The Sky This Week, 2012 December 26 - 2013 January 2 The last Full Moon of 2012 falls on the 28th at 5:21 am Eastern Standard Time. December’s Full Moon is variously known as the ColdMoon, Ice Moon, or Long Night Moon. The latter is particularly appropriate as we are just beginningto enter the time when the nights gradually begin to shorten after thewinter solstice. Fortunately, Luna serves as our night-long companion to shed her pale light on the winter landscape as she reaches her highest declination for the year. On the evening of the 26th look for theMoon between the stars that mark the "horns" of Taurus, the Bull. By New Year’s Eve she has drifted to the east, rising just before Regulus, lead star of Leo, the Lion. If you’ve been paying attention to the times of local sunset over the past week or two you will have noticed that the time of sunset has been gradually getting later. Our earliest sunsets occurred back on December 7, and by New Year’s EveOld Sol will dip below the hor

The last Full Moon of 2012 falls on the 28th at 5:21 am Eastern
Standard Time. December's Full Moon is variously known as the
ColdMoon, Ice Moon, or Long Night Moon. The latter is particularly
appropriate as we are just beginningto enter the time when the nights
gradually begin to shorten after thewinter solstice. Fortunately, Luna
serves as our night-long companion to shed her pale light on the
winter landscape as she reaches her highest declination for the year.
On the evening of the 26th look for theMoon between the stars that
mark the "horns" of Taurus, the Bull. By New Year's Eve she has
drifted to the east, rising just before Regulus, lead star of Leo, the
Lion.
If you've been paying attention to the times of local sunset over the
past week or two you will have noticed that the time of sunset has
been gradually getting later. Our earliest sunsets occurred back on
December 7, and by New Year's EveOld Sol will dip below the horizon
some 10 minutes later than he did back then. However, the total length
of day is still just one minutelonger than it was at the solstice as
the week begins, so what's going on? The answer lies in noting the
time of the latest sunrise, which is still getting later each morning
and will continue to do so until January 4th. Once we've passed this
marker the darkest days of the year will truly be behind us.
The bright Moon will do her best to wash out all but the brightest
starsin the sky, but fortunately these long winter nights are also lit
by nine of the 25 brightest stars in the sky. In some ways this is a
goodthing for those of you who may havereceived a planisphere or a
beginner's astronomy book for Christmas. It's much easier to
learnbasic constellation patterns when only the brightest of their
stars arevisible. Quite often, under moonlessskies away from city
lights, constellation patterns can get lost among the plethora of
fainter stars within their bounds, but the natural filter of moonlight
helps to avoid the confusion. Everyone should be able to spot the
striding figure of Orion rising shortly after sunset, and by the late
night hours he and his attendant winter star patterns are well-placed
for viewing. Orion's three "belt stars" serve as a naturalguidepost to
other constellations inthe region. Following the line of these stars
down ad to the left will bring you to a bright blue sparkling star,
Sirius. This star is very hard to miss as it is the brightest in the
sky, and atmospheric turbulence often makes it twinkle furiously. In
ancient Egypt the first sighting of Sirius just before sunrise
signaled the onset of the annual flood of theNile, and with it the
Egyptian New Year. Today Sirius crosses the meridian at local midnight
on New Year's Eve, ushering our annual calendar change. With a little
imagination you can make out a"stick-figure" dog among the stars
surrounding Sirius, leaping up towards Orion, and this is indeed Canis
Major, one of Orion's two hunting canines. Now return to the"belt
stars" and follow their line in the opposite direction. You'll run
into a prominent rose-tinted star, Aldebaran, which marks the ruddy
eye of Taurus, the Bull. You should just be able to make out a
sideways"V"-shaped group of stars to the right of Aldebaran which
outlines the rest of the Bull's face. These stars form a true cluster
known as the Hyades which is the closest galactic cluster to the Sun.
Bright Jupiter is currently perched just north of the Hyades, and if
you looka bit farther north you'll encounter the Hyades' half-sisters
in mythology, the Pleiades. Resembling a tiny version of the
BigDipper, the Pleiades are another nearby star cluster, although they
are some three times the distance of their siblings.
Jupiter continues to be the dominant star-like feature in the winter
night sky. The giant planet becomes visible in the eastern sky very
shortly after sunset and beamsdown from nearly overhead by 10:00 pm.
If you were lucky enoughto find a new telescope under the tree this
year set it up on the next clear night and enjoy the view of this
massive distant world. Virtuallyany telescope will reveal the four
bright moons discovered by Galileo in the winter of 1609 – 1610, and
watching them move from night to night through ever-changing
configurations can be a source of endless delight. If your telescope
isfour or more inches in aperture you can also follow the constant
changes in Old Jove's turbulent cloud belts. If your conditions and
timing are right you may even catch a glimpse of the famous Great Red
Spot, a storm in Jupiter's atmosphere that has persisted for at least
300 years. Of course larger telescopes will reveal more features, but
if you train yourself to have a patient eye you'll be surprised at how
much detail a goodsmall-aperture instrument can offer!
Golden Saturn may be found in the wee hours before dawn in the
southeastern sky. The ringed planetoccupies a rather barren stretch of
sky to the southeast of the bright star Spica. He's high enough for a
quick telescopic peak as the first rays of dawn begin to brighten the
eastern horizon.
As the year draws to a close brilliant Venus edges closer to the
horizon in the pre-dawn hours. I've been watching her sink lower into
the barren trees from an upstairs window in my house for the past
several weeks, and she is now only visible as morning twilight
brightensthe eastern horizon. Her time in oursky is now limited, and
she'll disappear into the solar glare shortly after the new year
begins.

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