End Of the Year Comet Report And Upcoming Events For The Festive Season-Into 2010....

Current comet magnitudes (December 2) and observable region (December 2)

 Comet                          Magnitude   Trend   Observable    When visible 
 Siding Spring (2007 Q3)             9      steady  90 N to 30 S  morning 
 88P/Howell                          9      fade    40 N to 45 S  early evening 
 169P/NEAT                          10 ?    bright? 15 N to 45 S  early evening 
 Christensen (2006 W3)              10      fade    45 N to 30 S  early evening 
 217P/LINEAR                        11      fade    60 N to 50 S  best morning 
 65P/Gunn                           11 ?    steady  Conjunction 
 81P/Wild                           11.5    bright  75 N to 45 S  morning 
 22P/Kopff                          12      fade    50 N to 50 S  evening 
 P/Boattini (2009 Q4)               12.5    steady  60 N to 45 S  morning 
 29P/Schwassmann-Wachmann           13 ?    varies  70 N to 40 S  morning 
 116P/Wild                          13.5    fade    Conjunction 
 118P/Shoemaker-Levy                14      steady  65 N to 50 S  best morning 

The observable region is an approximate indication of the latitude at which the comet may be seen. Under good conditions comets may be visible outside this range. The period when visible is for the UK if the comet is visible from the UK, otherwise for 40 S or the Equator as appropriate. 

Nothing really much to report in the way of any bright upcoming Comets to write about, the brightest Comets at the moment are around Magnitude 9 and fading so looks like a reasonably poor year for amateur Comet Observing.

Upcoming Comets: one to look out for in the Summer Skies of 2010 around June sometime which will become the fringe of Binocular visibility but the Northern Summer Twilight may block this one out as it becomes unobservable in late June.

Also one to look out for in late 2011 into 2012 which will be seen very well in the evening February dark night skies with good Binoculars.

So they are ones in the years ahead to look forward to but nothing predicted for the short term-if any do come along unexpectedly I will keep you all well informed of where to look for them and how they are acting.

Astronomical Events For The Rest Of December:

The Geminids which Peaked on the 13th to 14th of December Clouded out for tonight with a usual ZHR of around 100 being favourable without a bright Moon in the way and new on Wednesday 16th,

18th December: Mercury will be at its greatest Elongation of 20 Degrees to the East and will be 1.4 Degrees from the crescent Moon in the Western early evening Twilight-worth looking at.

The Winter Solstice on 21st December at 17.47 U.T and into the Festive days...

Apparently the Romans called this time of the year Saturnalia and when the planet Saturn was present in the sky at this time of the year it would be celebrated for them in style.

22nd December will be the Ursid Meteor Maximum but with only a ZHR of 10 and the Moon by then may be getting in the way with the first Quarter on the 24th and setting around midnight.

New Years Eve Spectacle:

A partial Eclipse of the Moon will occur on New Years Eve Hogmanay December 31st so I do hope its clear on this night to Observe as it will be a Blue Moon (2 full Moons in the Month with the first one on the 2nd) it would be a perfect view for astronomers everywhere to bring to a close the International Year of Astronomy and to see in the new year 2010.

The Partial Eclipse starts at 17.15 U.T and mid Eclipse will occur at 19.22 U.T and ending at 21.30 U.T to see in the New Year.

HNY.

Space Travel And Flight:

5 more launches are scheduled for the rest of 2009 and next year over 30 launches are predicted worldwide including 4 missions for the STS to the ISS-Shuttle Endeavour is now being prepared for a launch window in early February 2010, on the 10th it will take up the Tranquility Node and Cupola to the ISS, a module with 7 windows that will give a unique all round view of the Space Station.

The wheel problem that is hounding the Spirit Rover-3 of its wheels are now jammed in Volcanic Martian dust and only one of its wheels is working so it may be doubtful if it can be freed to continue its work on the Martian plains although scientists have not give up hope yet.

Moon Times:

New Moon: will occur on 16th December at 12.02 Hours U.T

First Quarter: will occur on 24th December at 17.36 Hours U.T

Full Moon: will be on 31st December at 19.13 hours U.T (Partial Eclipse)

Sunrise And Sunset Times:

Rises on 15th December: at 07.57 Hours U.T, sets at 15.39 Hours U.T

Rises on 31st December: at 08.04 Hours U.T, Sets at 15.49 Hours U.T

Lighting Up Times:

15th December: 16.21 Hours U.T, 31st December: 16.30 Hours U.T

Moonrise and Moonset:

15th December: Rises 07.20 Hours U.T, sets 14.28 Hours U.T

31st December: Rises 15.24 Hours U.T, sets 07.56 Hours U.T

Astronomical Twilight:

15th December: 17.47 Hours U.T

31st December: 17.56 Hours U.T

I wish you all a happy peaceful Christmas and a prosperous and rewarding new year.

--
Good Clear Skies
--
Astrocomet
--
Colin James Watling
--
Real Astronomer and head of the Comet section for LYRA (Lowestoft and Great Yarmouth Regional Astronomers) also head of K.A.G (Kessingland Astronomy Group) and Navigator (Astrogator) of the Stars (Fieldwork)
--
Web: http://lyra.freewebsites.com/