{"id":39909,"date":"2022-12-18T08:01:49","date_gmt":"2022-12-18T08:01:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.skyatnightmagazine.com\/?p=114473"},"modified":"2022-12-18T08:39:53","modified_gmt":"2022-12-18T08:39:53","slug":"star-diary-19-to-25-december-2022","status":"publish","type":"rss_feed","link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcskyatnight\/rss_feed\/star-diary-19-to-25-december-2022\/","title":{"rendered":"Star Diary: 19 to 25 December, 2022"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/p>

By Ezzy Pearson\n \t\t<\/p>

Published: Sunday, 18 December 2022 at 12:00 am<\/p>

\n\n

What\u2019s in the night sky of the week of 19 to 25 December 2022 in our weekly stargazing guide.<\/p>\n\n

Chris Bramley <\/strong>Hello and welcome to Star Diary<\/a>, the podcast from the makers of BBC Sky at Night Magazine<\/a>. You can subscribe to the print edition of the magazine by visiting skyatnightmagazine.com<\/a> or digital edition by visiting on iTunes or Google Play.<\/p>\n

Ezzy <\/strong>Greetings, listeners, and welcome to Star Diary, a weekly guide to the best things to see in the Northern Hemisphere as night sky. As we are based here in the UK all times are in GMT. In this episode we\u2019ll be covering the coming week from 19 to 25 December. I\u2019m Ezzy Pearson, the magazine\u2019s features editor. And I\u2019m joined on the podcast today by reviews editor Paul Money. Hello, Paul.<\/p>\n

Paul <\/strong>Hello Ezzy. Oh I\u2019m excited. It\u2019s the week leading up to Christmas. Now, now the bad news. Most of the events occur in the morning sky.<\/p>\n

Ezzy <\/strong>Oh, no.<\/p>\n

Paul <\/strong>I know.<\/p>\n

Ezzy <\/strong>It\u2019s always the way it is.<\/p>\n

Paul <\/strong>It is. but it happens every month. We got to have this. So we\u2019re going to start off them with December 20, because on that morning, a very slim crescent moon \u2013 with Earthshine<\/a> remember,\u00a0 that\u2019s the other thing that makes it wonderful \u2013 it lies close in below the star alpha Libra. This is Zubenelgenubi<\/a>. It is a nice double star and you can see it in binoculars. So have a look at that sort of thing. Really good in a pair of, say, 10\u00d750 binoculars<\/a> and such a very nice double star. And you got the Moon there as well hanging below it. So you\u2019ve got these crescent moon, you\u2019ve got the Earthshine and you\u2019ve got this wide double star as well to boot. So I think that\u2019s worth getting up at 7 a.m. in the morning. I see it is. And it is getting lower in the sky because the trouble is as we head towards the crescent, we\u2019re obviously getting closer to the horizon and closer to sunrise as well into the morning twilight. You\u2019ve got to bear that in mind. So if you leave it to rise too high, it\u2019ll get swamped by the daylight as the light gets brighter. So that\u2019s the 20th. On the 21st, the Moon is even lower. Now, this is where you really do need an uncluttered horizon. And the key is really just how long can you go before you lose the Moon, before it\u2019s too close to the glare of the sun? And I actually think the 21st is getting pretty close to that time. You might just get it, you know, the next day. But I would say it\u2019s a real struggle. So on the 21st, though, it also lies on the crescent moon in Earthshine, right next to Beta and Delta Scorpius Graphius and Deschuba. And so that day on the 21st, it was also the winter solstice. So winter officially begins in the northern hemisphere and summer begins in the southern hemisphere. So winter may officially begin, but of course technically the lights will start to draw out. So we\u2019ll actually start to get lighter nights. But it takes a few weeks. I always think around about when you get to February, you really start to notice it. So we\u2019re all right yet we\u2019ve still got the dark skies, astronomers. We still got the dark skies hanging on those dark skies. But we are at the winter solstice. So of course we\u2019re at the point whereby winter officially begins. That is astronomical winter, I should say. Meteorologists like to use the first of the month, so we won\u2019t go into that. I don\u2019t use the real sky. Folks that don\u2019t use the real sky.<\/p>\n

Ezzy <\/strong>It makes it even easier with the calendar.<\/p>\n

Paul <\/strong>Well, it does. Yes, that\u2019s the general idea, isn\u2019t it. Now the next day, December 22, the actual Moon will be quite close to the Sun. So I\u2019m really I don\u2019t know whether you\u2019ll get it because it\u2019ll be in the early morning sky. You can try, but just bear in mind, be careful about the Sun rising. If you\u2019re searching for the really, really slim crescent Moon, the Moon will be new on\u00a0 24th. So we\u2019re looking on the 22nd at the moment this is good news, but it\u2019s only two days away when it\u2019s new. And the reason why it\u2019s good news is that it\u2019s actually a great time to get\u2026 I could call this the Christmas meteor shower. Christmas lights in the sky, couldn\u2019t we?<\/p>\n

