©ABRAMS PLANETARIUM Use this scale to measure angular distances between Planetarium business office: objects on diagrams below. Evenings: Jupiter and (517) 355-4676 SKY CALENDAR DECEMBER 2020 Saturn form a striking, close http://twitter.com/AbramsSkyNotes 0° 10° 20° pair in SW sky at dusk, within http://abramsplanetarium.org/ An aid to enjoying the changing sky 2.2° apart on Dec. 1, closing to just over 6 arcminutes (0.1°) SUNDAY MONDAY TUESDAY WEDNESDAY THURSDAY FRIDAY SATURDAY apart on Monday, Dec. 21, Dec 6-8, Mon Dec 7 Saturn Tues Dec 1, Dec 2-4, Fri 4 Saturn Thurs Dec 3, Dec 10-12, Alpha Cap Sat Dec 5, and reopening to nearly 1.2° one hour Castor one hour before sunrise Last Quarter one hour one hour one hour before sunrise Beta Cap one hour apart on Dec. 31. During Dec. Moon after sunset before sunrise Pollux after sunset after sunset 12-29, the two giant planets 7:37 p.m. EST Jupiter Thurs 10 Denebola Saturn appear within 1°, easily fitting Jupiter LEO Sickle Mon Dec 14 GEMINI within a low-power telescope New Moon Sa-Ju 2.2° Spica Jupiter field. Evenings around Dec. 11:17 a.m. EST Territory Thurs 3 Sa-Ju 1.9° VIRGO of Dogs Procyon Sa-Ju 1.7° 21, try higher magnifications Sunday 6 Territory for closer views of Jupiter’s Tues 8 Mon 7 of Dogs Regulus Fri 11 cloud belts, system of four SW CANIS Wed 2 Sunday Dec 13, Total solar eclipse SW Territory Galilean satellites, and Saturn MINOR SAGITTARIUS 40 minutes before sunrise Chile and Argentina. of Dogs with rings 21° from edge-on, Alpha Lib Mon Dec 14, CAPRICORNUS all within one field! ARIES Dec. 12, 16: Beta Lib Alpha Lib Beta Lib Alpha Cap CAPRICORNUS Wed SW The pairing of Jupiter-Saturn two hours after sunset Tues Dec 15, Planets near old, Epsilon Dec 16, Gamma Lib in Capricornus on Dec. 21, Eta Beta Cap 40 minutes Alpha Cap young crescent Alpha Cap Hamal one Sat Dec 12, 2020 is their closest since LIBRA after sunset Beta Cap Moon. On Sat. Sat 12 Beta Cap 19 Mars Saturn hour one hour a conjunction in Cancer in Dec. 12 at dawn, LIBRA Venus Uranus Sa-Ju 0.6° after Saturn after sunset 1623, and until another in Omicron Saturn don’t miss Jupiter sunset 7-percent waning Venus Sat 12 Capricornus in 2080. Jupiter- 29 + SCORPIUS Nu Jupiter crescent Moon SE Jupiter Saturn pairings occur at 31 1 4° upper right of Delta Sco Xi Ari Xi Cet PISCES Sa-Ju 0.5° intervals of about 20 years, Old Venus. just over two-thirds of the SE Xi2 Cet Alpha Psc Moon Sa-Ju 1.0° Moon Mu T of D Young On Wed. Dec. 16 at dusk, catch 2.3-day, 7-percent waxing Moon way eastward (or nearly one- f D crescent Moon 5° below Jupiter and Saturn. Only five days CETUS T o third of the way westward) Gamma SW SW before the planets’ Dec. 21 closest pairing, Ju-Sa will appear T of D Peak of Geminid meteors + SAGITTARIUS around the zodiac on each night of Dec. 13-14. Alpha Mira 32 arcminutes or one Moon-diameter apart! successive occasion. At their SW Delta Cap next two pairings, in Virgo on Sunday Dec 20, Sunday Dec 20, Solstice Dec. 21, 5:02 a.m. EST. Mon Dec 21, Tues Dec 22, Tues Dec 22, Winter begins in N hemisphere Sat Dec 19, Alpha Cap the morning of Oct. 31, 2040, one hour after sunset one hour after