December 2000

By Steve Stefanik

The December sun is digressing southward with each passing day on its annual journey toward the winter solstice, which will occur the 21^st at 8:37 a.m. EST. On that evening it will appear to "stand still" or at least stop its southerly migration.

Meanwhile, the brilliant –4.2 magnitude planet Venus appears to be headed upward and northward from the southwestern horizon as it rushes toward greatest elongation (greatest angular separation from the sun) in January. As a result, Venus remains visible for almost four hours after the sun sets.

As Venus makes its way eastward along the ecliptic and into the constellation Capricorn it catches up with two other planets, Uranus and Neptune. Although Uranus and Neptune require binoculars or a telescope to view them, Venus gets to within two degrees of Neptune on the 11^th and within one degree of Uranus on the 23^rd.

While Venus vies for its rightly place as most brilliant planet in the sky, its rival Jupiter is gaining center attention high in the eastern sky. Although not as bright as Venus at magnitude –2.8, its apparent size is almost three times that of Venus confirming its place as ruler of the heavens, for whom it was named. It is still hovering amid the stars of the constellation Taurus the bull with its sidekick Saturn which is still at a respectable 0 magnitude. The pair reached opposition last month, which means they are at their biggest and brightest and are visible almost all night long.

The only other planet to make its way into the December nightsky is Mars which rises a few hours after midnight. The best time to view it however is just before dawn where it is reasonably high in the southeastern sky. Look for the +1.5 magnitude red planet near the blue-white 1^st magnitude star Spica in the constellation Virgo.

The event of the month, however, will be a Christmas present for us because it will occur on Christmas day. Weather permitting, we will be treated to a partial solar eclipse (more than 50% of the sun will be covered) when the new moon passes in front of the sun beginning at 11:15 a.m. EST. Maximum coverage will occur at about 12:50 and it will all be over by 2:20 p.m.

As always, never look directly at the sun during a solar eclipse, partial or otherwise. Serious irreparable damage can occur to your eyes. Use a pinhole in a piece of cardboard or aluminum foil to project an image of the sun onto a piece of white paper or look through #13 or 14 welder’s glass or specially designed solar filters. Never look at the sun through binoculars or a telescope!