Ezzy <\/strong>Yeah.<\/p>\n

Paul<\/strong> Because it\u2019s the Ursids meteor shower<\/a>. So the thing about the Ursids the radiant lies close to the star Kochab in Ursa Minor. That\u2019s the second brightest star actually in the Ursa Minor you\u2019ve got two stars there, which are pretty prominent, Polaris. And everybody knows Polaris, the North Pole star<\/a> and Kochab. So the radiant lies close to Kochab. And although the activities around ten per hour, there\u2019s no moon.<\/p>\n

Ezzy <\/strong>No.<\/p>\n

Paul <\/strong>Cause it\u2019s close to Kochab is circumpolar. So you can actually observe all night if you really wanted and watch out for meteors. So this is a I\u2019ve not seen a meteor shower. This is the perfect time just to just keep looking up, have a watch out. And if you see anything radiating away from, say, Kochab in Ursa Minor, then there is a good chance you picked up an Ursa meteor. It\u2019s just, you know, with then with ten per hour zenith hourly rate \u2013 that is the perfect conditions, we have to reiterate. That is absolutely perfect. You\u2019re looking straight towards zenith, which is the point directly above you. It\u2019s the hourly rate under exceptionally dark skies. But let\u2019s face it, how many of us have got that? So we have to be realistic. You may be looking at two or three per hour.<\/p>\n

Ezzy <\/strong>Well, I will say, if you want to if you want to make sure that you\u2019re getting the most out of this meteor shower, because it is not a particularly prolific one. We have lots of guides over on the website www.skyatnightmagazine.com<\/a>. But my my one big piece of advice is it is December make sure you wrap up warm<\/a> and I usually find that it\u2019s always my feet that feel the cold the most. So, you know, make sure that you\u2019ve got nice thick socks on. Maybe find like a piece of wood or piece of cardboard to stand on that can actually help keep your feet warm weirdly enough.<\/p>\n

Paul <\/strong>Oh definitely. Concrete and tarmac are the worst worst.<\/p>\n

Ezzy <\/strong>Yeah, they just leach the heat right out of you. So wrap up warm. We don\u2019t want anybody getting hypothermia, but if you do manage to manage to stay out there and see some meteors, it\u2019s an always an excellent thing to see.<\/p>\n

Paul <\/strong>Of course, a bonus is you can always put on your Christmas list \u2018buy me thermals\u2019.<\/p>\n

Ezzy <\/strong>It\u2019ll be a little bit late, yeah, you might have to get your Christmas present early to take advantage it for that one. But yes, always a good or good Christmas present for an astronomer is a nice, decent set of woolly underwear.<\/p>\n

Paul <\/strong>Because it surprises. Everybody would go for telescopes or binoculars. But sometimes one of the most useful things is actually some decent, warm clothing, especially this time of year as you say because I\u2019ve been out there under the freezing, oh, there\u2019s snow, etc. You know, when we\u2019re doing the reviews, we\u2019re dedicated lot, you know, we will go out even if the snow on the ground as long as the sky is clear as well.<\/p>\n

Ezzy <\/strong>One thing I have noticed, you can now get heated socks<\/a>. So if you did want to give somebody socks for Christmas, because I know that always goes down well, lots of options there for you.<\/p>\n

Paul <\/strong>Say Christmas guide to shopping as well.<\/p>\n

Ezzy <\/strong>\u00a0Just a couple of tips there for your Christmas list in case like me, you\u2019ve left your shopping until the last week.<\/p>\n

Paul <\/strong>Let\u2019s get to Christmas Eve, December 24. And it\u2019s in the evening skies. Yes, the evening skies, at last thing. But there\u2019s a bit of a problem because we\u2019re looking in bright evening twilight. And the thing about this, you look towards the southwest because over the previous few days, slowly and surely, I\u2019m not talking about Mars, I\u2019m talking about Mercury and Venus<\/a> are creeping into the evening sky. They are deep in the evening twilight and set fairly quickly. But on the 24th, you have to look very carefully. I\u2019ve got it down for roundabout 15, 16 minutes past four, before they set, but the crescent Moon, the incredibly thin crescent Moon will be there. It is a real challenge because it\u2019s not too long after new. That\u2019s the difficulty. So but the main thing we should always emphasise is make sure the Sun has set.<\/p>\n

