Jared May: What's Up, December 3 - 11

December is finally here and we are being greeted with some warmer temperatures and clear skies! Ohio is no stranger to whiplash weather and that’s what we stargazers will be getting. Friday night it will be 25° and Saturday night it will be 55°, so dress appropriately and let your stargazing gear thermally equilibrate. Sunset this week is right around 5 PM so be ready to stargaze by 6 PM.

This week be on the lookout for a bright Venus, a total solar eclipse livestream, the moon passing three planets, an early-morning comet, and black holes.

Friday, December 3, will mark the greatest illumination extent of Venus. This is just a fancy way of saying “the brightest Venus will get”. Friday evening this inner planet will shine at magnitude -4.66 making it an easy-to-spot target in the southwestern skies after sunset. This extra brightness is caused by a combination of the phase of Venus as well as the apparent size of Venus (as it gets closer to Earth). A pair of binoculars or a telescope will be able to reveal more details about what phase Venus is actually in (hint: it should look like a tiny waxing crescent).

The current phase of Venus, as simulated in the free software Stellarium.

On Saturday, December 4th, there will be a total solar eclipse. The only catch is that you have to be in Antarctica to enjoy it. If you can’t make it all the way down to Antarctica, don’t worry. There will be a total eclipse that passes over Ohio in April of 2024 (hopefully it isn’t cloudy!).

Tune in to the Antarctic event around 1:30 AM – 3:30 AM at https://www.nasa.gov/nasalive to watch live or find a recording posted to YouTube afterwards.

Shortly after sunset, you may notice three particularly bright objects that form a line in the southwest sky. These objects (from west to east) are Venus, Saturn, and Jupiter. A telescope or binoculars will reveal impressive details for all three of these planets. For three consecutive days, the moon will be neighboring one of these planets. Monday December 6th, the moon will be beside Venus. Tuesday it will be beside Saturn. Finally, Wednesday December 8th, the moon will be adjacent to Jupiter. This might make for an interesting astrophotography opportunity.

The three bright planets, Venus, Saturn, and Jupiter are joined by the Moon on December 8.

Comets are a somewhat common thing but many of them are too faint for us to see or are too “boring” so we don’t hear about them in the news. Every now and then one unlucky comet will swing very close to the sun and brighten up enough for us to see it here on earth. This time it is comet Leonard (C/2021 A1). This ice ball comes from the furthest reaches of the solar system – the Kuiper Belt (roughly 325 billion miles away for this comet specifically). The best time to view comet Leonard will be this week and next week. A few hours before sunrise on December 6th, use a pair of binoculars to spot the bright star, Arcturus. From there point your binoculars a few degrees further north and try spotting the comet’s tail. It will be shining at magnitude 5.5, which should make it stand out from the background stars.

Comet Leonard, as seen in the morning skies this week. You have until about December 11 to catch it before it is lost in the morning twilight.

Last on the list for this week are black holes. They cannot be directly observed since not even light can escape their gravitational pull. But we can indirectly view black holes through the effects they have on their surroundings. Use a telescope or binoculars to spot the Andromeda Galaxy (a popular winter object found near Cassiopeia). You may notice a brighter patch near the center. This is just a large density of stars crammed near the center of the galaxy (the “galactic bulge”). This bulge is caused by galactic dynamics but is also driven by the supermassive black hole at the center of Andromeda (there is a supermassive black hole at the center of almost every galaxy, not just Andromeda). So by observing the bright patch of stars near the very center of Andromeda, you are directly observing the effects of an 80-million-solar-mass black hole. (IMAGE FROM NASA HUBBLE - https://www.nasa.gov/feature/goddard/2017/messier-31-the-andromeda-galaxy)

Get outside and enjoy the clear and warm nights this week. There soon won’t be any warm nights at all for a few months. The cooler temperatures will result in a very “stable” atmosphere that will ultimately aid in stargazing. Bring some lawn chairs and friends and pack your binoculars and telescopes to go stargazing and lose yourself among the stars. During the next few clear nights be on the lookout for a bright Venus, a solar eclipse livestream, a three-night conjunction between the moon and some planets, a brightening comet, and try observing the effects of one of the most incredible objects in the universe – a black hole.

Clear Skies!