Download Adrian`s December 2016 Night Sky

December 2016 Night Sky
Moon Phases
Sunrise & Sunset
th
st
First Quarter 7 .
1 – 7:53am & 4:07pm
Full Moon 14th.
10th – 8:04am & 4:04pm
Last Quarter 21st.
20th – 8:12am & 4:06pm
New Moon 29th.
30th – 8:15am & 4:13pm
Moon Sets
Moon Rises
Venus Sets
st
rd
1 – 6:06pm
23 – 2:05am
1st – 6:55pm
2nd – 6:57pm
24th – 3:08am
10th – 7:19pm
rd
th
3 – 7:54pm
25 – 4:09am
20th – 7:47pm
4th – 8:57pm
26th – 5:10am
30th – 8:14pm
th
th
5 – 10:03pm
27 – 6:09am
6th – 11:13pm#
28th – 7:04am
th
30 – 5:48pm
31st – 6:49pm
On the morning of November 30th a bright Iridium flare (-6.9 mag) occurs at 6:57:48am. Its 31 degree
altitude looking ENE.
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st
Between the 1 and the 21st the ISS will be visible in the late afternoon soon after sunset in the early
evening sky. For details of passes visit website below or download the free app for I-pad or I-phone etc.
On the 1st at 2:52pm* the Russian Progress 65 cargo craft will launch to the ISS from the Baikonur
Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan, delivering food, fuel and supplies.
At 4:30pm on the 1st you may be lucky enough to see Mercury in the SW. It is 8 degrees and below and
slightly to the right of the thin crescent Moon and 2 degrees above the horizon.
On the 2nd at 6:00pm, Venus will be 10 degrees to the left of the crescent Moon in the SW and 6
degrees above the horizon.
Venus will be 6 degrees below the Moon at 5:30pm on the 3rd in the SW.
A very bright Iridium flare (-8.3 mag) will be seen on the 4th at 5:42:55pm. It will be at an altitude of
56 degrees in the NE just left of Cassiopeia (the W shaped stars).
On the 4th at 7:30pm in the SW, Mars will be 8 degrees to the upper left of the Moon.
On the 5th* there is a planned launch from French Guiana of a Vega rocket. Its payload Göktürk-1 is a
high resolution observation satellite designed and developed for the Turkish Ministry of National
Defence by the Italion space service company Telespazio with technological input from Turkish
Aerospace Industries (TUSAS).
At 5:00pm on the 5th, Mars is just 4 degrees to the lower left of the Moon looking south.
On the 5th at 5:59:43pm the ISS rises in the SW and reaches 49 degrees looking in the SE at
6:02:56pm. At 18:03:53pm it goes into the Earth's shadow. (times may vary)
Mercury should be visible between the 6th and the 23rd. Looking in the SW at 4:30pm each evening
from the 6th, Mercury will be slowly rising from 3 degrees above the horizon on the 6th to 6 degrees on
the 17th and then back to 3 degrees on the 23rd. Unfortunately between these dates there are no major
planets to locate it by.
An “Occultation of Neptune” by the Moon occurs on the 6th. At 9:00pm Neptune is just 1 degree
away to the upper left of the Moon. From Somerton the occultation starts at 10:20pm (approx) when the
Moon is 7 degrees above the horizon. (# = see above)
On the 7th at 5:55:18pm the ISS will be virtually overhead looking SSE rising a few minutes earlier in
the west. (times may vary).
On the 9th* at 1:26pm there is a launch of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) HTV-6
cargo transfer spacecraft from Tanegashima, Japan. It will deliver supplies to the ISS.
On the 9th at 7:30pm Uranus will be 4 degrees above the Moon.
Saturn is at superior conjunction on the 10th.
MercuryreachesmaximumeasternelongationfromtheSunonthe11th.
Onthe12th*thereisaplannedlaunchfromCapeCanaveralAirForceStationofaPegasusXLrocket.
TheCycloneGlobalNavigationSatelliteSystem(CYGNSS)missionwillprobetheinnercoreof
hurricanestolearnabouttheirrapidintensification.
Onthenightofthe13th/14ththeGeminidMeteorShowerreachesitspeak.UnfortunatelywiththeFull
Moonyouwillonlyseethebrightones.
Onthe16that10:00pmtheasteroid4Vestawillbe5degreestotheupperleftoftheMooninthe
constellationofCancer.TheMoonrisesonthisdayat7:22pm.
Onthe17th/18thCometC/2015V2JohnsonisinastraightlinewiththetwoendstarsofThePlough.
FromtheendstarofThePloughfollowalongthislinetowardsthebrightstarArcturusfor6degrees
(almostthesamedistancebetweentheendtwostarsofThePlough)andyouwillfinditslocation.Its
distancefromusthenwillbe2.68AstronomicalUnitsfromus.Telescopewillbethebestopticalaidfor
thisasitiscurrentlyatmagnitude13.ItisnearesttousinJunenextyear.
Onthe18ththebrightstarRegulusintheconstellationofLeoisoccultedbytheMoonat6:38pm.
UnfortunatelyRegulusdoesn'trisetill9:20pmandtheMoon30minuteslater.
TheUrsidMeteorShowerreachesitspeakonthe22nd.Priortodawnmaybethebesttimetoview.
At7:00amonthemorningofthe22ndJupiterwillbe4degreestothelowerleftoftheMoon.
Ifyouhappentowakeupsoonafter2:00amonthe23rdhavealookintheeastandyouwillseethe
MoonrisingwithJupiter4degreestotheupperrightofit.By7:30amitwillhaveincreaseditsdistance
to7½degrees.
Mercuryisatperihelion(NearesttotheSuninitsorbit)onthe25th.
Justbeforedawnonthe27that7:30amyouwillseethecrescentMoon.Saturnwillbe7degreestothe
lowerleftoftheMoonandonly3degreesabovethesoutheasternhorizon.
Mercuryisatinferiorconjunctiononthe28th.
Onthe28that7:30amSaturnwillbe7degreestotherightoftheverythincrescentMoonand1degree
higher.
Duringtheeveningofthe31stNeptunewillbelessthan½degreetotheupperleftofMars.At8:00pm
whenVenusisjust3degreesabovethehorizon,Mars/Neptunewillbe13degreestotheupperleftof
Venus.
TherearefurtherlaunchesplannedthismonthfromCapeCanaveral,FrenchGuianaandChina.
News: NASA plustwootherfederalentities,arereaffirmingtheircommitmenttosearchforAntarctic
meteorites, to help learn more about the primitive building blocks of the solar system and answer
questionsaboutEarth'sneighbourstheMoonandMars.SincetheUnitedStatesbegansearchingfor
meteoritesinAntarcticain1976,theAntarcticaSearchforMeteoritesprogram(ANSMET)hascollected
more than 23,000 specimens including the well-known ALH 84001 Martian meteorite, which helped
renewinterestinMarsexplorationinthe1990's.
Facts: It was at Koenigsberg Observatory in Germany where Friedrich Wilhelm Bessel in 1838
determined successfully the parallax of a star using a heliometer of Fraunhofer. The observatory was
destroyedbyRoyalAirForcebombsinAugustin1944.
A useful site: www.heavens-above.co.uk
*=Launchtimesanddatesaresubjecttochange.