![]() ![]() ![]() Spotting A and K will ensure you’re in the right place on the lunar surface. Smaller Boussingault K (18 miles wide) sits on Boussingault’s northern rim. Inside the larger Boussingault is a second crater - the 45-mile-wide (72 kilometers) Boussingault A - which gives the feature a double-walled appearance. Use a telescope to zoom in on the cratered southern region, where the circular features often appear elongated thanks to our foreshortened view of the lunar limb. This evening, let’s take advantage of the Full Moon as we search out the crater Boussingault, located in the lunar southeast (our satellite’s lower right as we see it from Earth). ![]() The Moon will appear Full both tonight and tomorrow night, casting its bright light throughout the nighttime sky. December’s Full Moon is also called the Cold Moon, thanks to its timing during the chilly winter season in the Northern Hemisphere. Earth’s sister planet will end the year just 2 percent lit and 61″ wide on the sky.Īnd speaking of Venus, Comet C/2021 A1 (Leonard) passes within 2.6 million miles (4.2 million km) of the planet today on its way toward an early January perihelion.įull Moon occurs at 11:35 P.M. Continue watching it throughout the month to see that phase diminish but its size grow. Venus currently shows a 14-percent-lit disk that some 51″ wide. The pair came closest (14°) late last week and will end December 19° apart as Venus begins slowly arcing away again. The latter is where you’ll find the majestic ringed planet Saturn all month, glowing a dim magnitude 0.6. Visible in the dusk sky as a blazing evening star, the planet currently sits in Sagittarius the Archer, close to his northeastern border with Capricornus the Sea Goat. Venus reaches its stationary point against the background stars today 6 A.M. The Moon’s illumination is given at 12 P.M. *Times for sunrise, sunset, moonrise, and moonset are given in local time from 40° N 90° W. Our satellite will then sit 252,475 miles (406,319 km) away. The Moon reaches apogee, the farthest point from Earth in its orbit, at 9:15 P.M. The comet sets just under two hours after the Sun, so depending on how clear your horizon is, there’s a bit of time to let the sky darken for better contrast against the comet’s dim glow. If you’re an astrophotographer, you won’t want to miss this picturesque view, and photographs will certainly bring out Leonard’s still-bright dust tail and enhance the amount of its central coma you can see. Let the sky begin to darken and your eyes adjust with it as you start scanning for Leonard’s faint, fuzzy coma.īinoculars will greatly aid your search, but make sure the Sun is completely gone from the sky before pulling them out. You absolutely won’t be able to miss Venus’ magnitude –4.9 glow, still 20° above the horizon as the Sun disappears. To catch the stunning scene, turn southwest after sunset. Depending on the Leonard’s current magnitude, it may be just visible to the naked eye in the falling twilight. 2021’s best comet, C/2021 A1 (Leonard), floats just 5° below Venus in the evening sky tonight. ![]()
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