General Astronomy, Solar System

Planets of the Month: December 2018

by Erich Karkoschka

planet-of-the-month-saturn Saturn is still visible at dusk very low in the southwest until Dec 15.
planet-of-the-month-mars Mars at magnitude 0 transits at 6pm and sets at midnight. It is moving fast through Aquarius.
planet-of-the-month-neptune Neptune is easy to find on Dec 7 when it is only 15 arc-minutes from Mars.
planet-of-the-month-uranus Uranus transits at 9pm 68 degrees high in Pisces.
planet-of-the-month-venus Venus is magnitude -4.9, the brightest possible, high during dawn.
planet-of-the-month-mercury Mercury is visible well below Venus from Dec 4 to Jan 4.
planet-of-the-month-jupiter Jupiter joins Mercury starting Dec 9 first below Mercury. On Dec 21, the pair is only 1 degree apart.  Afterwards, Jupiter will be higher than Mercury by 1 degree per day.
planet-of-the-month-moon The moon will be first visible on Dec 8 as a very thin crescent next to Saturn.  On Dec 14 it shines below Mars.
planet-of-the-month-meteor The Geminids meteors will be very active on Dec 13 an 14.
winter-solstice Winter solstice occurs on Dec 21. The length of the day stays near 10 hours all month, but sunrise and sunset both get delayed by about a quarter of an hour during December.