<\/p>\n
\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0For the first time in many months, ALL of the planets will be visible in December\u2019s night sky.\u00a0 <\/span>Venus<\/b> and <\/span>Mercury<\/b> will begin the month deep in the <\/span>Sun\u2019s<\/b> glare, but all the rest will start the month spread across the night sky.\u00a0 Naked-eye planets (that can be seen without the need of binoculars or a spotting scope) include <\/span>Mars, Jupiter, <\/b>and <\/span>Saturn <\/b>with fainter <\/span>Neptune <\/b>(just to the right of Jupiter) and <\/span>Uranus<\/b> (above and to the right of Mars) requiring some magnification.\u00a0 Because someone (yes, yours truly) lost track of the time last month, readers will be seeing this AstroCal in the December 7 edition of <\/span>The Herald.\u00a0 <\/span><\/i>With the paper now hitting the streets on Thursdays, this will be just in time to hear about the spectacular occultation of Mars and the <\/span>Full Moon<\/b> that will have taken place at 11:08 p.m. EST the day before this news is released.\u00a0 As Maxwell Smart used to say, \u201cMissed it by THAT much!\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Fear not, when an event like this gets \u2018clouded out\u2019 in our area (a frequent occurrence on the shores of Lake Superior), I resort to the numerous clips that will spring up on the internet in the days that follow.\u00a0 More event tips for planet watchers and a Uranus finder chart can be found on the Sky Calendar extra content page at <\/span>abramnsplanetarium.org\/msta\/ .<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0With the Full Moon mentioned above taking place on December 7, the rest of the Lunar Cycle will include the <\/span>Last Quarter Moon <\/b>on Dec 16 with the new cycle beginning with the Dec 23 <\/span>New Moon.\u00a0 <\/b>On Saturday Dec 24, the very slim <\/span>Young Crescent Moon<\/b> will appear low in the SW sky along with Mercury and Venus.\u00a0 Between Dec 26 and Jan 3, the Moon will pass all the other planets as it moves from the <\/span>First Quarter <\/b>on Dec 29 to the first <\/span>Full Moon <\/b>of 2023 on January 6.<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Note the location of the Sun 38 minutes before sunset on Dec 8.\u00a0 Look to the same location 30 minutes later, you will be able to see Venus in that same spot as it will follow the Sun to the horizon.\u00a0 Mercury will be just above Venus and the Crescent Moon will be slightly to the left of the two planets.\u00a0 Mercury and Venus will have a close encounter on Dec 28 but the <\/span>Winged Messanger <\/b>will fade quickly after that.\u00a0 Venus, on the other hand, will hang around until July 2023 and future AstroCals will chronicle its pairings with other planets, stars, and a concluding display of crescent phases before it moves from our view in the evening skies.<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Our viewing challenge for the month happens early on Dec 8 when binoculars will be needed to find Mercury and Venus low in the SW sky 30 minutes after sunset.\u00a0 They will climb higher during the month and be easier to spot.\u00a0 If one can find an unobstructed view, it may be possible to see Venus, Mercury, Jupiter, Mars, and the Moon all at the same time.\u00a0 This simultaneous view would take in a whopping 177 degree span of the sky (remember – a closed fist held at arms length equals about 10 degrees, a \u2018Texas hook\u2019em horns\u2019 with index finger and pinky extended equals about 15 degrees, and the old surfers greeting of thumb and pinky extended marks about 25 degrees when measuring the angular distance between objects in the sky).<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Anything else of note happening in December?\u00a0 We can not forget the <\/span>Winter Solstice<\/b> marking the official beginning of Winter at 4:48 p.m. on Dec 21.\u00a0 At this time, the Sun\u2019s vertical ray (where the Sun would appear directly overhead) reaches the Tropic of Capricorn, 23.5 degrees south of the Equator.\u00a0 This date also marks the shortest period of daylight in the Northern Hemisphere and 24 hours of darkness north of the Arctic Circle (66.5 degrees N).\u00a0 Normally, the Great Lakes region will already have been experiencing a month or more of winter-like conditions, but the deep cold of January and February are yet to come.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0The good news here?\u00a0 It won\u2019t be apparent for about a month, but the length of daylight hours will now begin increasing until the <\/span>Summer Solstice<\/b> in June.\u00a0 Some people find the lack of daylight distressing during these long, dark nights.\u00a0 With no medical training, we can\u2019t speak with any kind of expertise on how to cure the winter blues.\u00a0 Serious cases of Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD) may require professional medical help.\u00a0 Many find taking Vitamin D supplements or daily doses of light from special \u2018sun lamp\u2019 help.\u00a0 In any event, get outside and enjoy the nice winter days – that is a prescription we can recommend to help speed the passing of times as the old year passes into the new.\u00a0 Happy Holidays to all.<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/span>Compiled by Ken Raisanen of WOAS-FM – information provided by <\/span>Abrams Planetarium Sky Calendar<\/span><\/i>, Michigan State University.\u00a0 More information and subscription information can be found on their website at <\/span>http:\/\/abramsplanetarium.org\/<\/span><\/a>skycalendar\/ or on Twitter at <\/span>http:\/\/twitter.com\/AbramsSkyNotes<\/span><\/a>.\u00a0 Yearly subscriptions cost $12 and can be started anytime.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Top Piece Video:\u00a0 Let the Bangles help us welcome the HAZY SHADE OF WINTER<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0For the first time in many months, ALL of the planets will be visible in December\u2019s night sky.\u00a0 Venus and Mercury will begin the month deep in the Sun\u2019s glare, but all the rest will start the month spread across the night sky.\u00a0 Naked-eye planets (that can be seen without the need of binoculars […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11,8,9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2698","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-education","category-from-the-vaults","category-woas"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.woas-fm.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2698","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.woas-fm.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.woas-fm.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.woas-fm.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.woas-fm.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2698"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.woas-fm.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2698\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2701,"href":"https:\/\/www.woas-fm.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2698\/revisions\/2701"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.woas-fm.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2698"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.woas-fm.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2698"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.woas-fm.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2698"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}