Sports»
December night sky
DEC 07 - The sky-map shows what you see in the sky at 10:00 P.M. tonight. To use the map, put it over your head facing downwards so that one of the four cardinal direction labels matches the direction you are facing. The point overhead at centre of the map marks the zenith. The circular edges of the map represent the horizons.
Sky objects have their own identification system derived from the Messier Catalogue in which 109 sky objects are designated as M1, M2, and so on. Also, star atlases have their own language to identify several thousand deep-sky objects. They use the New General Catalogue to identify celestial objects prefixed by the letters NGC. For example, the Crab Nebula has a popular name as M1 in the Messier Catalogue while it is known as NGC1952 in the New General Catalogue.
The Geminids Meteor Shower peaks during early morning on 14 December. The winter solstice occurs on 22 December in which happens the shortest day, marking the beginning of winter. The point on the ecliptic where the sun’s declination is most southerly is called the winter solstice. The ecliptic is inclined 23.5 degrees with respect to the Celestial Equator. Just as the Earth’s equator divides the Earth’s face into northern and southern hemispheres, the Celestial Equator is a huge arc running from East to West that divides the sky into the northern and southern halves.
Venus is best seen half hour after the sunset above the southwestern horizon. Venus (Magnitude: -4) is the third brightest celestial object in sky, the brightest is the sun (Magnitude: -26.5) and the second brightest is the full moon (Magnitude: -12.5). The planet will be sinking towards the western horizon in the evening. Mars, Jupiter and Saturn are visible throughout the month. The constellation Gemini is low in the eastern sky housing the rising planet Saturn. Mars and Uranus are about to set, both low on the western sky in the zodiac constellation Aquarius. The centre sky contains the tiny zodiac constellation Aries (brightest star is Hamal) and the constellation Triangulum.
The constellation Taurus is in the eastern sky. Two principle bright stars of Taurus are Elnath and Aldebaran. The latter is also known as Rohini and is one of the 27 Nakshatras. Aldebaran is about a hundred times as large as the sun. The red giant star Aldebaran represents the glowing eye of the bull and the white star Elnath is the horn. The open cluster (open clusters are groups of a few hundred to a few thousand stars held together by gravitational attraction) of the Hyades forms the head. Hyades (brightest open cluster, magnificent in binoculars) and Pleiades (nearest distinct open cluster) are two of the most remarkable open star clusters visible to the naked eye. Hyades lies immediately to the west of Aldebaran forming a rough ‘V’ shape with it at one tip. Pleiades (Seven Sisters) appears as a hazy patch to the northwest of Aldebaran which is the brightest star in this cluster.
Taurus contains M1 (NGC1952), the Crab Nebula, which is seen in a telescope as dim patch. M1 is the remnant of the supernova eruption that was visible in the daytime in 1054 A.D. A supernova is a result of collapse of a massive star (more than 10 times bigger than the sun). It is a fantastic celestial bereavement display of a drying gigantic star. When supernova explodes, it shines 10 billion times brighter than the sun. The blast of gas ejected from a supernova sweeps up the surrounding interstellar gas and heats it to produce a luminous supernova remnant. Because supernovas are so bright, they can be seen even in distant galaxies. Historical records show that only four supernovas have been observed from our galaxy in the past thousand years. The brightest supernova in recorded history was seen in 1006 A.D. It was reported to be dazzling to the eye and must have been at least 100 times brighter than Venus.
The sun passes from Scorpius, Ophiucus to Sagittarius during the month. The moon last quarter is on 16th, the New moon on 23rd and the first quarter on 30th. Tomorrow is the Full moon which rises: 5:00pm, sets: 6:24am; the sun rises: 6:59am, sets: 5:26pm and the astronomical twilight time begins: 5:33am, ends: 6:52pm. Posted on: 2003-12-08 04:49
Headlines
Advertisements
