Around 20 students and parents enjoyed the night sky on Dec. 1, using my (Terry Barker) telescope to to view the Moon, Pleiades, and double stars Albireo and Zeta Lyra. And we saw a great pass of the ISS passing almost directly overhead. As you can imagine, the sky in Midlothian is pretty muddy with light pollution, so there wasn’t much point in looking for the Andromeda Galaxy or other fainter objects. But, it was worth the trip when one young man shouted out his amazement at seeing the magnified Moon as soon as we started. I need to hire him for my next sky watch.
Notable Sky Sights in Late December
The Ursid meteor shower will be active between December 17 and 24 with its expected peak late December 21 into the early morning hours of December 22 (http://www.space.com/34973-ursid-meteor-shower-guide.html). Meteor showers are unpredictable in terms of the number and brightness of the meteors they produce, but if the weather permits, you might see some interesting meteors … Read more