Speaker 1: Welcome once again to the Doctor Sky experience, proudly heard
Speaker 1: here on Talk Radio seventy seven WABC. As we like
Speaker 1: to say, and many others agree, the crown jewel of radio,
Speaker 1: the iconics D seven Talk Radio WABC, beaming out of
Speaker 1: New York City, around the nation, around the world. And
Speaker 1: I'll take the liberty to even say, out into the cosmos,
Speaker 1: as we welcome you to the holiday season here December one,
Speaker 1: twenty three with our Doctor Sky, the first of many
Speaker 1: December twenty twenty three Sky updates. But first, before we
Speaker 1: dig into the sky, I'd like to wish you and
Speaker 1: yours the best of a merry Christmas, happy Holidays, Happy Hanukah,
Speaker 1: and sincerely from all of us to all of you,
Speaker 1: the best for health and happiness in twenty twenty four,
Speaker 1: a year that I'm sure will be so outstanding. Don't
Speaker 1: forget the major event of all twenty twenty four in
Speaker 1: the astronomical world has to be the great total solar eclipse,
Speaker 1: the Great American total solar eclipse that's coming to us
Speaker 1: in a sky near you on April of this new year,
Speaker 1: twenty twenty four. We of course, begin at the Moon.
Speaker 1: The Moon, of course, helps to cause these eclipses of
Speaker 1: the Sun. And as we open up December, we find
Speaker 1: out that the moon is moving on to its last
Speaker 1: quarter phase. That happens on the fifth of December. That
Speaker 1: moon rises normally round midnight and is in high area
Speaker 1: of the sky right around the sun ran stun. The
Speaker 1: moon then continues to be a waning crescent, moving on
Speaker 1: to its new phase. And that's good because we'll be
Speaker 1: talking about an important meteor shower in just a few moments,
Speaker 1: known as legitm nuts. Starting on the evening of the thirteenth,
Speaker 1: kenied sky observers looking logan to the west southwest, we'll
Speaker 1: get a glimpse of this new blue nation start of
Speaker 1: lunation number twelve forty nine. As the moon continues to
Speaker 1: wax on the sky, the moon returns to Perigi, wh
Speaker 1: it's closest to position to us. That happens on the sixteenth,
Speaker 1: as the moon was farthest from us on December the fourth,
Speaker 1: at a position we call Apagaye. But then something interesting.
Speaker 1: The moon moves on to its first quarter phase. So
Speaker 1: if you missed and didn't want to get up late
Speaker 1: or early into the morning hours to see the last
Speaker 1: quarter moon, the first quarter moon will be pigh in
Speaker 1: your sky starting just after sunset. Don't miss it with
Speaker 1: telescopes and binoculars. Why it gives the best shadow relief
Speaker 1: of all time. As you see that light and dark
Speaker 1: line along that central part of the moon, we call
Speaker 1: it the terminator. Then the moon continues to turn into
Speaker 1: a waxing gibbous moon. It looks like an egg shape
Speaker 1: in the sky or elliptical That that not fool you
Speaker 1: because it then moves on to the last of the
Speaker 1: full moons of twenty twenty three. Naturally, the December full
Speaker 1: moon on the twenty seventh is sometimes referred to as
Speaker 1: the full cold moon. Oh, I don't need to describe
Speaker 1: that in greater detail. For the northern hemisphere, with the
Speaker 1: advent of the beginning of winter as we call it
Speaker 1: the winter solstice on the twenty second of December, where
Speaker 1: the sun hangs lowest along the ecliptic path through Zodiac path,
Speaker 1: and some interesting things to come. As we talk about
Speaker 1: the skies of December twenty twenty three, we then move
Speaker 1: on to the planets. In the evening sky. We find
Speaker 1: out that we have an opportunity to see the planet
Speaker 1: Mercury the innermost planet. It's at its greatest elongation, that is,
Speaker 1: on the eastern side of the Sun. That means it's
Speaker 1: visible in the west just after sunset, some twenty one
Speaker 1: degrees away from the Sun. Best around December fourth, and
Speaker 1: a few days thereafter, looks like a bright star hugging
Speaker 1: close to the horizon. We then find out as we
Speaker 1: move to the left along the zodiac path, we find
Speaker 1: out the planet Saturn high into the west southwest at sunset.
Speaker 1: And if you haven't seen the planet Saturn a telescope,
Speaker 1: now's the time, maybe a neighbor, or maybe you're even
Speaker 1: lucky enough to have a small telescope. If you've seen it,
Speaker 1: you know what we're talking about. But for those that haven't,
Speaker 1: the rings of Saturn are now tips some eight degrees
Speaker 1: along the ring plane, and in a few years, meaning
Speaker 1: in twenty twenty five, we will see the rings disappear,
Speaker 1: not literally but just from our angle as we cross
Speaker 1: the Earth, that is the ring plane of Saturn. The
Speaker 1: showstopper of planets has to be Jupiter, high in the
Speaker 1: eastern sky right around sunset, an easy object to see,
Speaker 1: but more importantly, the same experiment that we talk about
Speaker 1: that Galileo did back on January the seventh of sixteen
Speaker 1: ten is something that you can do with the pair
Speaker 1: of monoculars, hold them steady, dress warmly, and in telescopes,
Speaker 1: the planet Jupiter is quite fascinating, a never ending dance
Speaker 1: of those four Galilean satellites Io Europa Gany made in Callisto,
Speaker 1: as some of them are hidden behind Jupiter, the ball
Speaker 1: of the planet, some eighty eight thousand miles in diameter,
Speaker 1: and some still moving across the face of Jupiter casting shadows.
Speaker 1: And upon a higher inspection with a telescope you may
Speaker 1: get to see not only that and the phenomenon of
Speaker 1: shadows moving across or transiting Jupiter, but you may also
Speaker 1: get to see the elusive red spot, which in the
Speaker 1: news it's been shrinking. It's not as prominent as it was.
