Welcome to the University of Texas Skywatchers Report for Monday December 9th through Sunday December 15th.
The full moon for the month of December is late on the night of Wednesday the 11th or early in the morning hours of Thursday the 12th, depending on your time zone. We’ll start the week with a waxing gibbous moon and then have a waning gibbous moon for the second half of the week. The full moon of December is known as the Long-Night Moon and the Moon Before Yule.
Jupiter is now very low in the west at sunset and is setting at 6:20 p.m. as it nears conjunction with the sun at the end of the year.
Venus and Saturn will move past each other in the west-southwest shortly after sunset this week, coming within less than two degrees of one another on Wednesday evening. Both will be setting at about 7:40 p.m. at midweek.
In the morning skies, Mars is rising at 4:35 a.m. this week. Mars will be right next to the star Zubenelgenubi in the constellation Libra on Thursday morning.
Mercury is rising at 6:05 a.m. at midweek, about 70 minutes before the sun.
The Geminids meteor shower peaks on the night of Saturday the 14th, but the placement of the moon is particularly bad this year. The shower is caused by the Earth passing through material shed by the asteroid 3200 Phaethon and is usually one of the most prolific showers each year. However, this year, the moon is just a few days past full and is just below the constellation Gemini so moonlight will wash out many of the fainter meteors.
Public viewing on UT Campus telescopes has finished for the Fall 2019 semester. Spring 2020 semester viewing will start in mid-to-late January.
Thank you for calling the University of Texas Skywatchers Report.
