There are so many planets with which to dance and so little sky.
Venus fills its planetary dance card as it sashays through the early morning southeastern heavens with the red planet Mars early in December.
Now Venus ascends the horizon about 6 a.m. and Mars trails by about 15 minutes. The two planets, with Venus the brightest, move closer each morning over the next several days. On Dec. 5, Venus and Mars conjunct.
On Dec. 8 and 9, the slim sliver of a waning crescent moon will be seen hanging over the Venus-Mars dancing duo. Still effervescent at negative fourth magnitude (very bright), Venus appears to move lower in the sky than Mars (first magnitude, bright enough to see in a dark, urban sky).
While Venus pranced with Jupiter in November and waltzes with Mars now, the bright planet still has dance-card space. Mercury rises in the southeast and will provide a nice jitterbug partner for Venus. The fleet Mercury meets Venus on Dec. 27.
Jupiter rises about 4 a.m. now in the east-southeast. Find the large, gassy planet in the constellation Virgo. By 6 a.m., Jupiter should be easy to spot in the east-southeastern heavens, about 28 degrees above the horizon. We get more Jupiter with each day as the giant planet climbs the horizon about 2:30 a.m. It is a negative second-magnitude object (very bright) at the end of the month.
Ringing out the old year, Saturn climbs the east-northeast about 10 p.m. now, near the constellation Gemini. Heading west, the ringed planet crosses the sky the rest of the night. Saturn is a respectable zero magnitude object, bright enough to see in light-polluted urban skies. By mid-December, Saturn rises at 9 p.m., and by year's end, you can find it as early as 8 p.m.
If you are looking for more daylight, your wait is short. The winter solstice -- on the first official day of winter -- occurs at 7:42 a.m. Dec. 21, according to the U.S. Naval Observatory. That is the moment when the sun meets the Tropic of Capricorn and appears to head back north. (Really, it is the tilted Earth that moves and gives the illusion of a moving sun. The sun remains stationary.) In any case, we'll start to see more noticeable sunlight after the new year.
Down-to-Earth Events
• Dec. 1 -- Even if you have no trouble with tribbles, consider listening to the short talk "The Star Trek Enterprise," by curator Margaret Weitekamp. Meet at Milestones of Flight (Gallery 100) at the National Air and Space Museum, noon. Information, 202-357-2700; www.nasm.si.edu.
• Dec. 4 -- Astronomer Peter Teuben discusses "The Virtual Observatory from Astronomical Databases" at the regular meeting of the National Capital Astronomers. The group's meeting is at the University of Maryland's observatory, College Park. 7:30 p.m. Information, capitalastronomers.org.
• Dec. 5 -- Derek Richardson, astronomer, on "Cool Things You May Not Know About Asteroids," at the University of Maryland observatory's open house in College Park. See the heavens through a telescope after the lecture, weather permitting. 8 p.m. 301-405-6555; www.astro.umd.edu/openhouse.
• Dec. 7 -- Astronomer Ron Allen discusses "The Space Interferometry Mission" at the Space Telescope Science Institute, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore. 8 p.m. Information, 410-338-4700; hubblesite.org.
• Dec. 20 -- The University of Maryland's observatory holds an open house in College Park. Participants can scan the sky through a telescope afterward, weather permitting. 8 p.m. Information, 301-405-6555; www.astro.umd.edu/openhouse.
• Dec. 21 -- It's back! Our short days start getting longer. Learn how in the lecture "The Day of the Sun's Return: The Winter Solstice" at the Montgomery College Planetarium, Takoma Park. Parking available in the faculty lot. 7 p.m. Information, 301-650-1463; www.mc.cc.md.us/departments/planet.
• Dec. 22 -- It was the engine and fuel that helped us reach the heavens. Listen to the short talk "The RL-10 Rocket Engine: Pioneering Liquid Hydrogen," by curator Frank H. Winter. The RL-10 engine, made by Pratt & Whitney, was the first rocket engine to be fueled with high-energy liquid hydrogen, quite useful for space missions. Meet at Milestones of Flight (Gallery 100) at the National Air and Space Museum, noon. Information, 202-357-2700; www.nasm.si.edu.
Blaine Friedlander can be reached at bfriedlander@earthlink.net.
