BORDER ASTRONOMICAL SOCIETY
MONTHLY NOTES
December 2011- January 2012
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December |
January |
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Wednesday December 14th. Mercury stationary. (03.00hrs) Geminids meteor shower maximum. (14.00hrs) Alpha Cancri (mag.+4.2) reappears from occultation by the Moon. (Edinburgh 22.10hrs) |
Tuesday December 27th.
Venus is 6° south of the Moon.(11.00hrs)
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Saturday December 17th.
Mars is 8° north of the Moon. (13.00hrs) |
Thursday December 29th. Neptune is 6° south of the Moon at 01.00hrs. Pluto is in conjunction with the Sun at 08.00hrs.
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Sunday December 18th. Moon at last quarter. (01.00hrs) |
Friday December 30th. Kappa Piscium (mag.+4.9) is occulted by the Moon. (Edinburgh 21.21hrs) |
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Tuesday December 20th. Saturn is 7° north of the Moon. (10.00hrs)
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Saturday December 31st. Uranus is 6° south of the Moon.(16.00hrs) |
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Thursday December 22nd. Moon is at perigee. (364,803km) at 03.00hrs. Winter Solstice at 06.00hrs. Mercury is 7° north of Antares at 20.00hrs. Ursids meteor shower maximum. |
Sunday January 1st. Moon first quarter. (06.15hrs) |
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Friday December 23rd. Mercury is at greatest western elongation (22°) at 03.00hrs. Mercury is 3° north of the Moon at 04.00hrs. |
Tuesday January 3rd. Jupiter is 5° south of the Moon.(03.00hrs) |
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Saturday December 24th. New Moon at 18.00hrs. |
Wednesday January 4th. Quadrantid meteor shower maximum. (06hrs) |
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Monday December 26th. Jupiter is stationary. (11.00hrs) |
Thursday January 12th. Next formal meeting BAS |
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Topic and Speaker
to be advised
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Visibility of the Planets
Mercury is low down on the SE horizon just before sunrise in the middle of the month.
Venus is visible after sunset but is low on the SW horizon. The situation improves as the month progresses.
Mars is rising about midnight at the start of the month and will be well placed for observing by the end, when at 0400hrs it will be at an altitude of 40° nearly due south, in the constellation of Leo, not far from the star Regulus.
Jupiter is the best planet to observe this month, rising in the early evening . It was at opposition on the 29th October and as it has just recently passed perihelion the distance between Earth and Jupiter is still almost at a minimum. This results in the planet having a large nearly 50 arc second disc, full of detail.
Saturn rises about 5am, 2 hours before the Sun and is once again becoming observable. By the end of the month it is at a reasonable altitude in the SE at 6am.
Uranus is visible all evening in Pisces, setting around 1am by the end of the month.
Neptune is visible for most of the evening in Aquarius, setting by 10pm at the end of the month.