Throughout December we can begin stargazing from earlier within the evenings, climate allowing in fact. Which means that on clear nights we get a view of extra stars and objects within the evening sky; however it’s higher to be ready for the colder climate (and greater than possible rain if you’re in Armagh). To assist with stargazing we wish to go away the town lights behind and discover a spot with much less mild air pollution. Then it’s useful to maintain telephones away to let your eyes adapt to the darkish, so you may see extra of these stars that seem faint to the bare eye.
The solar will likely be setting a lot earlier throughout this month than within the earlier ones, so hopefully that offers us extra time to get some stargazing in earlier than mattress. Let’s flip our gaze to the sky now and search for some celestial patterns.
Constellations
Right now of the yr, now we have the reward of darker skies sooner within the night for trying to the celebs. Whereas it’s good to have sunshine in the course of the summer season, it’s a confounding variable for seeing any stars within the night sky. So, what’s going to we see for December? There will likely be a mixture of well-known and lesser-known constellations up there. Plus, some that linger from the final couple of months.
Aquarius Constellation Picture Credit score: Stellarium/Mark Grimley
Beginning with Aquarius in our Southern sky early within the month, this well-known zodiac constellation would be the backdrop for one of many giants of the photo voltaic system. Saturn will likely be seen right here round 7pm, hopefully lengthy sufficient after the solar has set.
One other constellation that I’m fairly keen on is Canis Main, the Large Canine. Once we see the stick determine it does, virtually, appear like a silhouette of a canine, however like different constellations creativeness is required. Our Large Canine by no means rises removed from the horizon as we see it in Armagh, so regulate the low Southern sky for this one. This explicit constellation can be residence to Sirius, the star that seems the brightest within the evening sky with an obvious visible magnitude (the measure of how vibrant a cosmic object is from Earth) of –1.45. The decrease the quantity the brighter the article – it’s a reverse logarithmic scale.
The Geminids Meteor Bathe. Picture Credit score: Stellarium/Mark Grimley
Canis Main Constellation. Picture Credit score: Stellarium/Mark Grimley
In the event you look in direction of Gemini across the 14th of December, you may see some meteors in the course of the peak of the Geminids. Nevertheless, the sunshine from the moon might act like a floodlight and cut back the precise quantity to beneath the potential 140 per hour.
Deep Sky Objects (DSO)
The Iris Nebula (NGC 7023), at 1300 lightyears distant, is seen within the Northern sky within the constellation of Cepheus the King, which is a circumpolar constellation from right here in Armagh. This implies it needs to be seen all year long if the evening is darkish sufficient. Like most DSOs this one could be very faint to the bare eye, however telescopes assist and having a digital camera hooked up can help you in seeing extra color by capturing extra mild on lengthy exposures.
Sticking with Cepheus, we will discover the Wizard Nebula (NGC7380), a reputation after my very own coronary heart. This one is a pink nebula about 5,500 lightyears from Earth with a low magnitude (~7), so once more some assist will likely be wanted. Nebulae may be very vibrant, however exhausting to see.
Deep sky objects additionally embody star clusters, a few of that are very simply noticed with a pair of binoculars or a small telescope.
The Wizard Nebula. Picture Credit score: Stellarium/Mark Grimley
The Iris nebula. Picture Credit score: Stellarium/Mark Grimley
The Moon
The Full Moon for December will likely be on the 15th of the month, near the Pleiades with Taurus as a background. Throughout December, the complete moon is called the Chilly moon, signifying the darkest and coldest time of the Northern Hemisphere yr. The complete moon does provide some mild, mirrored from the solar, on these darkish nights . Then on December 30th we may have the New Moon part, which is able to imply that when now we have fireworks over the approaching days they are going to be on the background of a darker sky, so on this evening stargazing could grow to be fairly a problem until you might be properly into the countryside.
On the 18th you may additionally spot the Moon come near Mars just some days after the complete moon part, however it will likely be near 3am to see this finest.
The Full Moon of December 2024. Picture Credit score: Stellarium/Mark Grimley
The Winter Solstice
December is stuffed with celestial our bodies to search for from planets, stars, nebulae and meteor showers, however there’s an occasion that occurs yearly that’s value mentioning. The solstice on the 22nd of December. This would be the day that we see the solar take its lowest path throughout the sky, resulting in the day with the least quantity of daylight. So, much less daylight and longer nights, normally resulting in extra time to watch the skies. There are neolithic websites devoted in some half to this yearly prevalence, comparable to Newgrange in County Meath, Eire. Every year the passage is lit by the rising solar across the days of the solstice. This requires cautious planning and devoted building of such websites with a superb understanding of precisely which day the solstice will happen and the place the solar will rise on that day.
