Adrian Dening's Stars Over Somerset

Wednesday, 1 December 2021 17:00

Monday 6th to Sunday 12th December 2021

At the moment, the early evening sky presents a great view of the planets Venus, Saturn and Jupiter when you look towards the south. If you do this around 5 pm on Tuesday 7th, a 16%-lit Crescent Moon is also added into the equation.

This is a brilliant time to get youngsters out in the garden with a telescope as potentially you can see the Galilean Moons of Jupiter, the rings of Saturn, Venus as a crescent and the Moon all in one hit without even having to stay up late and get too cold!

A few weeks ago I mentioned a series of visual effects on the Lunar surface known as "clair-obscur". Later next week there is the opportunity to see two of them..........

Firstly, around 8.30 pm on Saturday 11th, it is possible to observe the effect known as "The Face of Albategnius" which looks like the profile of a face in the crater with the same name.

Then, around 10.20 pm on Sunday 12th, "The Eyes of Clavius" can be seen as the Lunar dawn breaks over the crater Clavius.

While you are looking at the Moon, I thought it might be fun to spot where the Apollo missions landed over fifty years ago. Along with the usual star chart and a diagram showing the location of "clair-obscur" effects courtesy of Sky at Night Magazine, I have also posted an image of the Moon with the various landing sites highlighted.

Screenshot courtesy of Stellarium
Copyright Adrian Dening and Radio Ninesprings 2021