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Light up the night sky lets go out and take a look at what you can see for December of 2022 Im Michael Martin, and this is late night. Astronomy, Music, welcome to the night sky, your monthly Guide to the best objects and events that you can get out to see in amateur astronomy, whether youre brand new to this hobby or have years or Decades of experience. Therell be something in this video for you to go out to see end image from your own backyard, and I also wanted to let you all know that the late night astronomy, merchandise store has relaunched with newly designed products like hoodies and t shirts and coffee mugs. To enjoy warm beverages of your choice, this holiday season feel free to check that out below this video. Now lets begin the month of December, by taking a look at the best meteor showers that you can go out to enjoy one of the best meteor showers of the Year Peaks this December, in the form of the Geminids to see them go outside around 10 pm. On the night of December 13th and face towards the east, Rising into the sky will be the constellation Gemini, where these meteors will appear to emanate from as the leftover particles from an asteroid interact with our upper atmosphere on most years, you can hope to see upwards Of 120 meteors per hour under Dark Skies, but this year a waning gibeous moon will cut down on those numbers quite a bit.
Remember that the best way to observe any meteor showers to get away from as much light pollution as you can to get comfortable and face towards the part of the sky that theyre going to emanate from and to give yourself at least one to two hours. To see these streaks of light also be sure to dress warm this time of year, for many of us take out some hot chocolate and enjoy the show as it streaks through the night sky this December. Our second show of the month is less impressive, but also doesnt have the moon to battle with in the night sky and its called the ursids meteor shower go out around 11 pm on the night of December 21st and look towards Ursa Minor, the Little Dipper as The night turns to morning expect a rate of 5 to 10 meteors per hour from the shower. The moon has some great things in store for us this December and lets begin by talking about the phases of it. You dont need any equipment at all to go out and enjoy the faces of the Moon, and you can still make out some really large and impressive land features on it. We start off this month with a full moon thats hitting on December 7th on the night of December 16th, the third quarter moon hits followed by a new moon on December 23rd and a first quarter moon on the 29th. The main event for the moon, this December is going to see it literally move in front of the planet Mars.
For many of us on the night of December 7th and early morning of December, 8th, this type of event is called an occultation and will only be viewable from certain places around the world. Sadly, where I live on the east coast, I wont be able to see the moon move in front of Mars Ill, be sure to leave a link in the description below to a website. You can use called inthesky.org where you can type in your location to get the exact times to go and see this incredible event from wherever you live around the world. If youre able to take any images or videos of this event, especially if its the moon moving in front of it, please share any of those with me over on Instagram at late night astronomy Id love to see the pictures that youre taking of the night sky Lets move a little bit deeper into space by talking about the planets of our solar system. This month were going to start with the two closest ones to the Sun, Mercury and Venus, which start off low to the Horizon, but become easier to see in the southwest right after Sunset as the month goes on. Look for Mercury to be at its highest point and easiest to see around December 21st and Venus continues to move higher throughout the month, making a very close pass to Mercury on December 29th. The main event for the planets this month is again the planet Mars.
After its incredible approach to the moon on December, 7th, the Earth and Mars come into opposition with each other on December. 8Th is during this time that the Earth moves in between the Sun and Mars, putting us at the closest point to that planet and making it visible in the night sky. All night long go out and look for this bright, copper, red object, rising in the East right after Sunset, and once it gets higher in the sky lets say around 9 pm use a telescope to look for its land features in polar ice caps. I found my best views of Mars to be between 100 times and 200 times magnification on most nights through my 8 inch dobsonian telescope, if youre into astrophotography now is the best time to get your images of Mars. The Earth only moves in between the Sun and Mars for this close approach about every two years, so take advantage of any clear nights that you have from now until the start of the new year to see and image the incredible details of our friendly red neighbor. While youre out looking at Mars, dont miss Jupiter and Saturn early in the evening with the best views of Saturn being right after Sunset and Jupiter remain in a fine Target for most of the early night. Jupiter, in particular, Still Remains an impressive sight with the Galilean moons and surface details changing on an hourly basis. I cant get enough of this planet and plan to keep viewing and imaging it throughout December, as we leave our solar system behind.
We move on to the Deep Sky objects for the month of December now. These are a higher difficulty level in most cases and are going to involve a telescope. Although Ive got a few on the list this month, that you can just go out and see with binoculars or the naked eye, get away from light pollution and give yourself time to starhop to hunt down these objects to get the most out of them in the Night sky lets begin by going out around 8 pm and facing towards the east, keep looking up until you come across the Pleiades, which I used to get confused quite a bit with the Little Dipper. When I was first getting into astronomy. The Seven Sisters are a great naked eye and binocular Target that will reveal more stars, as you move your way up to views through a telescope at low and medium magnifications and long exposure photography, the blue nebula appears with the Seven Sisters, I hope to one day Image, the Pleiades from a dark sky location to reveal even more of the faint detail, making up this object, but for now Ill just have to settle with the images I get from My bortle Five Skies lets now move down to the constellation Taurus, where you will Find the open star cluster hyadis, wider fields of view and low powered eyepieces will provide the best observing experience of this large object in the night sky. I was just able to fit the Heidis into the field of view of my 135 millimeter lens, while taking this image of it, even without Imaging equipment.
The beauty and complexity of this region of space is enjoyable to see with just the naked eye and a pair of binoculars next lets make our way to the constellation arga. Here you will find among several objects the starfish and pinwheel clusters. Ive got a video covering more incredible deep Sky objects that you can go out to see. This fall and Ill be sure to leave a link to that video in the description below those are just some of the best objects that you can get out to see and image in the night sky. This December Im sure there are some things Ive left off. The list, so if you have any suggestions for others or questions about anything involving amateur astronomy, please be sure to let us know about those things in the comments section below. Thank you all so much for your continued support and Id like to wish each and every one of you a merry Christmas and a happy holiday season and clear skies from late night astronomy.
