What's Up - December 2016
 
http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/video/details.php?id=1452
 
2016 ends with fireworks as three planets line up as if ejected from a
Roman candle. Mercury, Venus and Mars are visible above the sunset horizon
all month long.
 
Transcript:
 
What's Up for December? Mars and Neptune above the crescent moon and a New
Year's Eve comet!
 
Hello and welcome. I'm Jane Houston Jones from NASA's Jet Propulsion
Laboratory in Pasadena, California.
 
2016 ends with fireworks as three planets line up as if ejected from a
Roman candle. Mercury, Venus and Mars are visible above the sunset horizon
all month long. As Venus climbs higher in the sky, it looks brighter and
larger than it appeared last month.
 
On New Year's Eve, Mars and Neptune appear very close to each other.
Through telescopes, rusty red Mars and blue-green Neptune`s colors contrast
beautifully.
 
There are two meteor showers this month - the Geminds and the Ursids. The
best time to see the reliable Geminids will be next year, when the full
moon won't be so bright and interfering. This year, however, we may luck
out and see some of the brighter meteors on the evening of the 13th and the
morning of the 14th. The best time to view the Ursids, radiating from Ursa
Minor, or the little Dipper, will be from midnight on the 21st until about
1 a.m. on the 22nd, before the moon rises. They may be active on the 23rd
and 24th, too.
 
We haven't had a good easy-to-see comet in quite a while, but beginning in
December and through most of 2017 we will have several binocular and
telescopic comets to view. The first we'll be able to see is Comet
45P/Honda-Mrkos-Pajdus kov , which will appear low on the western horizon
on December 15th. On that date, the comet will pass the pretty globular
cluster M75. By the 21st, it will appear edge-on, sporting a bluish-green
head and a thin, sharp view of the fan-shaped tail. On New Years Eve, the
comet and the crescent moon will rendezvous to say farewell to 2016. A
"periodic" comet is a previously-identified comet that's on a
return visit. Periodic comet 45P returns to the inner solar system every
5.25 years, and that's the one that will help us ring in the new year.
 
You can catch up on solar system missions and all of NASA's missions at www.nasa.gov
 
That's all for this month, I'm Jane Houston Jones.
 
 
Regards,
 
Roger

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