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This is the Griffith Observatory Sky Report through December 14th, 2016. Here’s what’s happening in the skies of southern California.
Venus, the brightest planet, blazes in the southwestern sky at sunset. By 5:15 p.m., the sky will be dark enough to pick out the innermost planet, Mercury, near the horizon and to the lower right of Venus. At the same time, red-hued planet Mars is in the south-southwest sky, and is about 20 degrees to the upper left of Venus. On the 8th, Venus is positioned nearly midway between Mercury and Mars.
Mars is too far away now to show anything of interest through most telescopes, but the gibbous phase displayed by Venus should be obvious. Mercury appears only a little larger than Mars, but nightly observation of the rapidly moving Mercury will allow you to monitor its appearance as it changes from gibbous phase to half-illuminated between the 7th and 14th.
The Moon waxes from first quarter to full between the 7th and 14th, and is waning gibbous on the 15th.
The Full Moon, unfortunately, coincides nearly with the maximum of the annual Geminid Meteor shower on the night of the 13th and early morning of the 14th. Under favorable conditions, the Geminids can provide 120 meteors or more per hour, but artificial light pollution and bright moonlight conspire to vastly reduce their numbers. Many Geminids are bright, however, so even 30 minutes devoted to viewing the sky from a suburban back yard after 11:00 p.m. might provide nice views of several bright meteors. The Geminid shower is so named because its meteors seem to stream from a point, called the shower radiant, close to the bright stars Castor and Pollux of the constellation Gemini the Twins. Gemini and the radiant start the evening at the east-northeast horizon, then move directly overhead at 2:00 a.m., and gradually descend in western sky before dawn.
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 through Griffith Observatory’s telescopes from Tuesday through Sunday, before 9:30 p.m. Check our website for the schedule. The next free public star party on the grounds of Griffith Observatory, hosted by the Los Angeles Astronomical Society, the Sidewalk Astronomers, and the Planetary Society, will take place on Saturday, December 10th, from 2:00 p.m. until 9:30 p.m.
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From Griffith Observatory, I’m Anthony Cook, and I can be reached at griffithobserver@gmail.com.