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This is the Griffith Observatory Sky Report for the week ending Wednesday, December 21. Here is what’s happening in the skies of Southern California:
A sungrazing comet discovered on December 2 by Australian amateur astronomer Terry Lovejoy, is now too close to the sun to see from earth as it approaches its perihelion on Thursday, December 15. You can, nevertheless, see what is happening to the comet through the eyes of NASA’s Solar Heliospheric Observatory, a satellite known as SOHO. Between Wednesday the 14th and Friday the 16th, pictures though the satellite’s coronagraphs, visible on the SOHO website (http://sohowww.nascom.nasa.gov/), will show us all what happens to the comet as it skims the sun.
The planet Venus is impressive in the southwest starting at sunset. The brightest planet slips below the horizon at about 7:00 p.m. this week.
Jupiter, in Pisces the Fishes, is also impressively bright. It is high in the east-southeast when darkness falls and transits in the south at about 8 p.m. The giant planet sets in the west at 2:30 a.m. Jupiter is well placed for nightly public viewing at Griffith Observatory.
The waning moon makes its exit from the night sky this week. Between the 14th and the 21st, the moon’s rising time advances from 9:01 p.m. to 3:36 a.m. The moon’s phase changes from gibbous to last quarter on Saturday, the 17th, and is crescent after that.
Rust-colored planet Mars shines from the middle of Leo the Lion, rises in the east at 11:00 p.m., and is high in the south during dawn. This week, earth and Mars approach each other at their maximum rate, 9.9 miles per second. The planet is now 8 arcseconds across, large enough for the north polar cap and the major dark markings to be seen through high quality amateur telescopes. The moon appears close to Mars on Saturday morning.
The start of dawn is also the best time to find the planet Saturn, moderately high in the southeast. Saturn is slightly brighter than Virgo the Maiden’s brightest star, Spica, which now appears only 5½ degrees to the right of the planet. A telescope will show the Saturn’s rings, now open 14 degrees in our direction. The moon appears near Saturn on Tuesday morning the 20th.
The International Space Station is scheduled to make two impressive passes over Los Angeles this week. The first is on Wednesday the 14th, between 6:24 and 6:27 p.m. During that period, the ISS will rise from the southwest horizon and reach an apex 70 degrees high in the south-southwest where it will fade into earth’s shadow. Three nights later, on Saturday the 17th, the ISS will cross the entire sky from southwest to northeast between 5:12 and 5:19 p.m. It will be highest at 5:15 p.m. when it is only 10 degrees to the southeast of the zenith as seen from Griffith Observatory.
Free public viewing of the sun during the day and of the moon, planets and other celestial objects at night, is available in clear weather, six nights a week (Tuesday through Sunday) through Griffith Observatory’s telescopes before 9:45 p.m. Check our website for our holiday schedule. The next public star party of the Los Angeles Astronomical Society and the Sidewalk Astronomers is scheduled for Saturday, January 28.
The Sky Report is updated every Wednesday. It can be read-and now heard-on our website by following the Sky Information links. From Griffith Observatory, I’m Anthony Cook, and I can be reached at griffithobserver@gmail.com.