Stargazing News - December 28th, 2024
From
CJ@21:2/156 to
All on Fri Dec 27 05:41:16 2024
Saturday December 28, 2024
Earthshine Moon with Antares and Mercury (before sunrise)
If the weather forecast calls for clear skies to the southeast on Saturday morning, December 28, it will be worth venturing outside around breakfast time to see the pretty spectacle of Mercury and the old, waning moon's slender crescent shining close to Scorpius' bright star Antares. All three objects
will clear the treetops by about 6:15 a.m. local time. Reddish Antares will sparkle just to the moon's lower left (or celestial east). They'll be closer together for observers in westerly time zones. Mercury's bright dot will be positioned nearly a fist's diameter to the left (or 9 degrees to the celestial northeast) of Antares. The old moon should also display Earthshine, also known as the Ashen Glow and "the old moon in the new moon's arms". The phenomenon, sunlight reflected off Earth and back onto the moon, slightly brightening the dark portion of the moon's Earth-facing hemisphere, appears for several days before and after each new moon.
(Data courtesy of Starry Night
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