by APOD Robot » Wed Dec 05, 2018 5:09 am
Highlights of the North Winter Sky
Explanation: What can you see in the night sky this season? The featured graphic gives a few highlights for
Earth's northern hemisphere. Viewed as a clock face centered at the bottom, early (northern) winter sky events fan out toward the left, while late winter events are projected toward the right. Objects relatively close to
Earth are illustrated, in general, as nearer to the cartoon figure with the telescope at the bottom center -- although almost everything pictured can be
seen without a telescope. As happens during any season,
constellations appear the same year to year, and, as usual, the
Geminids meteor shower will peak in mid-December. Also as usual, the
International Space Station (ISS)
can be seen, at times, as a bright spot
drifting across the sky after sunset. Less usual, the Moon is expected to
pass nearly in front of several planets in early January. A treat this winter is
Comet 46P/Wirtanen, already
bright, will pass only 36 lunar distances from the Earth in mid-December, potentially making it
easily visible to the unaided eye.
[url=https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap181205.html] [img]https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/calendar/S_181205.jpg[/img] [size=150]Highlights of the North Winter Sky[/size][/url]
[b] Explanation: [/b] [url=https://youtu.be/x2iN_RwGjAo]What can you see[/url] in the night sky this season? The featured graphic gives a few highlights for [url=https://solarsystem.nasa.gov/planets/earth/in-depth/]Earth[/url]'s northern hemisphere. Viewed as a clock face centered at the bottom, early (northern) winter sky events fan out toward the left, while late winter events are projected toward the right. Objects relatively close to [url=https://solarsystem.nasa.gov/planets/earth]Earth[/url] are illustrated, in general, as nearer to the cartoon figure with the telescope at the bottom center -- although almost everything pictured can be [url=https://www.lifewithdogs.tv/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/577551_327739037281992_306958052693424_814778_1284589992_n.jpg]seen without a telescope[/url]. As happens during any season, [url=https://starchild.gsfc.nasa.gov/docs/StarChild/questions/88constellations.html]constellations[/url] appear the same year to year, and, as usual, the [url=https://earthsky.org/space/everything-you-need-to-know-geminid-meteor-shower]Geminids meteor shower[/url] will peak in mid-December. Also as usual, the [url=https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap161105.html]International Space Station[/url] (ISS) [url=https://spotthestation.nasa.gov/]can be seen, at times[/url], as a bright spot [url=https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap140525.html]drifting across the sky[/url] after sunset. Less usual, the Moon is expected to [url=http://astropixels.com/ephemeris/astrocal/astrocal2019gmt.html]pass nearly in front[/url] of several planets in early January. A treat this winter is [url=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/46P/Wirtanen]Comet 46P/Wirtanen[/url], already [url=https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap181115.html]bright[/url], will pass only 36 lunar distances from the Earth in mid-December, potentially making it [url=http://wirtanen.astro.umd.edu/46P/46P_status.shtml]easily visible[/url] to the unaided eye.
[table][tr][td=left][url=http://asterisk.apod.com/discuss_apod.php?date=181204][b]<< Previous APOD[/b][/url][/td] [td=center][url=http://asterisk.apod.com/view_retro.php?date=1205][b]This Day in APOD[/b][/url][/td] [td=right][url=http://asterisk.apod.com/discuss_apod.php?date=181206][b]Next APOD >>[/b][/url][/td][/tr][/table]