Look Up!

Planetary Treats
Venus and Jupiter ~ A Dazzling Sunset Duo
Where Is Mars?
Saturn’s Mysterious New Aurora
More Mercury in More Color!
Celestial Delights
Ophiuchus Our "Thirteenth Constellation"
Orion ~ A Sure Sign That Winter Is Near
The Winter Solstice ~ December's Planetary Meditation
Plus ...
Sky Lights
Printable Date Tables
Moon Dances 10/28-11/27
Moon Dances 11/27-12/27
The Night Sky ~ Home Page

Planetary Treats

Note: Looking through a telescope, as Venus nears the Earth, one can see it grow in disk size, while its phase wanes. See this animation. Jupiter and the outer or superior planets essentially remain full to us, when viewed through an Earth-based telescope.

Venus and Jupiter our brightest planets are a pair of brilliant jewels in the southwestern sky shortly after sunset. They are moving in opposite directions toward each other until December 1. Afterwards they separate with Venus ascending away from the setting Sun and Jupiter descending toward it and the western horizon. During Sagittarius watch them approach, join and pass each other in a dynamic dance, which carries them across the heavens about 1º (degree) a day.

If you're feeling adventurous, look for the pair in a light sky about a half hour before our central luminary sets. Venus at magnitude -4.2 is much brighter than Jupiter at magnitude -2.0.

Fortunately, you don't need dark skies to witness the ongoing convergence of Jupiter and Venus. The two bright planets beam through clouds, twilight and even urban light pollution. Step outside at sunset and take a look. SpaceWeather.com 11/19/08

There’s nothing anywhere close to their brightness. ... this is too amazing to miss. New to the skies or have a new telescope? ... Get out there fast after dusk. Venus is a little ferret and sneaks away fast into the horizon right now! NiteSkyGirl 11/18/08

Observers with clear, dry air and a dark sky can add the Milky Way to the stunning scene. [11/16 Photo] Astronomy Magazine 12/08

Venus sets first around 7:45pm and Jupiter follows at 8:15pm in the beginning of Sagittarius. At the end of Sagittarius, after their close encounter, they switch with Jupiter setting first around 7:15pm and Venus following at 8:15pm.

Thanks SpaceWeather.com for the following maps! These early evening views promise to take one's breath away. Slender Luna first joins the dazzling duo on November 29 and then again at their two closest approaches November 30 and December 1. Clear skies!

Sky maps: Nov. 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, Dec 1

Note: Venus and Jupiter are in exact conjunction 12/1 at 12:45am PST; 08:45 UT.

Click Moon Dances for a 11/29-12/1 map and lunar reflections.

Though close encounters of these two planets happen about once a year, they often occur close to the Sun in a "light polluted" sky. Their morning approach in February 2008 and this current evening approach are the best dark sky views for several years.

The next event after this one, on February 16, 2010, occurs only 9º from the Sun. The next decent Venus-Jupiter conjunction occurs before dawn May 11, 2011. Astronomy Magazine 11/08

The last nice evening conjunction occurred in September 2005, and the next won't come until March 13, 2012, when the planets will lie 3º apart. Astronomy Magazine 12/08

Venus, dazzling us with its Jupiter dance, gives its best performance in November and December. As the weeks unfold watch Venus grow brighter and bigger, as it moves closer to Earth. Venus Path The planet is at greatest elongation January 14, 2009 and greatest brilliancy February 19, 2009. Jupiter is gradually diminishing in size and brightness as its distance from Earth increases. Jupiter remains located at the eastern border of the constellation Sagittarius throughout 2008, while Venus exits Sagittarius, transits Capricornus and ends the year in Aquarius. 5pm 12/31 Map

Note: On December 1 Venus is the same distance from the Earth as the Sun, 1 AU or 93 million miles. Jupiter is a whopping 540 million miles away, yet through a telescope its disk size is double that of Venus. This is because Jupiter is sooooo huge ... 88,000 miles wide compared to 8,000 mile wide Venus.

