The astronomy lovers you will be happy to know that in December there will be several events in the celestial vault that will shock many. And although there will be an incredible phenomenon, the solar eclipse, unfortunately it will not be seen from Mexico, but from the Maldives Islands, southern Africa, Antarctica and southeastern Australia.
But it is not the end of everything, because from our country you will be able to appreciate the four meteor showers that are scheduled to occur in December. The first of them will be the Phenicides, whose peak will be on Thursday, December 2. The second will be the Púppidas, their maximum will take placer on December 7 sThey will be able to observe 10 meteors per hour
The third shower of stars will be the Geminids and can be seen 120 flashes per hour the early morning of December 14, in the direction of the northeastern part of the sky. Finally will be the Ursids, that will have their highest peak of activity on December 22 with 10 meteors per hour.
There will not only be a meteor shower, but also other events
It can also be seen in the sky the passage of asteroid 44 Nysa on December 10; this is a special event, but it can only be seen every 3.77 years. Nor can we forget the winter solstice that will occur on December 21, at 09:59 central time in Mexico. And also another important one is the maximum approach of Mars and the Moon.
This is the full calendar of events:
- December 1: Neptune will resume its usual shift to the east.
- December 2: Peak of the Phenicid meteor shower.
- December 3: Conjunction of the Moon and Mars.
- December 4: Total solar eclipse (not visible in Mexico).
- December 7: Conjunction of the Moon and Venus.
- December 7: Peak of the Pupid meteor shower.
- December 8: Conjunction of the Moon and Saturn.
- December 9: Conjunction of the Moon and Jupiter.
- December 10: Asteroid 44 Nysa in opposition.
- December 11: The Moon in a waxing quarter.
- December 12: The Orion Nebula will be well positioned for observation, towards the constellation Orion.
- December 13: Conjunction of Venus and Pluto.
- December 14: Maximum of the Geminid meteor shower. Up to 120 meteors can be seen per hour.
- December 18: Moon in apogee, maximum distance from Earth.
- December 19: Full Moon.
- December 21: Winter Solstice.
- December 22: maximum of the Ursid meteor shower. Up to 10 meteors can be seen per hour.
- December 27: Last quarter moon.
- December 29: The open cluster NGC 2244 and the Rosetta Nebula will be well placed for observation for most of the night.
- December 31: closest approach of the Moon and Mars.
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