♪
What's Up for December?
Mars and Neptune above the crescent moon
and a New Year's Eve comet!
Hello and welcome.
I'm Jane Houston Jones
from NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory
in Pasadena, California.
2016 ends with fireworks
as three planets line up as if ejected from a Roman candle.
Mercury, Venus and Mars are visible
above the sunset horizon all month long.
As Venus climbs higher in the sky,
it looks brighter and larger
than it appeared last month.
On New Year's Eve, Mars and Neptune appear
very close to each other.
Through telescopes, rusty red Mars
and blue-green Neptune's colors contrast beautifully.
[Whoosh]
There are two meteor showers this month
the Geminds and the Ursids.
The best time to see the reliable Geminids will be
next year, when the full moon
won't be so bright and interfering.
This year, however, we may luck out and see
some of the brighter meteors on the evening of the 13th
and the morning of the 14th.
The best time to view the Ursids,
radiating from Ursa Minor, or the little Dipper,
will be from midnight on the 21st
until about 1 a.m. on the 22nd,
before the moon rises.
They may be active on the 23rd and 24th, too.
[Whoosh]
We haven't had a good easy-to-see comet
in quite a while,
but beginning in December and through most of 2017
we will have several binocular and telescopic comets to view.
The first we'll be able to see is
Comet 45P/Honda-Mrkos-Pajdusáková,
which will appear low on the western horizon
on December 15th.
On that date, the comet will pass
the pretty globular cluster M75.
By the 21st, it will appear edge-on,
sporting a bluish-green head and a thin, sharp view
of the fan-shaped tail.
On New Year's Eve, the comet and the crescent moon
will rendezvous to say farewell to 2016.
A "periodic" comet is a previously-identified comet
that's on a return visit.
Periodic comet 45P returns to the inner solar system
every 5.25 years,
and that's the one that will help us ring in the new year.
You can catch up on solar system missions and
all of NASA's missions at
www.nasa.gov
That's all for this month, I'm Jane Houston Jones.
♪