{"id":3010,"date":"2023-12-06T22:18:23","date_gmt":"2023-12-06T22:18:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.griffithmedia.org\/skyreport\/?p=3010"},"modified":"2023-12-06T22:18:23","modified_gmt":"2023-12-06T22:18:23","slug":"griffith-observatory-sky-report-through-december-2023","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.griffithmedia.org\/skyreport\/2023\/12\/06\/griffith-observatory-sky-report-through-december-2023\/","title":{"rendered":"Griffith Observatory Sky Report through December, 2023"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Click<\/strong><\/a>LISTEN to this week\u2019s Sky Report<\/p>\nhttps:\/\/www.griffithmedia.org\/skyreport\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/DEC_2023_Sky_Report.mp3<\/a><\/audio>\n

This is the Griffith Observatory Sky Report for the period between December 1 and December 31, 2023. Here are the events happening in the sky of southern California.<\/p>\n

Mercury<\/strong>, on the 1st<\/sup>, sets in the southwest at 6:00 p.m., PST, and the sun sets at 4:44 p.m., PST, one hour 16 minutes later. On the 22nd<\/sup>, the planet is too close to the sun and is unobservable. On the 31st<\/sup>, Mercury rises in the southeast at 5:37 a.m., PST, and the sun rises 6:59 a.m., PST, one hour 22 minutes later. Do not observe any planet when it comes close to the sun, for the danger to the eyes is great.<\/p>\n

Venus<\/strong> rises in the southeast at 3:13 a.m., PST, on the 1st<\/sup>, and the sun rises at 6:41 a.m., PST. The planet is 68-percent illuminated and 17 arcseconds wide. On the 31st<\/sup>, Venus rises at 4:06 a.m., PST, and is 78-percent illuminated and 14 arcseconds wide.\u00a0 Venus remains in the morning sky until February.<\/p>\n

Mars<\/strong> moves behind the sun and so is unobservable. Later, when the planet is visible again, the disk of Mars will remain small until a few months before January, 2025, the time of the planet\u2019s next opposition.<\/p>\n

Jupiter<\/strong> is in Aries the Ram. On the 1st<\/sup>, Jupiter sets in the west at 4:11 a.m., PST, and is 48 arcseconds wide. On the 31st<\/sup>, Jupiter sets at 2:07 a.m., PST, and the planet is 44 arcseconds wide. A magnification of 50x will show the Red Spot, and the four bright Galilean moons may be seen moving back and forth, roughly in a line centered on Jupiter.<\/p>\n

Saturn<\/strong> is in Aquarius the Water Bearer. On the 1st<\/sup>, the planet sets in the west-southwest at 10:53 p.m., PST, and is 17 arcseconds wide. On the 31st<\/sup>, Saturn sets at 9:05 p.m., PST. A magnification of 50x is needed to see the rings and Saturn\u2019s largest moon Titan.<\/p>\n

Uranus<\/strong> is in Aries the Ram. On the 1st<\/sup>, Uranus sets in the west-northwest at 5:17 a.m., PST, and at 3:15 a.m., PST, on the 31st<\/sup>.\u00a0 On the 15th<\/sup>, Uranus is at Right Ascension 3h<\/sup> 9m<\/sup> 59s<\/sup> and declination +17\u00b0 24\u02b9 3\u02ba. The planet continues its retrograde motion as it moves east to west among the stars. A magnification of 200x is needed to see its 3.8-arcsecond-wide disk.<\/p>\n

Neptune<\/strong> is in Pisces the Fishes. On the 1st<\/sup>, the planet sets in the west-southwest at 12:51 a.m., PST. On the 31st<\/sup>, Neptune sets at 10:50 p.m., PST. On the 15th<\/sup>, Neptune is at Right Ascension 23h<\/sup> 43m<\/sup> 17s<\/sup> and declination -3\u00b0 10\u02b9 3\u02ba.\u00a0 Neptune ends its retrograde motion on the 6th<\/sup>. A magnification of 200x is needed to see its 2.4-arcsecond-wide disk.<\/p>\n

Last quarter occurs on the 4th<\/sup>, new moon on the 12th<\/sup>, first quarter on the 19th<\/sup>, and full moon on the 26th<\/sup>.<\/p>\n

SPECIAL EVENTS<\/strong><\/p>\n

The winter solstice<\/strong> occurs on December 21 at 7:27 p.m., PST. The sun reaches its southernmost point on the ecliptic, reverses its movement south, and heads north.\u00a0 This marks the longest night and the shortest day of the year. The sun rises at 6:55 a.m., PST, and sets at 4:48 p.m., PST.\u00a0 The day is 9 hours 53 minutes long.<\/p>\n

The Geminid meteor shower<\/strong> is usually the strongest meteor shower of the year. The shower is active from November 19 through December 24, and peaks from the evening of the 13th <\/sup>through the morning of the 14th<\/sup>. The Geminids are often bright and intensely colored. On the night of the 13th<\/sup>, the moon will be a one-percent waxing crescent. The Geminids can reach rates of 150 meteors per hour when Gemini is highest.<\/p>\n

The Ursid meteor shower<\/strong> appears from the 13th<\/sup> through the 24th<\/sup>, with the peak occurring from the night of the 21st<\/sup> to the morning of the 22nd<\/sup>. Observers will normally see 5-10 Ursids per hour during the late morning hours on the date of maximum activity. There have been occasional outbursts when rates have exceeded 25 per hour. The parent object is the comet 8P\/Tuttle. The moon will be a 74-percent waxing gibbous.<\/p>\n

Follow All Space Considered and Griffith Observatory on Facebook<\/a>, Instagram<\/a>, YouTube<\/a>, and Twitter<\/a> for updates on astronomy and space-related events.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

LISTEN to this week\u2019s Sky Report https:\/\/www.griffithmedia.org\/skyreport\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/DEC_2023_Sky_Report.mp3 This is the Griffith Observatory Sky Report for the period between December 1 and December 31, 2023. Here are the events happening in the sky of southern California. Mercury, on the 1st, sets … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3010","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-skyreport"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.griffithmedia.org\/skyreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3010","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.griffithmedia.org\/skyreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.griffithmedia.org\/skyreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.griffithmedia.org\/skyreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.griffithmedia.org\/skyreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3010"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.griffithmedia.org\/skyreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3010\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3012,"href":"https:\/\/www.griffithmedia.org\/skyreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3010\/revisions\/3012"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.griffithmedia.org\/skyreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3010"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.griffithmedia.org\/skyreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3010"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.griffithmedia.org\/skyreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3010"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}