What's Up for December?

Mars and Neptune above the crescent moon

and a New Year's Eve comet!

Hello and welcome.

I'm Jane Houston Jones

from NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory

in Pasadena, California.

2016 ends with fireworks

as three planets line up as if ejected from a Roman candle.

Mercury, Venus and Mars are visible

above the sunset horizon all month long.

As Venus climbs higher in the sky,

it looks brighter and larger

than it appeared last month.

On New Year's Eve, Mars and Neptune appear

very close to each other.

Through telescopes, rusty red Mars

and blue-green Neptune's colors contrast beautifully.

[Whoosh]

There are two meteor showers this month

the Geminds and the Ursids.

The best time to see the reliable Geminids will be

next year, when the full moon

won't be so bright and interfering.

This year, however, we may luck out and see

some of the brighter meteors on the evening of the 13th

and the morning of the 14th.

The best time to view the Ursids,

radiating from Ursa Minor, or the little Dipper,

will be from midnight on the 21st

until about 1 a.m. on the 22nd,

before the moon rises.

They may be active on the 23rd and 24th, too.

[Whoosh]

We haven't had a good easy-to-see comet

in quite a while,

but beginning in December and through most of 2017

we will have several binocular and telescopic comets to view.

The first we'll be able to see is

Comet 45P/Honda-Mrkos-Pajdusáková,

which will appear low on the western horizon

on December 15th.

On that date, the comet will pass

the pretty globular cluster M75.

By the 21st, it will appear edge-on,

sporting a bluish-green head and a thin, sharp view

of the fan-shaped tail.

On New Year's Eve, the comet and the crescent moon

will rendezvous to say farewell to 2016.

A "periodic" comet is a previously-identified comet

that's on a return visit.

Periodic comet 45P returns to the inner solar system

every 5.25 years,

and that's the one that will help us ring in the new year.

You can catch up on solar system missions and

all of NASA's missions at

www.nasa.gov

That's all for this month, I'm Jane Houston Jones.

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