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What's in the Sky - December 2018
What's in the Sky - December 2018

What's in the Sky — December 2018

December brings cold winter nights and some of the clearest skies of the year for many locations. Bundle up to keep warm and get outside for some holiday stargazing fun!

Star Party Time
Thanks to the New Moon of December 7th, skies will dark enough for nice views distant deep-sky objects with a telescope, making it a great night for a holiday star party. Check out open cluster M45 (Pleiades), the Andromeda Galaxy (M31), and the many gems within our namesake constellation Orion, including M42 the Orion Nebula, emission nebula M78, and the large emission patch NGC 2174/2175 also known as the Monkey Head nebula. If you have a 10" or larger aperture telescope with a Hydrogen-beta filter, take advantage of the New Moon to go after views of the elusive Horsehead Nebula located near Alnitak - the easternmost star of Orion's easily recognizable belt.

Geminids Meteors
One of the most famous meteor showers, the Geminids, peaks after midnight December 13th into the early morning hours of the 14th. This impressive shower is known to produce up to 120 multicolored meteors per hour at its peak. This year, the waxing crescent Moon will leave skies nice and dark for great viewing conditions. While this shower can produce meteors nightly from December 7th through the 17th, the best chance to see a high concentration of meteors will be in the predawn hours of December 14th.

Best Binocular Targets
While 50mm binoculars are good for December stargazing, bigger 70mm, 80mm, or larger binos will reveal brighter and better views of celestial gems, of which there are plenty to enjoy in December skies. The glorious open star cluster M45, also known as the Pleiades, will be nearly overhead in the constellation Perseus. A little more north and overhead you'll find the Andromeda Galaxy (M31), which really shines in big binoculars. Slightly to the northwest of M31 you'll see the beautiful Double Cluster of Perseus

Best Telescope Targets
All of the binocular targets listed above also make great telescope quarry, but December skies offer great opportunities to see objects that require a telescope too. First, slew your scope just a few degrees southwest of M31 to find M33, a distant face-on spiral galaxy that's about 2.5 million light years (MLY) away from Earth. In the constellation Sculptor far to the south, try to find NGC 253, the impressive "silver dollar" galaxy. There's a swarm of other galaxies to see in the general area of NGC 253 — all part of the "Sculptor Group" of galaxies. Use a star chart or the Orion StarSeek app and hunt them down! In Pisces, look for M74, another face-on spiral galaxy like M33, but one that is almost 30 MLY farther away from us. Finally, check out NGC 1300, a classic barred spiral galaxy that is approximately 61 MLY away from Earth with a monster black-hole in its nucleus.

December Challenge
With a 10" or larger telescope from a dark sky site, try to track down the picturesque Horsehead Nebula near the eastern star of Orion's belt, which is named Alnitak. Using an Orion H-Beta Nebula Filter will improve your chances of seeing this faint absorption nebula.

All objects described above can easily be seen with the suggested equipment from a dark sky site, a viewing location some distance away from city lights where light pollution and when bright moonlight does not overpower the stars.

Details
Date Taken: 11/30/2018
Author: Orion Staff
Category: Seasonal

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