The Sky This Month: December 2004–January 2005

All times are in EST.

Dec 18	Sat	11:40 AM	First quarter Moon
Dec 21	Tue	07:42 AM	Winter solstice
Dec 26	Sun	10:06 AM	Full Moon
Dec 29	Wed	00:00 AM	Mercury 1.2° N of Venus
Dec 29	Wed	04:00 PM	Mercury  greatest elongation W
Jan 1	Sat	08:00 PM	Earth at perihelion (147,099,100 km)
Jan 3, 4, 6	Mon Tue Thu		Deep sky observing (1st clear night)
Jan 3	Mon	12:46 PM	Last quarter Moon
Jan 3	Mon	09:00 PM	Jupiter 0.4° N of Moon
Jan 7	Fri	03:00 PM	Antares 1.3° S of Moon
Jan 10–13	Mon–Thu		City observing (1st clear night)
Jan 10	Mon	07:03 AM	New Moon

Orion and Gemini

Object	Designation	Const	Details
Comet	C/2004 Q2	Eri–Per	mag 5.1–4.1/0.46–0.35 au Comet Machholz
Planet	Saturn	Gemini	mag -0.4 – -0.2/8.2–8.1 au
Double	DS-18 Beta	Orion	mag 0.1 6.8/sep 9.5"/pa 202°/773 ly Rigel ****
Double	DS-20 Delta	Orion	mag 2.2 6.3/sep 52.6"/pa 359°/916 ly Mintaka ****
Double	DS-22 Lambda	Orion	mag 3.6 5.5/sep 4.4"/pa 43°/1055 ly ****
Quad	DS-23 Theta 1	Orion	mag 6.7 7.9 5.1 6.7/sep 8.8" 13" 21.5"/1500 ly Trapezium *****
Double	DS-24 Iota	Orion	mag 2.8 6.9/sep 11.3"/pa 141°/1325 ly *****
Triple	DS-26 Sigma	Orion	mag 4.0 7.5 6.5/sep 12.9" 43"/pa 84° 61°/1300 ly ****
Triple	DS-27 Zeta	Orion	mag 1.9 4.0 9.9/sep 2.4" 58"/pa 162° 10°/817 ly Alnitak ****
Double	DS-34 Delta	Gemini	mag 3.5 8.2/sep 6.8"/pa 211°/59 ly Wasat ****
Double	DS-34 Alpha	Gemini	mag 1.9 2.9/sep 2.2"/pa 171°/52 ly Castor ****
Cl + neb	M 42	Orion	mag 4.0/1500 ly Orion Nebula *****
Diff neb	M 43	Orion	mag 9.0/1500 ly *****
Diff neb	M 78	Orion	mag 8.0/1500 ly ****
Open cl	M 35	Gemini	mag 5.1/2000 ly *****
Plan neb	NGC 2392	Gemini	mag. 8.6/surf bright 6.8/3000 ly Eskimo Nebula *****

Download PDF chart