Telescoping Jupiter and Venus

Try observing gaseous giant Jupiter with binoculars or a telescope. Can you see its four large bright moons, known as the Galilean satellites? They appear as tiny stars around a beacon of light. Watch them change positions from hour to hour and night to night.

BTW: Jupiter makes a complete rotation in less than 10 hours, so every 10–15 minutes its face changes. The lower its altitude the more the Earth's atmosphere blurs Jupiter's features.

Jupiter’s Moons
Locate Jupiter’s four brightest satellites anytime
between January 1900 - December 2100.

Jupiter Observing Guide

Transit Times of Jupiter's Great Red Spot

The cloud cover of Venus prevents one from observing any surface details of the planet. However, one can see its disk grow in December from 17" (arcseconds) - 21" and it's illuminated phase decrease from 70% - 58%. Venus is moving from a gibbous phase now toward a sliver of a crescent phase at its closest approach and inferior conjunction March 27, 2009.

Reflections ~ Venus and Jupiter

Ponder on Venus and Jupiter. Invite their emanations into your being. Imagine the hearts and minds of humanity expanding and uniting. Tune to and practice a love that is wise, beneficent, unifying and for the greatest good.

Hmmm ... Jupiter, having spending about one year in Sagittarius, has been encouraging spiritual aspiration and stimulating intuitive vision within humanity. Pluto also in the constellation Sagittarius (for about 14 years) will help humanity pierce the veil of falsehood and bring an end to that, which obstructs the greater Truth. Venus passing through Sagittarius in less than a month increases understanding and communicates messages of unity to the world.

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Mars is far from Earth now, across the solar system. It is small, dim and in close proximity to the Sun, lost in its glaring light. Mars conjoins the Sun 12/5 and reappears in the morning sky early 2009.

5 Years At Mars: The Best of Mars Express
December 2008 the European Space Agency's
Mars Express Orbiter celebrates the
fifth anniversary of its arrival at Mars.
See some of the best images!
ESA’s Mars Express Orbiter

Phoenix Mars Lander ~ 11/10/08 Update
It has ceased communications,
however the mission is a success!
Phoenix Receives Award

Current Missions to Mars ~ All Missions to Mars

Saturn’s Mysterious New Aurora

Larger Images

This infrared image captured by the Cassini spacecraft shows Saturn’s mysterious new aurora in blue. The planet’s underlying hexagonal-shaped clouds are shown in red.

We've never seen an aurora like this elsewhere," said Tom Stallard, a scientist working with Cassini data at the University of Leicester, England. Stallard is lead author of a paper that appears in the Nov. 13 issue of the journal Nature. "It's not just a ring of auroras like those we've seen at Jupiter or Earth. This aurora covers an enormous area across the pole. Our current ideas on what forms Saturn's aurora predict that this region should be empty, so finding such a bright aurora here is a fantastic surprise. Cassinini News Release 11/12/08

The recently imaged strange auroras above Saturn's north pole can
change their global patterns significantly in only a few minutes. The large and variable nature of these auroras indicate that charged particles streaming in from the Sun are experiencing some type of magnetism above Saturn that was previously unexpected. Astronomy Picture of the Day 11/19/08

NASA’s Cassini-Huygens Mission
Successful Launch ~ October 15, 1997
Orbital Arrival ~ June 30, 2004
Mission Extension ~ To June 30, 2010
(Newly Dubbed Cassini Equinox Mission)

Saturn can be viewed by both night owls and early birds. It rises for night owls at 12:45am in the beginning of Sagittarius and 11:45pm by its end. Early birds can view Saturn high in the south before sunrise. 6am 12/10 Map

The planet spends the rest of the year south of the hindquarters of Leo the Lion. It currently shines at magnitude 1.1 a little brighter than Regulus at magnitude 1.35, the heart star of the Lion. The waning Moon transits Regulus the night of December 16/17 and in the predawn hours of December 18, 19 lies southwest then southeast of Saturn. Stay tuned for a Moon Dances link with a map and reflections.

