LISTEN to this week’s Sky Report
This is the Griffith Observatory Sky Report for the week ending Wednesday, December 12, 2012. Here is what’s happening in the skies of Southern California:
The planet Jupiter, in Taurus the Bull, is the brightest planet in the evening sky, visible low in the east-northeast at twilight. The planet is only 13 degrees south of the zenith, or nearly overhead, at 11:30 p.m., and gradually moves westward, setting in the west-northwest just before sunrise. Binoculars are enough to reveal Jupiter’s four largest moons, and a telescope will show the dark cloud belts, the red spot, and many other cloud features across the stormy face of the planet.
The waning crescent moon makes its appearance about 54 minutes later each successive morning as the week goes on, with moonrise changing from 12:35 a.m. on Thursday the 6th to 6:01 a.m. on Wednesday the 12th. The moon will pass close to the ringed planet Saturn on Monday the 10th and the brightest planet, Venus, on Tuesday the 11th. Binoculars will also let you spot the innermost planet, Mercury, about half a field of view (4 degrees) to the moon’s lower right on Tuesday morning.
The fading of the moon will make it easier to observe the increasing number of meteors as the Geminid meteor shower approaches its maximum on the night of the 12th and early morning hours of the 13th. The best time to watch each night is between midnight and 4 a.m., while Gemini the Twins, the radiant point of the shower, is directly overhead. From the suburbs of Los Angeles, the numbers of meteors visible will gradually increase from 1 per hour on the night and early morning hours of the 5th-6th, to about 30 per hour on the night and early morning hours of the 12th and 13th, while the numbers visible from a wilderness location far from light pollution (in the desert or high in the mountains) could increase from 4 to 80 per hour on the same dates. The only equipment you need to watch is a coat, blanket, and sleeping bag with which to keep warm, and a reclining chair or deck lounge to rest on, holding your gaze high in the sky.
The International Space Station should outshine Jupiter as it moves across the Los Angeles sky on Monday evening, the 10th. The ISS will move from the southwest horizon to the earth’s shadow, 40 degrees above the east-northeast horizon between 5:58 and 6:02 p.m., P.S.T., and will be highest, 67 degrees above the southeast horizon, at 6:01 p.m. Satellite viewing data for any location can be generated by registering on the Heavens-Above satellite tracking website.
Free views of the sun during the day and of the moon, planets, and other celestial objects at night, are available to the public in clear weather five days a week–Wednesday through Sunday– through Griffith Observatory’s telescopes before 9:30 p.m. The next Griffith Observatory public star party, hosted by Los Angeles Astronomical Society, the Sidewalk Astronomers, and the Planetary Society, is scheduled for Saturday, December 22.
From Griffith Observatory, I’m Anthony Cook and I can be reached at griffithobserver@gmail.com.