Ezzy <\/strong>Yeah.<\/p>\n

Paul <\/strong>We can\u2019t emphasise that too hard, can we?<\/p>\n

Ezzy <\/strong>It\u2019s always a lot easier to do it when it\u2019s in the evening sky because as soon as the Sun goes down, you know, it\u2019s not going to pop back up again. Whereas in the morning it\u2019s kind of\u2026 you\u2019re trying to time it to when do you think the Sun is going to come up. But always make sure the sun is well out of the way when you are trying to make these observations, because we don\u2019t want you to hurt your eyes.<\/p>\n

Paul <\/strong>Exactly. You know, we want you to see the rest of the event. There was no point not telling us about them.<\/p>\n

Ezzy <\/strong>Exactly.<\/p>\n

Paul <\/strong>Now, naturally, Venus is the brighter of the two planets sort of thing. So that\u2019s the one that will guide you to Mercury to the upper left of Venus itself. So Southwest make sure the horizon is uncluttered because anything in the way, even a hill, could limit your chances of success. But as\u00a0 I say, if you\u2019re lucky, you may even catch a glimpse of the incredibly thin crescent moon as well before it sets.<\/p>\n

Ezzy <\/strong>I will say that Venus looking forward to next year as well \u2013 We\u2019re giving you some some hints about next year \u2013 Venus is going to put on a particularly good show next year, so catch this early glimpse of it and then you can carry on following it throughout the rest of the year.<\/p>\n

Paul <\/strong>You could say it all starts now, doesn\u2019t it? As you.<\/p>\n

Ezzy <\/strong>Absolutely.<\/p>\n

Paul <\/strong>As 2022 ends, so 2023 will be the\u2026 We\u2019ve had the almost the year of Mars really now and into early next year. Then it will be the year of Venus as well.<\/p>\n

Ezzy <\/strong>Absolutely.<\/p>\n

Paul <\/strong>Okay. So it\u2019s Christmas Day and we have a Christmas comet. Now, don\u2019t get too excited because it is about eighth magnitude, but you should be able to see it in binoculars. If you look towards Corona Borealis, the northern crown, it lies between Bootes the herdsman and Hercules. But it is a morning object. Oh, I\u2019m sorry, Ezzy, you go back to the morning skies again, but it\u2019s 4 a.m. You\u2019ll be out looking for Santa.<\/p>\n

Ezzy <\/strong>Exactly.<\/p>\n

Paul <\/strong>You know. So why not? Keep a lookout for Santa at the same time, but get your binoculars out. Because in the actual circlet there of corona borealis is comet C\/2022 E3 ZTF<\/a>. What a mouthful.<\/p>\n

Ezzy <\/strong>Yeah, it\u2019s comets. They always have these really long names and I know it\u2019s because it\u2019s, it\u2019s the, the year it was found and then something to do with the quarter and the survey that found it. And it all makes very\u2026 A lot of sense if you\u2019re looking from it from the scientific perspective. But I do wish they had some better name sometimes.<\/p>\n

Paul <\/strong>Well, you know, I always worry that if I discover a comet and its name, usually after the discover,\u00a0 comet Money. But I always worry about Comet Money because. Because knowing my luck, that\u2019s the one that\u2019s going to destroy us. And I\u2019ll get blamed. \u201cYou found it, and it\u2019s heading towards us. Do something about it.\u201d \u201cI can\u2019t do anything about it.\u201d So there we are. So I suppose in a way I don\u2019t want to find a comet. So although I haven\u2019t said Comet Money has a certain ring to it, don\u2019t don\u2019t mean to say we\u2019ll we will be better off as such for that. Well, yeah, no it\u2019s worth having a look for and it\u2019s the early hours of the morning, so you never know. Later that day, Santa might have brought you a new telescope or a pair of binoculars. So that evening, as the Moon setting very early and very quickly, it means the rest of the night will be dark and hopefully clear as well. So a few things to look out for that are Christmasy. I always think this sort of thing. First of all, the rosette is like a wreath, a Christmas wreath as well, that sort of thing. So have a look at that, it\u2019s in Monoceros. And the Christmas tree cluster<\/a> in Monoceros. Wow. I mean, what a perfect item to have a view out with a pair of binoculars or especially a telescope as well. But with it being dark, this is the time now to test out your new equipment on the Pleiades<\/a>, the Orion Nebula<\/a>. Take a tour of the planets. You\u2019ve got\u2026 I mean, we\u2019ve got a whole range of planets back now to view. We got Venus and Mercury in the evening sky, twilight. Then you\u2019ve got Saturn, Neptune, Jupiter, Uranus and Mars. So what do you want? Plenty of planets, plenty of deep sky to play about with your telescope or binoculars, especially if you\u2019ve got them brand new just to end the week on. So there we are. Christmas night, you might be out under the stars. Let\u2019s hope it\u2019s clear.<\/p>\n

