Watch the minor planet Vesta as it moves past the Monkey Head Nebula in this week’s stargazing guide, Star Diary 11 to 17 December 2023.
Chris Bramley: Hello and welcome to Star Diary, the podcast from the makers of BBC Sky at Night Magazine. You can subscribe to the print edition by visiting skynightmagazine.com or to our digital edition by visiting iTunes or Google Play.
Ezzy Pearson: Greetings listeners and welcome to Star Diary, a weekly guide to the best things to see in the Northern Hemisphere's night sky. As we are based here in the UK, all times are in GMT. In this episode, we'll be covering the coming week from 11 to 17 December. I'm Ezzy Pearson, the magazine's features editor, and I'm joined this week by reviews . Editor Paul Money. Hello, Paul!
Paul Money: Hello there, Ezzy!
Ezzy: So, what have we got coming up for us in this week's night sky?
Paul: Well, we've got a project that we started last week, and that is following the minor planet or asteroid Vesta as it moves towards and below the Monkey Head Nebula.
Now, Vesta is actually around about magnitude +6.6 so it's relatively bright, and it lies directly under the Monkeyhead Nebula at the beginning of our morning of 11th.
So, it's directly under this. The Monkey Head Nebula is NGC 2174. Now, after this, it'll gradually move away. So, if you started the project last week and started taking images, carry on for the rest of the week, and then you'll have a record of this world passing under the Monkey Head Nebula. And it's always worth taking into account that you could do a deep image of the Money Head Nebula anyway, sort of thing, you know, wide field, and then overlay the new images showing the motion of the minor planet as it goes past it.
So that's a nice project to be actually carrying on. because it shows the motion of the Solar System, doesn't it, in the night sky.
Now then, on 11th again, in the early hours of the morning, we're now looking at 7am. I know, I know! But it's in deep twilight. You might still be able to spot, in the southeast, the Moon.
This is at 7am. So it's very low down, it'll be in deep twilight, but they're off to really beautiful views. Because you've often got a nice colourful sky to go with the Earthshine on the Moon and the slim crescent. And then to its upper right, of course, we've still got Venus. It's quite high up. And in fact, sort of like, Zuben El Genubi almost lies between the two as we're looking.
But, uh,know it means 7am, but I mean, you'll be getting up, going to work! Or perhaps taking the dog out! Now all week, we mentioned Venus. Venus is gradually getting lower.
What's happening with Venus is that it's gradually drawing in back towards the solar glare, because it's now on the far side of the Sun and heading behind. And it's a combination of the motion of the Earth and Venus actually doing that. So keep an eye on Venus in the morning sky because it is gradually getting lower.
So on 11th it passed into Libra. By the end of the week it will lie above – this is Venus now – lying above Zuben El Genubi. So good old Zuben has been involved quite a lot. He was involved last week, wasn't it?
Sort of thing with the Moon and now it's involved with Venus as well. So remember it is a nice wide double star. So you've got a nice planet at the end of the week quite close to it, as well as the actual double star, which I say is visible in binoculars, just. It's nicely split, but it's one of the few that's nicely split in binoculars. So that's effectively all week.
December 15th, so we're now into the middle of the month. During the week, the Moon passes through new, so you can't see it, you know, and there's no eclipse this time to actually observe.
But by 15th, the slim crescent Moon will finally creep in to the evening sky. So we're going to be looking around about 5pm, over towards the southwest, south southwest roughly, to actually pick up the Moon.
But again, whereas you had it in the morning sky, you had to get up for that. Well, it's now at a nice, convenient time, isn't it? It's in the evening sky, 5pm, and you'll be able to see the crescent with the Earthshine as well. And again, that makes for a great photograph. If you slightly overexpose it, you get the Earth's shine as well as the crescent Moon as well.
Now, on 17th, two evenings later, therefore, the crescent is getting thicker, and the thick crescent Moon lies almost below Saturn. So again, you've got the Moon, giving you a guide to Saturn, although Saturn is a naked eye planet, and has been quite prominent, so it's just not as bright as, say, Jupiter or Venus as such.
And so, over those two evenings, we build to this. Keep an eye on the phase of the Moon, as it sweeps across and leaves Crisium.
Mare Crisium is a really lovely, round impact base, and it's very prominent at this phase. And there's lots of craters, you've got lots of detail on the terminator itself. So, you know, it's a good time to keep an eye on that phase over a couple of days, and it gives you an idea of how this is actually sunrise occurring on the Moon.
And we don't often really emphasize that. This is at If you're on the Moon, you'd be watching the sun rise above the horizon there to illuminate you, so I think that would be quite something.
I mean, I'll never be able to do that, but I imagine one day, sort of thing, we'll be back on the Moon, hopefully in the next year or two, sort of thing, and they might be able to see something like that, although they'll always usually fly there when it's daylight, because it's safer as such.
But there we are, sort of thing. Have a look for the Moon, watch the actual Mare Crisium, I think, is, is one of those that really stands out because it's so dark, sort of thing, and it's so circular, so it stands out on that limb of the moon at this particular time. So, do have a look at that as we end the week's events.
Ezzy: It definitely was one of the first ones that I could ever recognise by sight. It's very distinctive, right there on the edge whenever it's in view. You can see it and you immediately know that one, that's Marie Crisium it's right on the edge and very dark.
Paul: Yeah, exactly.
Ezzy: But thank you very much for taking us through all of that week, Paul.
It certainly sounds like there's a lot of interesting things to get up to and see in this week's night sky. If anybody at home would like to hear more about what's coming up in the coming weeks, please do subscribe to the Star Diary podcast and make sure that you keep up to date with all of the latest astronomy highlights.
But to summarise this week again, you can follow the minor planet or asteroid Vesta as it makes its way across the night sky throughout the week. It's passing underneath the Monkey Head Nebula. So it's a really good project to track it as it moves across the night sky, moving under the monkey head nebula, seeing that motion through the Solar System.
Then on 11th, the crescent Moon will be visible in the morning sky. It will be very low with Venus next to it in the twilight. It's a nice opportunity to see those two together with some lovely colouration from the morning twilight coming in behind it as well.
Throughout the week, Venus is also going to be passing through the constellation of Libra and fairly close to the star Zuben el Genubi so do try and capture those two together.
Then on 15th, a very thin, slim crescent Moon is going to be visible low down in the sky, which is always a lovely thing to be able to see.
And finally, on 17 December, the Moon and Saturn are going to be close by to each other, giving a nice photo opportunity, catching those two planets together. Especially as the Moon will be showing off Mare Crisium across its limb edge as well. It's a very good dark impact basin that's very prominent and visible.
So, lots of things to see and potentially image throughout the week. We'll be back here next week with even more stargazing highlights, and we hope you join us then. From all of us here at Sky At Night magazine, goodbye.
If you want to find out even more spectacular sights that will be gracing the night sky this month, Be sure to pick up a copy of BBC Sky at Night Magazine, where we have a 16 page pull out sky guide, with a full overview of everything worth looking up for throughout the whole month.
Whether you like to look at the Moon, the planets, or the deep sky, whether you use binoculars, telescopes, or neither, our sky guide has got you covered, with detailed star charts to help you track your way across the night sky. From all of us here at BBC Sky at Night Magazine, goodbye.
Chris: Thank you for listening to this episode of the Star Diary podcast from the makers of BBC Sky at Night Magazine.
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