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    Adrian Dening's Stars Over Somerset

    Wednesday, 17 December 2025 23:39

    Monday 22nd to Sunday 28th December 2025

     

    The evening of Monday 22nd sees the peak of the annual Ursid meteor shower.  If you venture outside from 8pm, the Moon will have set below the horizon, so there will be no light pollution from our celestial neighbour.  Look towards the north and try to locate Polaris, the pole star, which appears to be at the far end of the "little saucepan" Ursa Minor's "handle".  The radiant point where the shooting stars appear to originate from is located below that, nearer the body of the saucepan.

    The Ursids is classed as a "sparse" shower, producing up to ten meteors per hour and it is associated with the debris left behind by comet 8P/Tuttle, that last orbited close to the Sun back in 2021.  Tuttle is known as a "short period comet" as it orbits the Sun every 13.6 years and the comet only travels out as far as Saturn, where most comets travel all the way to the outer reaches of the Solar System and their orbits take hundreds of years to complete.

     

    Talking about the Moon and Saturn, if you go back outside around 8pm on Boxing Day 26th and look towards the south west, you will see a 39%-lit crescent Moon extremely close to Saturn.

    Some very exciting news..........I have seen a top secret copy of Santa's travel plans for Christmas Day and I can reveal that he will be passing over the UK just after 6am on Christmas morning.  If you look towards the west at 6.17am, his sleigh will appear as a bright point of light near planet Jupiter and the constellation of Gemini.  He will pass almost directly overhead, before disappearing towards the east around 6.21am.

    On that note, it just remains for me to wish all our listeners a peaceful and happy festive period, with hopefully some clear skies!

    www.starsoversomerset.com

    Screenshots courtesy of Stellarium

    Copyright Adrian Dening and Radio Ninesprings 2025

     

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