Ezzy <\/strong>Absolutely. And if you are around with your family, people perhaps that don\u2019t necessarily share your your deep love of the night sky, things like the Orion constellation and bright planets like Saturn and Jupiter and Mars. They\u2019re all great ways to get people who don\u2019t necessarily look very closely at the night sky most nights. It\u2019s a great way to get people involved and looking up together as a family. So I highly recommend that. And we hope that you have a very merry Christmas. So thank you very much for taking us through that, Paul.<\/p>\n

Paul <\/strong>It\u2019s a pleasure. I hope everybody has a nice Christmas as well, because, you know, we it comes but once a year.<\/p>\n

Ezzy <\/strong>Absolutely. And to recap for your Christmas week, on the 19th of December, we have the Moon passing close to Zubenelgenubi. On the 21st, it\u2019s the winter solstice where the crescent moon will be near to three bright stars. On the 22nd, the moon\u2019s going to be close to the Sun. So do be careful if you\u2019re trying to observe it. But we\u2019ll also have the Earth\u2019s meteor shower. They\u2019ll be up throughout the night if you want to try and see that. Finally, 24 December, Christmas Eve, very early in the evening, we have Venus and Mercury will be making their appearance in the evening sky. And then finally on the 25th of December. Comet C\/2022 E3 ZTF will be going across the night sky. Plus, there\u2019s a whole host of things that you can see with your family or with your new Christmas equipment that you\u2019ve got. So we hope that you will manage to see some of those if you want to make sure that you\u2019re always up to date and always know what\u2019s going to be going on in the stargazing sky please do be sure to subscribe to the podcast. Next week we will be here a day early, will be on the 24 December that the podcast will be coming out rather than on Christmas Day. So we hope you all have a very merry Christmas and we\u2019ll see you then. If you want to find out even more spectacular sites that will be gracing the night sky throughout the month be sure to pick up a copy of BBC Sky at Night Magazine where we have a 16 page pull out Sky Guide with a full overview of everything worth looking up for. Whether you like to look at the moon, the planets, or the deep sky, whether you use binoculars, telescopes or neither, our sky guide has got you covered with detailed star charts to help you track your way across the night sky from all of us here at BBC Sky and Night Magazine. Goodbye.<\/p>\n

Chris Bramley <\/strong>Thank you for listening to this episode of Star Diary podcast from the makers of BBC Scotland Guide Magazine. For more of our podcasts, visit our website at www.skyatnightmagazine.com<\/a> or head to aCast, iTunes or Spotify.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p> <\/body><\/html>\n

","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Ezzy Pearson Published: Sunday, 18 December 2022 at 12:00 am What\u2019s in the night sky of the week of 19 to 25 December 2022 in our weekly stargazing guide. https:\/\/open.acast.com\/public\/streams\/61ba00841a8cbe40143cf08e\/episodes\/63920c89dd2e2d0011d4b87b.mp3 Chris Bramley Hello and welcome to Star Diary, the podcast from the makers of BBC Sky at Night Magazine. You can subscribe to the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":24,"featured_media":39910,"template":"","categories":[1],"acf":{"readingTimeMinutes":"14"},"uagb_featured_image_src":{"full":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/77\/2022\/12\/star-diary-19-to-25-december-2022.jpg",1500,1000,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/77\/2022\/12\/star-diary-19-to-25-december-2022-150x150.jpg",150,150,true],"medium":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/77\/2022\/12\/star-diary-19-to-25-december-2022-300x200.jpg",300,200,true],"medium_large":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/77\/2022\/12\/star-diary-19-to-25-december-2022-768x512.jpg",768,512,true],"large":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/77\/2022\/12\/star-diary-19-to-25-december-2022-1024x683.jpg",800,534,true],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/77\/2022\/12\/star-diary-19-to-25-december-2022.jpg",1500,1000,false],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/77\/2022\/12\/star-diary-19-to-25-december-2022.jpg",1500,1000,false]},"uagb_author_info":{"display_name":"importmanagerhub@sprylab.com","author_link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcskyatnight\/author\/importmanagerhubsprylab-com\/"},"uagb_comment_info":0,"uagb_excerpt":"By Ezzy Pearson Published: Sunday, 18 December 2022 at 12:00 am What\u2019s in the night sky of the week of 19 to 25 December 2022 in our weekly stargazing guide. https:\/\/open.acast.com\/public\/streams\/61ba00841a8cbe40143cf08e\/episodes\/63920c89dd2e2d0011d4b87b.mp3 Chris Bramley Hello and welcome to Star Diary, the podcast from the makers of BBC Sky at Night Magazine. You can subscribe to the…","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcskyatnight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rss_feed\/39909"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcskyatnight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rss_feed"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcskyatnight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/rss_feed"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcskyatnight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/24"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcskyatnight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/39910"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcskyatnight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=39909"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcskyatnight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=39909"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}