The Griffith Observatory Sky Report
Anthony Cook
Astronomical Observer
http://www.griffithobs.org/skyreport.html
This is the Griffith Observatory Sky Report for the week ending Wednesday, December 26. Here is what’s happening in the skies of Southern California:
Mars, in Gemini the Twins, is now in prime position to observe from the early evening, when it is low in the east northeast, until dawn, when it has moved to the west-northwest. The planet is directly opposite the sun (at opposition) on Christmas eve, and is highest, only seven degrees from the zenith (the overhead point) at midnight. The brilliant rust-orange planet now slightly outshines the brightest star, Sirius, in Canis Major the Big Dog.
The winter solstice–the start of winter in the northern hemisphere–occurs at 10:08 p.m., P.S.T. on Friday night, December 21. The winter solstice is also the shortest day, only nine hours and 53 minutes long in Los Angeles.
Saturn in Leo the Lion, rises in the east at about 10 p.m. It is best seen when it transits 66 degrees high in the south at 4:30 a.m. It’s rings, visible in a telescope capable of at least 50 power, are now inclined seven degrees from edge-on.
The brightest planet, Venus, rises at about 3:45 a.m. and appears about 25 degrees high in the southeast during the dawn.
The moon starts this week in a waxing gibbous phase and reaches full on Sunday evening, then shows a waning gibbous phase for the remainder of the week. Note that full moon happens when the moon is in opposition, as is Mars, and the two will rise together in the east-northeast (just as the sun sets in the west-southwest) on Sunday evening. The pair will be separated by less than the moon’s diameter (half a degree) until about 6:30 p.m.
The moon will pass in front of M44 (the “Beehive Cluster”) in Cancer the Crab, starting at about 4:30 a.m. on the morning of Wednesday, December 26. Dawn will put and end to our view of this occultation–which requires a telescope to observe–at shortly after 6 a.m.
The International Space Station will make an appearance over Los Angeles on Thursday night, December 20. The Space Station, which appears as a brilliant moving star, moves above the northwest horizon at 6:22 p.m., and reaches an apparent altitude of 41 degrees above the northwest horizon at 6:24 p.m. just as it vanishes into the Earth’s shadow. On the next night, Friday the 21st, the ISS will make two evening appearances, first passing 20 degrees above the northeast horizon at 5:10 p.m., then 22 degrees above the southwest horizon one orbit later, at 6:45 p.m. The expected Space Shuttle launch, mentioned last week, has been indefinitely delayed while engineers strive to solve a critical sensor problem.
Free public sky viewing, day and night, is available through Griffith Observatory’s telescopes six nights a week, Tuesday through Sunday. The next public star party, held by members of the Los Angeles Astronomical Society and the Los Angeles Sidewalk Astronomers, will be held on the Observatory’s front lawn on Saturday, December 22. For Observatory information, please visit our website, www.griffithobservatory.org, or call (213) 473-0800.
The Sky Report is updated every Wednesday, and can be heard as a recorded phone message by calling (213) 473-0880. From Griffith Observatory, I’m Tony Cook, and I can be reached at tcook@earthlink.net
tHANKS MUCH.
i wear glasses too.
Appreciate all your work.