this shower since 1862 when the shower was first observed. Finally, in 1983, astronomers discovered the object that created the fragments that cause this meteor shower each year. To their surprise, it was a dark rock that looked like an asteroid, not a shiny icy comet. Astronomers named this object Asteroid 3200 Phaethon. For more information about the Geminid shower, go to https://goo.gl/f4qMqg.

Sunday: Are you disappointed because you are not going anywhere for the holidays? Why not take a (virtual) trip to outer space using Google’s visualization tool called 100,000 Stars. It shows the stars in our neighborhood in a very good 3-D simulation. The Sun is initially at the center. If you zoom in, you can click on neighboring stars and learn more about them. Go to http://stars.chromeexperiments.com/ for the simulation. It works best on a Chrome browser.

Monday: One of those stars in our neighborhood, the bright star Sirius, is one and a half fists above due southeast at 10:00 p.m.

Tuesday: Mercury is a half a fist above the southeastern horizon at 6:45 a.m.

Wednesday: Today is the start of the Saturnalia celebration, 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. For example, after Sheldon hugged Penny on The Big Bang Theory, Leonard proclaimed, “It’s a Saturnalia miracle” https://youtu.be/yarNJnZw2yk. It would not be a miracle if you saw the planet Saturn today. It is four fists above due south at 6:00 p.m.

Thursday: With the Sun as low as it gets in the Northern Hemisphere winter sky this weekend, you may wish it was a little more prominent. Every orbit, NASA’s Parker Solar Probe has a close encounter with the Sun. Its last close encounter was in mid-September, the closest one yet, passing just 3.8 million miles from the solar surface. It passed through the boundary between outer space and the region where the Sun’s magnetic field has a tight hold on the plasma that makes up the outer layer of the Sun. Since the Sun does not have a solid surface, this is as close to touching the Sun as an object can get. It is analogous to “touching” a cloud. The cloud does not have a definite surface but there is a boundary between “cloud” and “not cloud”. For more about the mission plus short videos, go to http://parkersolarprobe.jhuapl.edu/.

Friday: The southernmost bright star visible in the northern USA is one fist over the south-southwestern horizon at 7:00 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. All times are Pacific Time unless noted.

The Ellensburg, WA sky for the week of December 6, 2025

Saturday: Imagine Opie and Andy Taylor walking down the dirt path at night to that fishing hole in the sky. They’d probably be looking to catch Pisces, the two fish already conveniently tied together with two ropes. The ropes are connected at the star Alrescha, Arabic for “the cord”. Alrescha is four and a half fists held upright and at arm’s length above due south at 8:30 p.m. The fish are attached to lines of stars that branch out at one o’clock and three o’clock from Alrescha. By the way, “The Fishing Hole”, The Andy Griffith Show’s theme song, was rated the 20^th best TV theme song of all time by ign.com. That’s too low of a ranking in my opinion.

Sunday: Mercury will be as far away from the Sun in the sky as it will get this orbital cycle. This "farthest away" point is known as the planet's greatest elongation. Since Mercury is in the morning sky, it is west of the Sun, and this occurrence is called the greatest western elongation. This morning, Mercury is nearly one fist above the southeastern horizon at 6:45 a.m. Over the next few weeks, Mercury will move toward the Sun in the sky. By mid-February, it will be visible in the evening sky.

Monday: The bright star Capella is nearly straight overhead at midnight.

Tuesday: Regulus is less than half a fist to the upper right of the moon at 11:00 p.m. Both are about a fist above the eastern horizon.

Wednesday: The earliest sunset of the year in Ellensburg occurs at 4:14 p.m. today. This seems odd because the shortest day of the year, the winter solstice, isn’t for about two more weeks. The Sun is at its southernmost point with respect to the background stars on the day of the winter solstice. This means the Sun spends the least amount of time above the horizon on that day. But the sunrise and sunset times depend on more than the Sun’s apparent southward motion in the sky. It also depends on where the Sun is on the analemma, that skinny figure-8 you see on globes and world maps. During the second week in December, the Sun is not quite to the bottom of the analemma. But it is on the leading edge of the analemma, the first section to go below the horizon. For a slightly better explanation of this, including a diagram, go to https://go.shr.lc/2NOMOQC. Or just go watch the sunset. But don’t stare at the Sun.

Thursday: While the days are getting shorter, the nighttime sky is actually getting brighter due to the greater use of low energy LED bulbs. While these bulbs use much less energy than incandescent or compact fluorescent bulbs, researchers think that people and communities are using more of the bulbs and leaving them on longer. This is increasing light pollution near cities. You can get more illumination on the subject at https://www.latimes.com/environment/light-pollution-latt-123.

Friday: At 9:00 p.m., Saturn is three fists above due southeast and Jupiter is two and a half fists above the eastern horizon.

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. All times are Pacific Time unless noted.