SKY GUY VIEWING ALERT 12/10/19 - VENUS-SATURN

Hey Space Placers!

Venus and Saturn will be at their closest tonight and visible right after it starts to get dark.

Be sure to check it out!



Sky Guy in Bora Bora

SKY GUY VIEWING ALERT!!!! DECEMBER 2019

Hey Space Placers!

Here's some advance notice on sky events for December 2019.

Venus, Jupiter, Saturn

Venus is getting higher in the SW daily as it gets dark after sunset while Jupiter and Saturn get lower. All 3 are visible now. Jupiter will remain visible until about mid-month.

Venus and Saturn will be at their closest on the 10th, less than 2 degrees.

The Full Cold Moon is on the 11th-12th.

The Geminid Meteor Shower is predicted to be at maximum on Dec 13-14  but the almost Full Moon will drastically reduce the number of Geminids that can be seen.

Geminid meteors appear to diverge from a single spot in the sky, called the radiant, located in the constellation Gemini. But you'll see as many as possible if you lean back and take in the whole sky — they can appear anywhere across the sky, traveling away from that point. (Image credit: Sky & Telescope/Gregg Dinderman) FROM SPACE.COM

Hoping you have clear skies....

Sky Guy in VA

CRASH SITE FOUND ON THE MOON

Hey Space Placers!

The crash site for India's Vikram lander has been found by a citizen scientist using Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) images.

Before and after images show the Vikram impact point. NASA thinks the changes to the moon’s surface are more easily seen in the ratio image presented above. Image via NASA/ Goddard/Arizona State University.
CREDIT: EarthSky.org 

The Chandrayaan 2 orbiter is operating and fulfilling science objectives.

Sky Guy in VA

BOEING STARLINER LAUNCH DATE & ARTEMIS UPDATES

Hey Space Placers!

America's return to human spaceflight is getting closer and closer every day.

Read about the launch date for the uncrewed Boeing Starliner spacecraft currently set for 12/19/19.

Then tune into some Artemis stories:

Artemis Spacesuits

We are going.......

Sky Guy VA

HO! HO! HO! GIFTS FOR STARGAZERS

Hey Space Placers!

Happy Cyber Monday.

Check out my advice for buying gifts for your favorite stargazer.

Sky Guy Santa

SKY GUY VIEWING ALERT!!! MOON-JUPITER-VENUS-SATURN

Hey Space Placers!

For my American audience - Happy Thanksgiving! I hope you and your enjoy the blessings of today.

For the whole world Mother Nature is providing a beautiful sky show the next several nights right after it starts to get dark.

The thin waxing crescent Moon will pass by Jupiter, Venus and finally Saturn the next couple of days.



The Moon will start to exhibit Earthshine - the "dark of the Moon" visible due to reflection of sunlight off our planet's clouds and to a lesser extent, oceans. This will be especially beautiful when the Moon is near Venus.

Here is what the sky looked like on November 27, 2019:

31 Hour Old Moon
Credit: Greg Redfern

Venus, Jupiter, Crescent Moon
Credit: Greg Redfern

ENJOY THE VIEW!!

Sky Guy in VA

INTERSTELLAR COMET CLOSE UP

Hey Space Placers!

Here is a view of a comet that has come to our solar system from elsewhere in our galaxy.

Meet Comet 2l/Borisov.

Left: A new image of the interstellar comet 2l/Borisov. Right: A composite image of the comet with a photo of the Earth to show scale. (Pieter van Dokkum, Cheng-Han Hsieh, Shany Danieli, Gregory Laughlin)
CREDIT: Yale News

Sky Guy in VA