-Caveat Lector- Wednesday, December 22- Tonight's Full Moon before Yule, or Long Night Moon, rises nearly 30 degrees north of east about 20 minutes after sunset. Thursday's moonrise will occur near the same point on the horizon about 1 hour 4 minutes later than tonight's. Moonrises tonight and Thursday are the northernmost of this month. At nightfall tonight. about 1-1/2 hours after sunset, look for Betelgeuse, shoulder of Orion, to the Moon's right, and Pollux and Castor, the Gemini Twins, to the Moon's left. By dawn's first light (about 1-1/2 hours before sunrise) on Thursday, the Moon is in the west, with the Twins above and Betelgeuse below. Thursday, December 23- The Moon rises within 1-1/2 hours after sunset, just before the sky darkens fully. Three hours after sunset, look very low in east, 15 degrees to Moon's lower right, for Procyon, brightest star of Canis Minor, the Lesser Dog. Pollux and Castor, the Twins, are 8 and 12 degrees to Moon's upper left. By an hour before sunrise on Friday, the Moon is well up in the west, with Procyon lower left and Twins to its upper right. Friday, December 24- Three hours after sunset, Moon has just risen in ENE, far below the Gemini Twins and far left of Procyon in the east. The name Procyon means "before the Dog"; from the latitude of lower Michigan, Procyon comes up about 30 minutes before Sirius, the "Dog Star," rises in ESE. Follow Orion's belt downward to find your way to Sirius, brightest nighttime star. Saturday, December 25- An hour before sunrise on Sunday, the waning gibbous Moon is in WSW, with Regulus, heart of Leo, 4 degrees to its upper left. Sunday, December 26- In the SW at nightfall, about 1-1/2 hours after sunset, find first- magnitude Mars with the 3rd-magnitude star Deneb Algedi, tail of the Sea-goat, 1.5 degrees lower left. The 4th-mag. star Gamma Capricorni is 2.4 degrees below Mars and 1.8 degrees lower right of Delta. Look for 4th-mag. Theta Cap 10 degrees lower right of Mars. Binoculars show 6th-mag. Uranus 0.7 degree upper left of Theta. Monday, December 27- In late December each year, Orion the Hunter rises just before nightfall. In the opening lines of his poem "The Star-Splitter," Robert Frost wrote a fine description: "You know Orion always comes up sideways. Throwing a leg up over our fence of mountains, ..." Tuesday, December 28- An hour before sunrise on Wednesday, the "half" Moon is in the southern sky, with Spica, spike of wheat or ear of corn in hand of Virgo, 18 degrees lower left. The Moon is at Last Quarter phase, which places it 90 degrees, or one-quarter circle, west of the rising Sun. When we gaze at the Last Quarter Moon in the morning sky, we are looking out the "front window" of Spaceship Earth as we orbit around the Sun. In the SE, faster-orbiting Venus is pulling away from us. At sunrise, note that the Moon's sunward or left half is illuminated. Wednesday, December 29- An hour before sunrise on Thursday, just east of due south, locate the blue-white first-magnitude star Spica 8 degrees below the fat waning crescent Moon. Thursday, December 30- An hour before sunrise on Friday, Venus shines in SE, with reddish Antares, heart of the Scorpion, 11 or 12 degrees below. They'll move closer to each other until January 8. Friday, December 31- Well up in SE an hour after sunset, find bright Jupiter with Saturn 15 degrees lower left. Mars is in SW. By tonight the shrinking lineup of Mars-Jupiter-Saturn is 73 degrees long. Jupiter and Saturn gradually approach each other until their closest conjunction within 1.2 degrees apart on May 28, 2000. But we'll lose sight of the two giant planets in the western evening twilight glow soon after the middle of April. Before then, while they are still visible, Mars will overtake Jupiter on April 5, and Saturn on April 15. On the later date, all three bright outer planets will fit into a 5-degree field, their most compact gathering between December 1901 and November 2080. Keep track of Jupiter and Saturn until mid-April 2000, and again starting in early June, when they begin to emerge into the eastern sky at dawn. Conjunctions, or pairings of Jupiter and Saturn occur every 20 years. After the spring of 2000, the next (a very close one!) will be visible in the evening sky on December 21, 2020. (Mark your calendar!) For lifetime naked-eye planet-watchers, Jupiter and Saturn mark the slow hands of the great celestial clockwork of the solar system. The daily sky diagrams on the Abrams Planetarium's Sky Calendar makes following the Moon and planets easy and fun. Subscriptions are $9.00 per year, starting anytime, from Abrams Planetarium, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI 48824. Join us in time to catch the simultaneous appearance of four planets in the evening sky in February 2000. http://www.pa.msu.edu/abrams/SkyWatchersDiary/Diary.html +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ For interesting links to more skywatching news: Visit: http://www.lambsheart.com/web/Space.html +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ DECLARATION & DISCLAIMER ========== CTRL is a discussion and informational exchange list. Proselyzting propagandic screeds are not allowed. Substance—not soapboxing! These are sordid matters and 'conspiracy theory', with its many half-truths, misdirections and outright frauds is used politically by different groups with major and minor effects spread throughout the spectrum of time and thought. That being said, CTRL gives no endorsement to the validity of posts, and always suggests to readers; be wary of what you read. CTRL gives no credeence to Holocaust denial and nazi's need not apply. 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