‘Christmas Star’ Shines On The Solstice As ‘Shooting Stars’ Fall: The Night Sky This Week

Revellers watch the sun rise at Stonehenge, near Amesbury, in Wiltshire, southern England as they The Night Sky This Week: December 18-24, 2023 This week is the very best of the year for stargazing from the northern hemisphere. After all, Thursday’s solstice sees the sun at its southernmost point of the year. It, therefore, rises and sets earliest and is in the sky for the shortest time, creating the longest nights of the year.

This year, however, the moon has other ideas, becoming bright almost immediately and shining during the evening hours all week. Observe it each night and you’ll see it wax towards becoming a “Cold Christmas Moon”—a full moon—next week, passing closely to both bright Jupiter and the Pleiades as it does. Here’s everything you need to know about stargazing and the night sky this week: Tuesday, December 19: First Quarter Moon The moon will reach its First Quarter phase today, rising at noon and setting at midnight.

Its Earth-facing side will appear 50% lit. It’s a point in the stargazing month when the night sky gets noticeably brighter after dark, with faint stars and constellations harder to find. On each subsequent day this week, the moon will get brighter and rise around 50 minutes later.

Check the time of . Thursday, December 21: December Solstice Today at 22:28 EST, the Earth’s northern axis is at its maximum tilt away from the sun. The solstice is a global moment when the sun is above the Tropic of Capricorn.

For the northern hemisphere, it produces the shortest day of the year and the longest night and signals the beginning of the astronomical winter season. In the Arctic Circle, the sun will not rise, while in Antarctica, it will not set, the midnight sun shining all day as the southern hemisphere sees its longest days and shortest nights as summer begins. Thursday/Friday, December 21/22: Moon Meets Jupiter Thursday/Friday, December 21/22: Moon Meets Jupiter As Look east as it gets dark, and you’ll see a waxing gibbous moon on either side of the bright planet Jupiter, currently riding high as the “King of Planets.

” On Thursday, it will be 74%-lit and slightly above and to the south of Jupiter, while on Friday, it will be 83%-lit and be slightly below and to the east. With a brightening moon this week, the sky won’t be dark enough to fully appreciate the Ursids, which will only produce about 5-10 “shooting stars” per hour, even at the meteor shower’s peak tonight. The Ursids run from December 17-25 each year.

Saturday, December 23: Moon Meets Pleiades As Ursid Meteor Shower Peaks Look east after dark tonight, and you’ll see a 90%-lit waxing gibbous moon just to the right of the Pleiades, a beautiful and bright star cluster. Since the moon’s glare will drown out their brightness, use a pair of binoculars for the best views. The sun rising over Stonehenge on January 12,2022 in Wiltshire, England.

(Photo by Chris Stargazing Tip Of The Week: Solstice Sunrises And Sunsets The winter solstice is the shortest day of the year in the northern hemisphere, an occasion marked by human cultures for thousands of years. Around 5,000 years old, Neolithic stone circles align with the rising or setting sun on the solstice. Since the December solstice marks the sun’s southernmost point in the sky for the northern hemisphere, the sun rises and sets at its most southerly points.

After the December solstice, those sunrise and sunset points drift farther north, reaching their northernmost point by June’s solstice. The equinoxes in March and September are the halfway point between the two solstices. .