Star Calendar
December 2016
Star Calendar Planets:
Moon begins the month by visiting some planets in heliocentric order, then occults Aldebaran again before making its long-night excursion just after perigee. Solstice evening and Christmas eve will be absent the Moon – hence very dark. Then the last two Classical (visible to naked eye) planets will be visited, again in order.
Mercury is well south of the ecliptic, but the evening line steepens a bit too as solstice approaches and he may be spied if sought for – especially in the second week of this month. After this he suddenly darts out of the evening scene, scoots past the Sun on the 28th and shoots for a morning appearance with Saturn in early January.
Venus shines her brightest for the year this month – commonly mistaken as an airplane approaching with landing lights ablaze, she seems to leap upwards towards Mars – but she will retreat in January and the two shan’t meet ‘til October.
Sun is getting nearer as perihelion approaches in January and crosses the meridian at its average interval of 24 hours (which it does four times each year) on the 24th. On the 21st He rises and sets most-south-of east and west, makes his lowest passage across the southern meridian and spends the least time above the horizon. Due to the oddities arising from mean-time-keeping, earliest sunset occurs before solstice and latest sunrise occurs in January.
Mars continues to appear higher each evening even though the Sun is closing the gap between the two. This is again because the ecliptic is steepening against the horizon as we approach and pass solstice.
Jupiter continues to dominate the morning scene, standing prominently bright in the South above Spica.
Saturn quietly slips past the Sun on the 10th and should come into view some morning in January – still proximate to Antares. Remember that Saturn is lolling around near the winter solstice and is just always low these several years. Next December the Sun and Saturn will cross the solstice line together.
Star Calendar Days:
1 Sunrise/sunset in Spring Valley at 7:03/16:28 (9h25m daylight)
Young Moon stands above evasive Mercury, SW at 5:PM
3 Moon stands above dazzling Venus, SW in evening
4-5 Moon stands beside Mars, SSW in evening
7 Sun sets earliest for the year, 16:27 in Spring Valley
10 Saturn passes behind Sun
11 Mercury achieves greatest angular distance from Sun (21 degrees)
12-13 Moon perigee tonight
Moon occults Aldebaran around 11:10PM+ until 12:10AMish
13-14 Full Long Nights Moon at 19:06; rise/set 16:41/7:30 (14h49m moonlight)
18 Moon approaches Regulus in SW before dawn
19 Mercury Stationary, to retrograde motion
21 Winter solstice at 5:44, least daylight; 7:18/16:31 (9h13m)
22 Ursid meteors peak late evening hours, face NNE as “Big Dipper” swings up
22-23 Moon, Jupiter and Spica appear SE in morning twilight
24 Equation of time is zero for Time Zone central meridia
25 Moon is apogee (at far point) for Christmas
26 Moon above evasive Antares in SE before dawn
27 Tired old Moon above (invisible) Saturn before dawn
28 Mercury at inferior conjunction, passes the nearside of the Sun
29 New Moon
31 Sunrise/set in Spring Valley at 7:21/16:38 (9h17m)
