| Date | Event |
|---|---|
| December 3 | Venus 4°S of Moon |
| December 5 | Mercury 1.9°S of Moon |
| December 6 | Mercury Stationary |
| December 7 | New Moon |
| December 7 | Mars 0.04°S of Neptune |
| December 8 | Saturn 1.1°S of Moon |
As the Moon ends its cycle watch for a faint waning crescent to coincide with Venus on the morning of December 3. You will be able to see Venus in the southeast sky before the Sun rises. You can't miss this great pairing. Look a little bit to the West and you will also see the bright star of Virgo--Spica. Venus and the Moon will fit in a pair of binoculars and may be worth dusting them off.
Two days later the Moon will pair up with our Solar System's smallest planet, Mercury. The Moon will be so slim that it will be dimmer than Venus that morning. Mercury can be found just South of the Moon. Your best bet may be to grab your binoculars you used two mornings ago. Also, if you look to the East of this pair you may be able to see Jupiter rising above the horizon just before the Sun.
The Moon will eventually die out and become New on the 7th of December. It will pair up with Saturn the next evening on the 8th. This may be a difficult sight as it will be in the evening twilight. However, if you have a good view of the western horizon shortly before 5pm see if you can see them!
The best treat is saved for the evening of December 6 and 7. Mars and Neptune will be within a degree of one another. At their closest they will appear a mere 2.4 arcminutes from each other. That is 6 times closer than Mizar and Alcor in the handle of the Big Dipper. This is certainly worth getting the telescope out for, it is rare that we have two planets so close to each other.
 |
| Neptune and Mars |
Comet 46P/Wirtanen Finder Carts
There are several rocket launches occurring this week that you should check out. Canadian David Saint-Jacques will be taking off in a in a Soyuz Spacecraft headed towards the International Space Station. This launch will be occurring at 4:31am, wake up early or stay up late!
| Date | Event |
|---|---|
| December 3 | Soyuz (04:31) |
| December 3 | Falcon 9 - Spaceflight SSO-A (11:31) |
| December 4 | Falcon 9 - SpaceX CRS 16 (11:38) |
| December 4 | Ariane 5 - GSAT 11 & GEO-Kompsat 2A (13:37) |
| December 7 | Long March 3B - Chang'e 4 (11:30) |
| December 7 | Delta 4 Heavy - NROL-71 (21:19) |
The rest of the week has a busy schedule of some amazing launches. The Falcon 9 is scheduled for two launches in two successive days taking some satellites into orbit and cargo to the ISS.
An Ariane 5 rocket will be launching an Indian communications satellite and a South Korean weather satellite. This launch is scheduled to take place two hours after the Falcon 9 lifts off with ISS cargo.
In a much anticipated mission to the far side of the Moon a Chinese rocket will be hauling Chang'e 4 into space on December 7. The Chinese hope to land the first robotic craft on the far side of the Moon. A rover will be part of this mission and will certainly give the public a show if successful. This mission was previewed at the beginning of the year on our site. Follow the link below for more information.
https://simonjastronomy.blogspot.com/2018/01/2018-preview-i-space-missions.html
The busy week ends with a Delta 4 Heavy lifting off with a classified US spy satellite into orbit. The launch of a Heavy rocket is always amazing to watch, especially live. To watch these launches use the following website.
https://spaceflightnow.com/
The weather looks like it will be clear for most of the week after the dump of snow we received. This is the perfect time to enjoy the sights above!
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