Don’t Miss: Lunar Occultation – Mars Disappears - SciTechDaily

What to look for successful December 2022: Mars disappears, and Pegasus rides to adventure. Viewers successful astir of the U.S. and Europe tin ticker Mars gaffe down the Moon connected December 7, and everyone tin find the winged equine constellation Pegasus.

• December 1 – Look successful the southwest this evening to find the Moon lone a mates of finger-widths isolated from the superb satellite Jupiter.
• December 7 – Full moon
• December 7 – The Moon occults, oregon covers up, Mars tonight. In the U.S., Mars slips down the Moon for viewers everyplace extracurricular the East Coast and Southeast, wherever the Moon volition look to conscionable hardly graze past Mars. Check your favourite stargazing app oregon website for the timing of the disappearance and reappearance of Mars.
• December 23 – New moon
• December 25-31 – Check retired the Moon and planets astatine year’s end. Watch each evening arsenic the progressively afloat Moon slides past Saturn connected the 26th and past past Jupiter connected the 28th.
• All month – Find the constellation Pegasus precocious successful the south-southwest aft dark. Look for agleam Jupiter and find the Great Square of Pegasus astir 15 degrees supra it.

Video Transcript:

What’s Up for December? Your evening satellite highlights, including the disappearance of Mars, and the constellation Pegasus.

The period begins and ends with the Moon visiting the elephantine planets. On December 1st, find the Moon conscionable a mates of finger-widths isolated from Jupiter successful the evening sky. Then, from the 25th to the 31st, look to the southwest pursuing sunset to spot an progressively afloat Moon gaffe past Saturn and past again past Jupiter. Viewers with a wide presumption to the skyline volition beryllium capable to hunt for Venus and Mercury successful the fading glow of sunset, conscionable a fewer degrees supra the skyline.

December 7 brings 1 of those magical moments erstwhile the entity changes dramatically earlier your precise eyes. It’s called a lunar occultation, arsenic the Moon passes successful beforehand of, oregon occults, the Red Planet, Mars. The spectacle volition beryllium disposable successful parts of North America, Europe, and Northern Africa. (Viewers successful the Southeast and connected the East Coast volition spot the Moon conscionable graze past Mars.) For viewers successful the U.S., Mars disappears down the Moon sometime betwixt astir 6:30 and 9 p.m., depending connected your location, truthful cheque your favourite skywatching app to find the clip for your area.

Now, the Moon passes successful beforehand of planets successful the nighttime entity respective times per year. In fact, it mostly occults Mars itself astatine slightest a mates of times per year. But each occultation is disposable from lone a tiny information of Earth’s surface, truthful it’s not ace communal for immoderate peculiar spot connected Earth to spot them frequently.

Of course, the Moon passes successful beforehand of stars each the time. If you’re watching done binoculars, they conscionable blink close out. But planets are not conscionable points of airy similar stars – they look arsenic circular small disks, truthful planets really instrumentality respective seconds to vanish and aboriginal reemerge. So if you’re successful the viewing zone, bask this comparatively uncommon accidental to ticker a agleam satellite being occulted by the Moon.

Looking precocious successful the southwest entity connected December evenings, you tin find a constellation named for 1 of the much fantastical beasts of past mythology. That’s Pegasus, the winged horse. In Greek myth, Pegasus rode into adventures with the leader Belaraphon, and aboriginal carried the thunderbolts of Zeus himself, who rewarded him by placing him among the stars.

Pegasus is 1 of the largest of the 88 constellations. Its astir salient feature, and the cardinal to uncovering it successful the sky, is this asterism, oregon signifier of stars, called the Great Square. These 4 stars of astir adjacent brightness signifier the cardinal portion of the horse’s body.

This December, it’s casual to find Pegasus, acknowledgment to superb Jupiter. Face southward to find the elephantine satellite astir halfway up the sky, with the Great Square opening astir 15 degrees to the northbound of it.

Pegasus is simply a utile constellation for stargazers, arsenic it’s a bully starting spot for uncovering your mode to different features successful the nighttime sky. The constellation itself contains a fig of dazzling deep-sky objects, including globular clump M15, and the tangled galaxies of Stephan’s Quintet. With this twelvemonth drafting to a close, here’s hoping you question retired the winged stallion Pegasus, arsenic you ponder what caller adventures await successful the adjacent year.

Here are the phases of the Moon for December.

Stay up to day with each of NASA’s missions to research the star strategy and beyond astatine nasa.gov. I’m Preston Dyches from NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, and that’s What’s Up for this month.