Observing Calendar for December – January by Steve Woodbridge

Observing CalendarDecember 9th to January 7th 2010 (all times GMT)

Date
December 9th	Moon rises after midnight
December 10th	Rigel and Capella culminate at midnight
December 13th-14th	Geminid meteor maximum. With the radiant 34° up at 9pm, 61° up at midnight and 67° up at dawn, this meteor shower is both easy to observe this year (there is no moon) and the strongest shower of the year. If it is clear expect up to 85 meteors per hour near dawn. And if it is not clear that night, try the night before or after as there are plenty of meteors from 7th-16th December.
December 16th	New Moon
December 18th	Mercury greatest elongation east. Can you catch this elusive planet at sunset when it is around 8° up close to the crescent moon?
December 20th	Mars stationary. Mars rises around 8.45pm at the start of the period, and at around 6pm at the end of the period. With a size of 12”, features should now be becoming increasingly visible. The North Polar cap is now starting to shrink as the northern hemisphere summer approaches.
December 20th	Jupiter in conjunction with Neptune in Capricornus. Both are now coming to the end of their current apparition, although with Jupiter prominent just as dusk falls there is still one last opportunity to see its belts and moons.
December 20th	Betelgeuse culminates at midnight. Orion is a majestic winter constellation containing many diffuse and reflection nebulae. Most of us will have heard of M42, the great Orion nebula, but why don’t you try and pick up some of the fainter, yet still quite easy nebulae – NGC1977 – the running man nebula, NGC 2024 – the flame nebula, and M78, which has been called the most overlooked Messier object.
December 21st	Venus at superior conjunction and is not practical to observe over this period.
December 21st	Predicted start of the totality of the long period (27 year) eclipsing binary Epsilon Aurigae. Although it is predicted to be at minimum for the whole of 2010, it is still worth observing as last eclipse there was a brightening during the middle of totality.
December 21st	Uranus culminates at dusk. Catch its featureless 4” blue disk if you can.
December 22nd	Ursid Meteor maximum. The radiant is circumpolar in Ursa Minor and is highest at dawn (61° up) when up to 8 meteors an hour may be anticipated.
December 24th	Saturn rises before midnight. Saturn is becoming increasingly easy to observe in Leo. Its rings are continuing to open, being inclined at about 5° this period.
December 24th	Moon sets after midnight
December 31st	Full Moon. There is a very small partial lunar eclipse this month – 8% of the disk is obscured around 7.20pm, so it will look like someone has taken a nibble out of the moon.
January 2nd	Sirius culminates at midnight. Sirius is the brightest star in the star at magnitude -1.4, but can you spot “the Pup” its faint 9th white dwarf magnitude companion which is notorious difficult to see. Although the most famous white dwarf, it is not in fact the first to be discovered. That honour goes to Omicron Eridani B, another ninth magnitude companion, and if you want a much easier spot try that double star at this time of year.
January 4th	Quadrantid meteor shower. Affected by moonlight this year, but you can still expect 10-20 meteors per hour from the radiant in Bootes near dawn.
January 7th	Moon rises after midnight