THE SOUTHWORTH PLANETARIUM
207-780-4249      www.usm.maine.edu/planet
70 Falmouth Street     Portland, Maine 04103
43.6667° N                   70.2667° W
Founded January 1970
Julian date:  2457741.16
               "Keeping a watchful eye on a complex sky"



THE DAILY ASTRONOMER
Wednesday. December 21, 2016
Finishing 2016


The DA is about to embark on an utterly undeserved vacation.  It is
undeserved because we love astronomy with such a fanatical ardor that every
day is like a vacation spent reclining next to a sea of mocha latte.
All the same, after today, the DA will go on hiatus until January 2, 2017!
As we have almost 90 Pandora parchments left  to answer and nearly as many
Messier objects  to visit before the school year slams to a shattering end
in early August, we will hit the ground at a full sprint on 1-2-2017.

The last article of 2016 is devoted to the last of the noteworthy sky
events of this most interesting year.      We can't truly count this post
as a bona fide night sky calendar because it covers less than a week and we
list only three events.   Two of them aren't even visible and one will
prove exceedingly difficult to see!   So, we end on an ebb, but promise a
lot more flow in the new year

TUESDAY, DECEMBER 27:  MOON 3.6 DEGREES NORTH OF SATURN
The very old moon (3%) hovers just north of Saturn in the eastern pre-dawn
sky.  Saturn is just now appearing after its month-long absence.   Saturn
is not one of the brightest planets and therefore not particularly easy to
observe.    This morning, however, the waning crescent moon will guide you
to find this magnificent ringed world as it slowly ascends against the
twilight

WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 28:   MERCURY AT INFERIOR CONJUNCTION
Do you remember the transit of Venus?   Strangely, even though it seems
like it happened a decade in the past, it occurred May 9, 2016   At that
time, Mercury  was also at inferior conjunction, meaning that it was
between the Sun and Earth.   However, Mercury had just passed a "node," an
intersection point between its orbit and Earth's.    Consequently, we could
see Mercury crossing the Sun: an event called a transit.     This December
inferior conjunction will not produce a transit, as Mercury will be nearly
2.5 degrees north of the Sun.    We won't see Mercury this week, but at
least we'll now where it is!    (Note: the next transit of Mercury occurs
on November 11, 2019)

THURSDAY, DECEMBER 29:  NEW MOON
New moon is also called "conjunction."  As is true with Mercury on December
28th, the moon will be between Earth and the Sun today.     When the moon
is at or near a node during this conjunction, we;ll experience a solar
eclipse.    NOTE:  We are already preparing for the "Great American
Eclipse" on August 21, 2017.  While the Sun will only be partially eclipsed
in Portland, the totality path will literally slice across the USA.     You
will hear far more about this eclipse in 2017!

The DA concludes 2016 now and is anxiously awaiting 2017.
Thank you for subscribing to this service.   We hope you derive as much
pleasure from reading these articles as we derive from sending them.
Thank you also for your feedback, your correspondence, your toleration for
our errors, and for spending time in the DA classroom each day.

On behalf of everybody at the Southworth Planetarium, may you and yours
enjoy a splendid holiday and may 2017 prove rich, sweet and bountiful.

Cheers!
Edward