Saturday: “Lately,
I’ve been, I’ve been losing sleep. Dreaming about the things that we could be.
But baby, I’ve been, I’ve been praying hard, said no more counting dollars.
We’ll be counting 9,096 stars, yeah we’ll be counting 9,096 stars.” Luckily,
artistic judgment prevailed over scientific precision in the OneRepublic hit
“Counting Stars”. According to the Yale Bright Star Catalog, there are 9,096
stars visible to the naked eye across the entire sky if you are observing from
a very dark site. In the northern United States, where a part of the sky is
never visible, that number drops to about 6,500. In the middle of a small city
at mid-latitudes, like Ellensburg, that number drops to a few hundred. No
wonder someone has been losing sleep. Learn more about the star count at http://goo.gl/nt8d80.
Sunday: Tonight,
Comet 46P/Wirtanen makes the tenth closest approach to Earth of any comet since
1950. Close means somewhat bright. But “somewhat bright” doesn’t necessarily
mean Comet Wirtanen will be easy to see. The light from comets are spread out
and diffuse. For more information about Comet Wirtanen and how to find it, go
to https://earthsky.org/space/46p-wirtanen-possibly-visible-to-eye-dec-2018. If you don’t have
time to do your homework, you may be able to find it with binoculars six and a
half fists above sue south and about a half a fist to the lower left of the
Pleiades open star cluster.
Monday: 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. After Sheldon hugged Penny on The Big
Bang Theory, Leonard said, “It’s a Saturnalia miracle.” See the miracle on YouTube. It would be
nearly a miracle if you saw the planet Saturn today. It sets about an hour
after the Sun. It is less than a half a fist above the southwest horizon at
4:45.
Tuesday: Mercury
and Jupiter are close neighbors low in the southeast sky for the next few
mornings at 7 a.m. This morning, Mercury is a little above the much brighter
Jupiter. But Mercury is moving downward in the sky and Jupiter is moving
upward. By December 21, you’ll be able to cover both planets with your thumb.
But you won’t be able to also cover Venus. It is two and a half fists above the
south-southeast horizon at this time.
Wednesday: Do you
look into a nursery and say, “it’s a boy” or “it’s a girl”? Not me. I say,
“It’s a star”. Of course, I like looking into a stellar nursery – a
star-forming region such as the Orion Nebula in the middle of Orion’s sword
holder. The Orion Nebula looks like a fuzzy patch to the naked eye. Binoculars
reveal a nebula, or region of gas and dust, that is 30 light years across. The
center of the nebula contains four hot “baby” stars called the Trapezium. These
hot stars emit the ultraviolet radiation that causes the Nebula’s gas to glow.
The Orion Nebula is two and a half fists above the southeast horizon at 9 p.m.
Thursday: The
brightest star in the nighttime sky is making its way into the evening sky.
Sirius is one and a half a fists above the southeast horizon at 10 p.m.
Friday: At 2:25
p.m., 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 day 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 in
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. But, the Sun rise and set time depends on more than
its apparent vertical motion. 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 in January, it is on the last part of the analemma to
rise above the horizon. For more information on this, go to http://goo.gl/KpbkTf.
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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