Venus puts on a good show on Christmas morning, while Mercury reappears in time for the new year in the latest episode of our weekly stargazing podcast, Star Diary 25 to 31 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 skyatnightmagazine.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're based here in the UK, all times are in GMT. In this episode, we'll be covering the coming week from 25 to 31 December. I'm Ezzy Pearson, and I'm joined this week by Reviews Editor Paul Money.
Hello, Paul.
Paul Money: Hello, Ezzy what an interesting week. I mean, Christmas week into New Year, good grief.
Ezzy: Absolutely. Hopefully some of our listeners will have a bit of time off over the coming weeks. I know a lot of people tend to have the Christmas period off. Sorry if you don't.
But it's a great opportunity to maybe take advantage of being able to get out and having some late nights watching the night sky.
So what would you suggest this week over the festive periods, our listeners get out there and try and see in the night sky?
Paul: Well, hopefully, if Santa's brought them a telescope, you never know what you might be able to see. Even a good pair of binoculars, you never know what you might be able to see.
But we've been following Venus in the morning sky. So we need to continue with that because it is getting lower.
It's still tracking through the bottom half of Libra now. So it's heading towards Scorpius. And as the week progresses towards the end of the week, it ends up not quite reaching Scorpius. It's still in Libra, but it'll be not far from Beta Scorpii sort of thing.
So we'll follow this up next year. But it is getting lower. You know, we're tracking this sort of thing and it has been getting lower. And it won't be long before it's quite into deep twilight, I have to say, in the morning sky.
But that's towards the southeast. So it also means that constellations such as Scorpius are re-emerging into the morning sky as well.
So it's amazing. We tend to think of Scorpius as a summer constellation and, you know, we're talking about it at the end of December, which always tickles me, but then there's the whole sky in winter time. We've got a large amount of time going through from the late summer through to the autumn, to the winter, into the spring sky, and then just beginning to emerge.
Out of the twilight, we have the summer sky beginning to come back as well. But that's in the early hours of the morning. Now on 27th, the Moon is full. So here we are, it's full on 27th. This makes it the last full Moon of the year. sort of thing.
So there we are, if you've been following full Moons and like full Moons. And if you've been doing a sequence photographing the size of the Moon, you'll show the different sizes throughout the year.
But this will be the last one for 2023. And it forms a really nice triangle with Castor and Pollux in Gemini as well as an added bonus. That's the 27th, and we're looking around about 11 o'clock in the evening.
Staying with evenings, hey, at last we're in the evening sky. So December 28th, around about 6PM, the Moon by then will actually form a bit of a shallow curve with Castor and Pollux sort of thing.
So, you know, we're going from the morning to the evening. We, you know, we've only got about 12 hours between the two. But it's surprising how much the Moon has actually moved in that particular time.
It gives you a good idea of how much the Moon takes to go around. It's about 15 degrees per day, so that's quite shifting, isn't it?
I mean 15 degrees is 30 times the size of the Moon, sort of thing, when you think of the Moon being half a degree.
Now on 29th, the Moon lies to the left of the Beehive Cluster. There'll be a lot of moonlight, so it might wash out. some of the stars of the cluster itself, but you should be able to pick out some of them.
And this is around about eight o'clock in the evening, so well worth having a look at for the Beehive Cluster with the Moon as well. And then we get to 30 and 31st... oh gosh, we're getting towards the end of the year.
We're still with the Moon, because the Moon is the one of the most prominent objects during the course of a month and in the week sort of thing. We tend to see it going past particularly bright stars.
Sometimes they're quite close to the star. You know, just a few weeks ago it was quite close to Regulus. Well, this time it's either side of Regulus. So it starts off, when you look at the constellation rising, this is around about 11 o'clock at night, it looks like the Moon is directly above Regulus by quite a few degrees.
Then the next morning on the evening, I should say, on the night of 31st, sort of thing, the end of the year. While you're celebrating, you might spot the Moon to the lower left of Regulus itself.
So we'll finish the year though with the start of something. That sounds daft, doesn't it?
We're finishing the year with the start of something. But, we've been watching Venus getting lower and lower. But as it's done so, something has emerged out of the morning twilight, and is heading towards it.
And we've got Mercury back. Literally the last day of the year. In the early hours of the morning, seven o'clock, Mercury emerges to begin a good morning apparition.
But as they say, that is for next year and another week, isn't it? So what a great way to finish off the actual year by getting up early as of 31st. 7am and looking for the two innermost planets, Venus and Mercury. Mercury finally emerges and you want to be looking roughly southeast, I say, about 7 AM.
So there we are, ending with the two innermost planets.
Ezzy: If you want to carry on finding out what stargazing highlights we have every week in the new year. Please do subscribe to Star Diary and we will see you back here next week.
But, to summarise what will be happening in this week again, throughout the week you'll be able to see Venus as it continues on its way through the constellation of Libra, rapidly approaching Scorpius, though it doesn't quite make its way there this week.
It's a nice opportunity to take a look at Scorpius though, as it will be making its way back into the morning sky.
Then on 27th, it's the last full Moon of the year. So definitely one worth catching there, especially if you've been keeping track of all of the full Moons throughout the year.
It'll be forming a triangle with Castor and Pollux in the constellation of Gemini if you want to mark that occasion.
Then on 29th, the Moon will be passing by the Beehive Cluster, M44.
And on 30th and 31st, if you want both of those nights, you'll be able to see the Moon moving from one side of the star Regulus to the other. So, a lovely way to see the motion of the Solar System and how far the Moon actually does travel over the course of a night.
And, finally, ending off the year on 31st of December. You'll be able to see the inner planet Mercury making its way back into the morning sky. It'll be quite low down in the morning sky, but it will be heading towards the planet Venus, so a great opportunity to catch those two inner planets together as we head forward into the new year.
So, a great finish there to the year 2023. We hope all of you at home have a wonderful festive period, and we hope to see you all here back in the new year in 2024, ready to get started on an entire year's worth of stargazing. From all of us here at BBC Sky at Night magazine, we wish you a Merry Christmas, a Happy New Year, and hope to see you all again soon.
Goodbye.
Paul: Goodbye, and Happy New Year, of course, everybody.
Ezzy: 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.
For more of our podcasts, visit our website at skynightmagazine.com or head to Acast, iTunes or Spotify.
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