Venus is brighter this month than it has been all year, and sits above the southwest horizon at dusk. Mercury lies about 25 degrees below and west of Venus, and Mars, the same distance above and to the south.
Jupiter rises at 3:05 a.m. on Thursday. Saturn is too close to the sun to be visible.
Two occultations and two meteor showers occur this month. On Dec. 6, Neptune disappears behind the waxing moon about 4 p.m., but is too faint to spot at this time. On Dec. 12, it should be very easy to see Aldebaran slide behind the dark limb of the waxing gibbous moon at about 10:58 p.m. Aldebaran, the Eye of the Bull in Taurus, will later re-emerge from the bright side of the moon at about 12:13 a.m. Dec. 13.
The Geminid shower peaks in the early morning hours of Dec. 14. This shower tends to produce higher numbers of meteors than the Perseids of August. Unfortunately, the full moon will seriously hinder this year’s observations.
The Ursids will peak on Dec. 22. The radiant (the point in the sky from which the meteor shower appears to originate) is close to the star Kochab, in Ursa Minor, the constellation also known as the Little Bear or the Little Dipper. The waning crescent moon will not rise until about 2:30 a.m. on Dec. 23, so you might see up to 10 meteors an hour after midnight.
Q&A
Q: I see where I can get plans to print out a baby universe on a 3-D printer. Is this real? — R.C., Akron
A: Yes, and you are going to need a LOT of ink.
Well, not really. Some researchers from the land that brought us Monty Python thought this might be an easier way to visualize data collected by the Planck Satellite’s 2-D maps, so they developed a 3-D-printed model of the cosmic microwave background.
It fits in your palm, is somewhat spherical, bumpy, and the color and texture represent the temperature and density of the early universe, 380,000 years after the Big Bang. It sort of looks like something my cat Eddie coughed up. An interesting way to visualize the universe, but I don’t really want one on my desk. Go to www.dolphnsix.com/news/1670338/print-your-mini-universe to get your own.
Programs
The Universe at Large is presented at 1 p.m. Saturdays and 2 p.m. Sundays. The planetarium is included with admission to the museum. Children must be 5 years or older to attend.
The planetarium also offers an astronomy program for adults only on the first Monday of every month at 2 p.m. The Night Sky show is presented, followed by a 30- to 45-minute open lecture/discussion, driven by the interests and questions of the audience.
For more information visit the planetarium’s blog on the museum’s website, or call 330-455-7043.
David L. Richards is director of the Hoover-Price Planetarium at the McKinley Presidential Library and Museum, 800 McKinley Monument Drive NW, Canton, www.mckinleymuseum.org. He can be reached at 330-455-7043, email hooverpriceplanetarium@hotmail.com or read his blog at https://hooverpriceplanetarium.wordpress.com/.