The planet is moving closer to Earth, however its brightness is negatively affected because its reflective rings are closing toward their 2009 edge-on view. The maximum ring tilt of 27º occurred in 2003; in December 2008 Saturn's rings tilt only 1º.

Saturn appears dimmer now than at any time this year. Most of the light we see coming from the planet reflects off its disk [now] — the rings add essentially nothing. Earlier this year, the rings contributed a few tenths of a magnitude to the brightness. Now they appear almost edge-on … They will open up a bit in early 2009 before turning precisely edge-on to our view next summer.

With the rings nearly edge-on, we get a rare view of Saturn's entire disk. Any small telescope will show that the disk appears flattened. In mid-December, the planet's equatorial diameter spans 18" [arcseconds] while the polar diameter measures 16". The planet's fast rotation causes this flattening. Astronomy Magazine 12/08

Why are Saturn’s rings disappearing?
A once-in-14-year astronomical opportunity is approaching.

Seeking Saturn’s Moons
Sky & Telescope’s JavaScript utility helps
locate Saturn’s five brightest satellites anytime
between January 1900-December 2100.

Saturn Opposes Uranus

Saturn and Uranus remain within a 2-3 degree opposition of each other through the end of 2008. Their first exact pass took place on the USA's election day, November 4, 2008. Four more exact passes occur ... February 5 and September 15, 2009 ... April 26 and July 26, 2010.

Given that the orbs of influence with slow-moving planets mean we feel them before and after the aspects are exact, we have a two year plus window of time in which these two planets oppose each other. This happens every 45.4 years, and the last time was 1965-67 and before that, 1918-1920.

Both of these periods saw big cultural changes: the aftermath of World War 1 brought the demise of the certainty of class privilege in the West, and Spanish flu laid tragedy upon the already traumatized by killing more people than had died in the war itself. In the mid-’60s the counterculture emerged as an articulate alternative to the blind pursuit of the American dream and automatic support for the overt hegemony of the military-industrial complex. For the first time in history, young people all over the world voiced their social criticism en masse. This time, so far, we’re seeing sweeping changes to our financial systems and sense of material security. Will Saturn/Uranus sound the death knell to calcified, spiritually-defunct concepts of materialism? Lara Owen / Planetary Energies

Disciplined Saturn utilizes the experiences of limitation, pain and restriction to lead humanity out of its outdated patterns to an expansion in consciousness, greater fulfillment, and eventual freedom. Exciting Uranus evokes the freedom urge and shakes us loose from constrictions, allowing the trappings of an old age to fall away for a greater inclusiveness and freedom. During the opposition of these two planets, energies build up and create crises that ultimately free the human spirit from oppressive life structures and dull routines.

Robert Hand warns that this planetary relationship is one of the most challenging in a lifetime! One must find a balance between Saturn's order, discipline, predictability and Uranus' change and original experience.

This transit can have two different effects. Either you will succeed in making your life an original statement of your uniqueness, or you will be in a state of extreme tension because of forces that are constantly obstructing your self-expression. Robert Hand / Planets in Transit

These are times of change. Remain calm and tune to the guiding forces of your higher power. Mantram: May the greatest good come forth!

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MESSENGER Sees More Mercury in More Color!

Larger Image

More Color

The true color grayish image on the left was one of the first to be returned from the October 6, 2008 flyby of Mercury. It was taken as the MESSENGER spacecraft looked back at the planet about 90 minutes after passing, from an altitude of about 27,000 kilometers (17,000 miles). This was MESSENGER’s second closest flyby. The first flyby occurred 1/14/08 and a third flyby occurs 9/29/09. Orbital entry is scheduled for 3/18/11.

The Mercury Dual Imaging System (MDIS) aboard MESSENGER utilized 11 spectral filters in the visible and near-infrared wavelengths to create the more colorful image on the right. These specific filters were selected to recognize the planet’s common minerals. The exaggerated colors alone are not enough to aid scientists in the geological mapping of the planet, however once in obit about Mercury, the spacecraft’s full suite of instruments will be brought to bear on the newly discovered color units to unlock their secrets.

