AstronomyPicture of the Day—20181208

Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation written by a professional astronomer.

2018 December 8

Highlightsof the North Winter Sky

ImageCredit & Copyright: Universe2go.com

Explanation:What can you see in the night sky this season? The featured graphic gives a fewhighlights for Earth's northern hemisphere. Viewed as a clock face centered atthe bottom, early (northern) winter sky events fan out toward the left, whilelate winter events are projected toward the right. Objects relatively close toEarth are illustrated, in general, as nearer to the cartoon figure with thetelescope at the bottom center -- although almost everything pictured can beseen without a telescope. As happens during any season, constellations appearthe same year to year, and, as usual, the Geminids meteor shower will peak inmid-December. Also as usual, the International Space Station (ISS) can be seen,at times, as a bright spot drifting across the sky after sunset. Less usual,the Moon is expected to pass nearly in front of several planets in earlyJanuary. A treat this winter is Comet 46P/Wirtanen, already bright, will passonly 36 lunar distances from the Earth in mid-December, potentially making iteasily visible to the unaided eye.