2017 Week 50: (December 10-16)

We are almost at the end of 2017 and it has been an amazing year for viewing the sky.  Week 50 holds a mere few sights but, also, a critical one.  The chart below highlights the following week.

Date	Event
December 10	Last Quarter
December 13	Mars 4°S of Moon
December 14	Jupiter 4°S of Moon
December 14	Geminid Meteor Shower Peak

The Moon will reach its final Last Quarter of 2017 on Sunday and we will be only a half lunar cycle away from Christmas.  Throughout the week the Moon will dance with our Solar System's 4th and 5th planet in a couple conjunctions.  If you like to wake up early in the morning you can watch this dance for yourself.  Look in the southeast sky on the morning of the 13th and 14th and pick out the planets below the Moon.  The map below will help.

Week 50 Conjunctions

The Moon and Mars will be hanging tight with Virgo's Alpha Star: Spica, while Jupiter will be in Libra with Alpha Librae: Zubenelgenubi.  Mars is still a somewhat faint 1.6 so you might need some optical equipment in the morning twilight.  The large asteroid Vesta is also in the neighbourhood at magnitude 7.9, only accessible with good luck and a telescope at this time.

All this is quite exciting but the show stealing event will be the Geminid Meteor Shower.  I will make a complete post about this shower tomorrow.  However, I can say that given good weather, clear skies, a tucked away Moon, we may be in for a good show.  The Geminids typically peak at a maximum rate of about 75 from a moonless, rural site.  Most of us may be in the suburbs and will expect to see around 50.  This correlates to just about 1 per minute.  They will radiate from Alpha Geminorum (Castor) and should be visible from 10pm throughout the night until morning.  In fact, they are active right now and you may be able to catch a lower rate in the days leading up to the evening of December 13-14.

The American Meteor Society has a great FAQ that is linked below.

https://www.amsmeteors.org/meteor-showers/meteor-faq/

I am excited since most of the time during Geminid season it is very cold and cloudy.  If we can get good weather for the Quadrantids in early January that would be a bonus.  The waning gibbous Moon will have a negative effect on them though.

Keep posted for McKenzie Lake Star Nights throughout the Winter!  The sky is different each month with new things to see!  For more information check out our facebook page below!

https://www.facebook.com/simonjastronomy/