Monthly Night Sky information provided by Chris Vaughan (@Astrogeoguy) at Starry Night Education (@StarryNightEdu).
The northeastern sky on December evenings hosts the bright constellations of Perseus and W-shaped Cassiopeia, with the very bright yellowish star Capella gleaming below them. The sky between Perseus and Cassiopeia hosts the Double Cluster, a pair of bright open star clusters that together cover a finger’s width of the sky. They make a spectacular […]
As the sky is darkening after sunset on Wednesday, December 4, look low in the western sky to see the pretty, waxing crescent moon shining several finger widths below (or several degrees to the celestial south of) the brilliant planet Venus. The pair will share the view in binoculars and will make a pretty photo […]
On Thursday evening, December 5, the curved terminator on the moon will fall just to the left (or lunar west) of ancient Mare Nectaris, the dark and roughly circular patch located just south of the moon’s equator. A prominent crater named Piccolomini is located in the lunar highlands a small distance to the lower left […]
Hamilton RASC will be hosting an open-to-all in-person meeting at the Waterdown Legion. The highlight of the evening is typically a guest speaker, sometimes a professor or grad student and other times a Centre member. Topics range from serious science to fun and quirky topics, along with DIY demos. Most meetings also include other presentations […]
On Saturday, December 7, Mars’ easterly orbital motion through the stars of Cancer will slow to a stop in order for it to begin a westerly retrograde loop that will last through its mid-January opposition and into late February. Tonight the bright, reddish dot of Mars will be positioned in the eastern evening sky in […]