Speaker 1: Take it from your leader here, doctor Sky, back about
Speaker 1: thirty years ago. It literally was brick red and easy
Speaker 1: to see. It's now more of a salmon pink, but
Speaker 1: it's still an amazing disturbance high above the atmospheric clouds
Speaker 1: of Jupiter. How small is it gotten, Well, in astronomical terms,
Speaker 1: it's pretty big. It's about the size of the Earth,
Speaker 1: this anti cyclonic storm that turns itself once in every
Speaker 1: six days as it spins around literally like a giant
Speaker 1: cyclone or a hurricane. Did you know that the planet
Speaker 1: Mercury is the smallest of the planets of the solusues
Speaker 1: but ganny me, the moon of Jupiter is actually larger
Speaker 1: than the planet Mercury. Go figure. You can see these
Speaker 1: gotta lay in moons. Show your friends and neighbors, and
Speaker 1: especially at the holiday sason if you're actually getting a
Speaker 1: gift or buying yourself a gift or a telescope, don't forget.
Speaker 1: We'd be more than happy to answer any questions that
Speaker 1: you have at our email. Doctor Sky's Show at gmail
Speaker 1: dot com. That's d rsky Show at gmail dot com.
Speaker 1: The morning sky, the planet Venus continues to shine extremely bright.
Speaker 1: The object itself was farthest away from the Sun back
Speaker 1: in October and into the month of November, but now
Speaker 1: the planet Venus and the moon are relatively close. On
Speaker 1: the morning of the ninth, just before sunrise, you can't
Speaker 1: miss it. But the real showstopper of the month of
Speaker 1: December has to be the gemin at meteor show. Now
Speaker 1: I've been observing meteor showers for almost fifty years. And
Speaker 1: let me say this not an expert, but this particular
Speaker 1: shower is probably still one of the best of the year.
Speaker 1: Why the highest number of meteors projected a relatively new
Speaker 1: meteor shower Considering some of these that we see, like
Speaker 1: leonids and the ones that occur like in April, like
Speaker 1: the Lyriids, are literally hundreds of thousands of years old,
Speaker 1: if not older. But the Geminids are thought to come
Speaker 1: not necessarily from a comet. Like most meteors come from
Speaker 1: the tail to breathe comets, this particular shower may be
Speaker 1: coming from a rock comet slash asteroid, meaning a rock
Speaker 1: that's like it was an extinct comet and now it's
Speaker 1: like a rubble pile. Blasted material from the solar radiation
Speaker 1: causes the higher incidence of these meteors. In simple Earth terms,
Speaker 1: the best nights to view it would be looking into
Speaker 1: the northeast sky after sunset on the night of the
Speaker 1: thirteenth of December and into the fourteenth Now as Gemini rises,
Speaker 1: you may get to see what we call some earth
Speaker 1: grazing meteors. What are these? These are slow moving fireballs
Speaker 1: that actually can put on a pretty good show. But anyway,
Speaker 1: don't hold me to count for this, because meteor showers
Speaker 1: are very fickle. They're just like comets. And as one
Speaker 1: famous astronomer who discovered comets all the time said, comets
Speaker 1: are like cats. They both have tails and they do
Speaker 1: exactly what they want to do. But with the Geminids,
Speaker 1: I think it'll be a good year because the moon
Speaker 1: is not out to interfere. The moon is new or
Speaker 1: the darker the moon in the twelfth So simply look
Speaker 1: at the northeast sky after sunset best, as Gemini rises
Speaker 1: high up into the sky after midnight until the early
Speaker 1: morning hours it say, two am to dawn. Staring at
Speaker 1: the general area of Gemini may not be the best
Speaker 1: way to look for the meteors because they come in
Speaker 1: all different directions. But no, the origin point is just
Speaker 1: to the right of the two twin stars of Gemini.
Speaker 1: This the star known as castor the start of the
Speaker 1: left of it is known as pollocks. These are some
Speaker 1: of the more interesting things that are happening in our
Speaker 1: skies in December. As we moved to a solstice, we
Speaker 1: moved to a meteor shower and a beautiful full moon
Speaker 1: and the year. If you'd like to stay in touch
Speaker 1: with us, don't forget to listen to us here on
Speaker 1: talk radio seventy seven WABC every Sunday with John Katzimatini's
Speaker 1: owner and operator with his great show around the nation
Speaker 1: called The Cats Roundtable, and then every other Wednesday at
Speaker 1: one am Eastern Standard Time on Frank Morano's The Other
Speaker 1: Side of Midnight, in which Frank is kind enough to
Speaker 1: change the show's name, albeit just briefly. As Cosmic Conversations
Speaker 1: with me, Doctor Sky doctr Sky reminds you to always
Speaker 1: keep your eyes to the skies. We wish you health
Speaker 1: and happiness for the holiday season and particularly in the
Speaker 1: new year. Twenty twenty four will be the year of
Speaker 1: the great American total solar eclipse, and we remind you
Speaker 1: to get your solar glasses now. Go to our website
Speaker 1: t S seventeen Solar Eclipse dot com. That's t SC
Speaker 1: Seventeensolar eclips dot com. And if you order the solar
Speaker 1: glasses now by using the DRSK one code, you'll save
Speaker 1: ten percent off your order. And believe me, you'll need these.
Speaker 1: Doctor Sky is always there for you at doctor Skyshow
Speaker 1: at gmail dot com. What do we say? Always remember
Speaker 1: to keep your eyes to the skies. I try each
Speaker 1: time we do a show to earn your confidence as
Speaker 1: you're a navigator on the highway to the heavens, health
Speaker 1: and happiness and clear skies.