NASA Sends a MESSENGER to Mercury!
This is NASA’s first trip to the planet in 30 years.
Successful Launch ~ August 2/3, 2004
Orbital Arrival ~ March 2011
News Center

More Mercury

Over 30 years ago in 1974 and 1975, Mariner 10 flew past Mercury three times and imaged less than half the planet. 20% of the planet's surface missed by Mariner10 was imaged during MESSENGER's first flyby (1/14/08). The second flyby (10/6/08) has shown us another 30% of Mercury’s previously unseen side.

Visual data from about 95% of the planet now exists. When all of it has been digested and compared, humanity will have its first global view of Mercury.

Note: The bright crater just south of the center of the image is Kuiper, identified on images from the Mariner 10 mission. Most of the terrain to the right of Kuiper, toward the edge of the planet, is the first of that portion of Mercury's surface to be seen. A striking characteristic of this newly, high-resolution imaged area is the large pattern of meridian-like rays that extend from the northern region of Mercury to regions south of Kuiper.

Flyby Findings

It is now clear that Mercury’s battered surface, unlike the Moon and Mars, is more homogeneously ancient and heavily cratered. Post-impact volcanic activity is shown by large extents of younger volcanic plains lying within and between giant impact basins. Volcanic activity has played a more extensive role in shaping the surface of Mercury than previously thought.

It is now known that Mercury's magnetic field is alive, active and highly symmetric. After the end of Mercury’s heavy bombardment period, cooling of the planet's core continues to fuel the magnetic dynamo and lead to a contraction of the entire planet, the total of which is at least one third greater than previously thought. The contraction reveals itself in the form of cliff-like "wrinkles" called lobate scarps.

For the first time scientists can correlate high-resolution topography measurements with high-resolution images. This considerably improves their interpretation of surface geology. Spacecraft images are also revealing for the first time vast geologic differences on the surface.

MESSENGER for another first, has opened an unprecedented window into the interaction of Mercury's surface and exosphere. The planet's ultra thin atmosphere (exosphere) comes mainly from the planet's surface, knocked aloft by solar radiation, solar wind bombardment and meteoroid vaporization.

A rich lode of data continues to pour in, while another flyby in September 2009 and the March 2011 orbital entry lie in wait. Excitement abounds in the scientific community!

The above was culled and integrated from the following sources:

First Flyby
Press Conference Multimedia Page

New Discoveries at Mercury

MESSENGER Provides New Insights on Mercury

Second Flyby
Astronomy.com News 10/7/08

NASA Press Release 10/29/08

Flyby 2 Gallery

Mercury in superior conjunction November 25 returns to the evening sky in December. Look low on the southwestern horizon just after sunset for your first fleeting glimpse of the planet. Binoculars improve visibility. Keep your eyes safe; never look at the Sun with binoculars! By mid-December the planet sets about 45 minutes after the Sun. Mercury reaches greatest elongation January 4.

Mark your calendar!

December 29, Monday, about 30 minutes after sunset, look for the triple conjunction of a 2-day-old Crescent Moon above the pairing of Mercury below Jupiter. Venus blazing above shines its light upon the elegant trio. Map This challenging observation is brief with Mercury setting just after 6:15pm. You'll need right timing and an unobstructed southwestern horizon; binoculars come in handy. Rise/Set/Transit Times ~ Major Bodies

December 30, Tuesday, the slim Cheshire Moon smiles higher above Mercury and Jupiter and approaches Venus. Mercury rises to the lower left side of Jupiter. The view begins disappearing around 6:20pm. Moonset: 8:00pm ~ Venus set: 8:45pm Note: Telescopic Neptune lies invisibly between the Crescent Moon and Venus.

December 31, New Year's Eve Wednesday, Mercury rises up and lies next to Jupiter on the left. The Crescent Moon nestles near Venus above the two planets.

12/29-31 Star Gazer's 1-minute Video ~ 5pm 12/31 Map

During these days open your heart and mind to a new spiritual impulse that bridges the soul and personality and brings out the best in all. Happy New Year!

