The elusive Mercury makes its final show of the year, if you can call it a “show”. Although some 20 degrees from the Sun at best on the 11th Dec, the planet is at a shallow angle in the sky and will only be some 5-6 degrees above the SSW horizon, so visible for only around 1 hour after Sunset. Better placed are Venus and Mars, joined by the Crescent Moon around the 3rd to 5th of December for a photo opportunity. In the morning skies, Jupiter dominates the SE sky, being visible from around 3am until Sunrise.
Looking out for meteors this month, we again have two showers coming to maxima, the Geminids on the 13-14th and the Ursids (Ursa Minor) on the 22nd. Of the two, the Geminids are the more active shower with up to 100 meteors per hour predicted. The nearby Full Moon on the 14th will dampen visible meteors down considerably however, but will at least be “out of the way” for the Ursids. These are a rather under observed shower, given the time of year I suspect, but can produce around 10 or so meteors per hour from a radiant that is visible all night. Again, keep your eyes open as you just don’t know your luck.
On the subject of “luck”, we may get a chance at a Comet towards the end of the Month. Comets are notoriously difficult to accurately predict their brightness, but Comet 45P/Honda-Mrkos-Pajdusakova may well brighten to around naked eye visibility in the last days of December and should be visible in binoculars from mid month onwards. Please remember not to sweep the area of the Comet with any optical aid until the Sun is below the horizon. You’ll need a good, low SW horizon for this Celestial visitor however.
Anyhow, good luck and clear skies as ever.
Supplied by MidWales Astronomy www.midwalesastronomy.cymru/