sunset one hour after sunset one hour after sunset one hour after sunset one hour Beta Cap and in Taurus within 5° S of (telescopic view) Mon Dec 21, (telescopic view) (telescopic view) after sunset the Pleiades on the evening one hour after sunset CAPRICORNUS Saturn Alpha Cap Saturn Ju-Sa 0.22° of April 7, 2060, they’ll appear CAPRICORNUS CAPRICORNUS Alpha Cap Alpha Cap Europa 1.1° apart. This month, Jupiter Jupiter-Saturn Jupiter Beta Cap Beta Cap Callisto Saturn Beta Cap Callisto at mag. –2.0 is the brightest Callisto Sa-Ju 0.10° separations for Saturn Titan Saturn evening “star”, following Sun min dist Ganymede Jupiter central U.S. Jupiter Titan over WSW horizon by 3.3 Titan SW Ganymede Io Io T of D hours on Dec. 1, by 2.3 hours Sa-Ju 0.13° Jupiter Jupiter Sa-Ju 0.17° Saturn on Dec. 21, and 1.7 hours Jupiter Saturn Jupiter Ganymede Sat Dec 26, Alpha Cap on Dec. 31 (from lat. 40° N). Europa SW of D Io SW T of D SW one hour Saturn at mag. +0.6 is about T Europa Beta Cap T of D after sunset one-tenth as bright. Mars is high in SW sky at Jupiter Dec 26-29, Pleiades Mon Dec 21 Wed Dec 23, Wed Dec 23, Uranus, mag. 5.7, is dusk. Fading from mag. –1.1 W of line from 2.0- Saturn 40 minutes after sunset First Quarter Moon 40 min before sunrise two hours after sunset Ju-Sa 0.6° to –0.2 this month as Earth 6:41 p.m. EST mag. Hamal (Alpha Sat 26 Ari) to 4.3-mag. SW pulls away, the red planet TAURUS Venus Delta Sco ARIES Tues Dec. 22, predawn hours Mu and 2.5-mag. ranks next in brightness after Alpha in Cetus. (See Peak of Ursid meteors Eta Oph Eta Jupiter among early evening’s Hyades Hamal Epsilon Nov. 13, Dec. Dec 29-31, Sunday 27 SCORPIUS 14, 23.) Using Castor Pollux “stars”; claims first place Tues Dec 29 Antares Mars binoculars, start one hour SE at 4.3-mag. Mu when Jupiter sets; and then Full Moon 19 before sunrise Aldebaran Uranus Ceti or 4.3-mag. drops back to second when BetaTauri 10:28 p.m. EST Omicron Xi-2 Ceti, and Thurs 31 Sirius appears in ESE. During Tues Dec 29, 29 + star-hop to Wed Dec 30, Nu Uranus, noting GEMINI Dec. 1-31, Mars goes 10° east 40 minutes Delta Sco 31 Mon 28 one hour after sunset 1 position relative against the faint constellation Xi Cet to 5.7-mag. Zeta Tauri before sunrise Xi Ari CANIS 2 stars 31 and 19 Pisces. Binoculars help you CAPRICORNUS Alpha Cap Xi Cet PISCES MINOR Eta Oph Mu Ari, 6.0-mag. Wed 30 enjoy these passages: Mars Beta Cap 29 Ari, and 1.0° S of 4.3-mag. Epsilon Tues 29 Bellatrix Antares 5.5-mag. Xi NE Jupiter Alpha Gamma Procyon Psc on Dec. 4; within 6° N of Ju-Sa 1.1° Ari. Neptune, Tues 29 ORION SCORPIUS + of mag. 7.9, is gibbous Moon on Dec. 23; Orion’s belt Venus SE Saturn CETUS Mira ¾° to 1° ENE 4.5° S of 3.6-mag. Eta Psc on ENE Betelgeuse E SW of 4.2-mag. Phi W WNW Rigel Aquarii. Dec. 31; 2.5° N of 4.3-mag. GEMINI Omicron Psc on Jan. 1, 2021; John S. French, Shannon E. Schmoll, Robert C. Victor $12.00 per year, starting anytime, from Sky Calendar, Abrams Planetarium, Michigan State University, and 1.6° N of 5.7-mag. Uranus ISSN 0733-6314 Holiday Gift Idea: Subscription: 755 Science Rd, East Lansing, MI 48824 or online at abramsplanetarium.org/skycalendar/ on Jan. 20.