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Celestial Delights

Ophiuchus Our "Thirteenth Constellation"
Sol Visits the Medicine Man Annually
November 30 – December 17

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Ophiuchus the Serpent Bearer also known as Aesculapius, the first doctor of medicine has the reputation of being the "thirteenth constellation" of the zodiac. Each year from November 30 to December 17 the Sun journeys through its southern regions.

Ophiuchus is a large constellation including Serpens Caput (snake’s head) and Serpens Cauda (snake’s tail). It lies above, on and actually crosses the ecliptic. Scorpius lies below the feet of Ophiuchus and below the ecliptic. The Serpent Bearer is often shown with his left foot on the heart of the Scorpion and his right foot above the stinger. Images 1, 2

Each year, as November ends and December begins, the Sun spends a substantial amount of time transiting the legs of Ophiuchus, hence the claim it is the "thirteenth constellation" of the zodiac or the tenth Sun Sign. The legs of Ophiuchus lie in sidereal Scorpio.

Ophiuchus is knowledge holder over the raw creative forces governing life and death--one who has attained ascension from the lower-order forces that perpetuate our scenarios of (re-incarnational) entrapment. Ophiuchus is exemplar of one who has mastered the initiatory forces of life and who has brought the interplay of these forces to a greater spiritual fulfillment. The neck (Unukalhai) and head of the snake embody the essence and wisdom of living true to soul, in one's true self-mastery--as a Christed (soul infused) being of light.

The astronomical symbol of Ophiuchus is the caduceus--the entwined double serpent upon a staff--the double helix of the DNA. Nick Fiorenza 12/12/04

The double helix of the DNA and the caduceus always remind me of the kundalini serpent fire within each of us. 3 Nadis/Channels of the Kundalini

Note: As our Sun transits this area of the sky November 30 through December 17, take time each day to feel its warm rays touching you with the healing energies of Ophiuchus.

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Orion ~ A Sure Sign That Winter Is Near

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Winter's Orion rises in the east as the cosmic Scorpion disappears below the western horizon. The following mythology tells us why.

Scorpius is the legendary killer of Orion. Orion was a great hunter who bragged about his skills until the gods grew tired of his boasting. The scorpion was sent to punish Orion, who never thought of such a small creature as a threat. Once he was stung, it was too late. Both were placed in the sky although Orion's last wish was that he never be in the sky as the same time as the scorpion. Thus, Scorpius rules the northern hemisphere's summer while Orion rules the winter skies. StarySkies.com

Orion the Hunter, a heavenly cosmic giant, is easy to spot. He emerges and towers above the eastern horizon about 8:00pm local time during the first two weeks of December. His illustrious starlit belt helps one navigate the winter sky. Click the link below to learn more.

Navigating with Orion
The Hunter Heralds the Coming of Winter.

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The Winter Solstice occurs December 21, at 4:04am PST; 12:04 UT. This is considered the shortest day of the year for those north of the equator. It's the time when the Sun appears at its southernmost point in its path around the sky.

The Winter Solstice
What does solstice mean?
How do the paths of the Sun and Moon differ?
How many shortest days are there?
What is the spiritual significance of the winter solstice?
Participate in solstice global meditations.

The December Solstice seeds the new spiritual year for this planet. It prepares humanity for the outpouring of the Wesak energies.

Planetary Solstice Radiant Life Meditation
Learn the Significance of the December Solstice.
Join SouledOut.org in a high meditation ritual.
Sunset Dec. 20 - Sunset Dec. 21

At our deepest level
we are all essentially Divine.
Take time on any day to
acknowledge and act on this truth.
Give thanks that we are all
spiritual beings having human experiences.
Give thanks that we can help
each other create the Kingdom of Heaven on Earth.
Happy "Thanks Giving" throughout all the seasons!

Printable Date Tables

Lunar cycle 10/28/08-11/27/08

Lunar cycle 11/27/08-12/27/08

I'd like to know your thoughts about The Night Sky and
if you'd like reminders to Look Up! ...
send me an email.
May your Night Sky traveling always be filled
with Celestial Delights and Treats!
Susan Sun

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