Astronomical phenomena December 2012

December 3, 2012 - Jupiter in oposition.The giant Jupiter will be on the closest distance from Earth and its surface will be fully illuminated by the Sun. This is the best time to view and photograph Jupiter and its moons.

December 3, 2012 - Mercury, Venus, Saturn form a line 15° degrees long for a triple conjunction in the morning skies
December 12, 2012 - Toutatis asteroid with a diameter of 5 km, passing near Earth. It has an orbital period of almost each four years and is an asteroid passing near Mars, with a chaotic orbit.
The approaching on 29 September 2004, was at 0.0104 UA (4 Moon distances), which was a good opportunity for observation, with a bright Toutatis on 8.9 magnitude brightness.
Most recent approach of 0.0502 UA happened on November, 9, 2008. In the near future will be on December 12, 2012, at a distance of 0.046 UA, and the magnitude of 10. As you can see, this asteroid always returns each time passing closer to Earth, but does not present any danger to these distances. The shortest distance that can ever have this asteroid will be 0.006 UA, which is 2,3 times the distance between us and the Moon (2.3 Moon distances).

December 13, 2012 - New Moon. Moon will be directly between Earth and Sun and will not be visible from Earth.

December 13, 14, 2012 - Geminids meteor shower, is considered by many to be the best meteor shower on the the sky. Geminids are known to produce up to 60 multicolored meteors per hour at their peak. Most usually appear on, or around 13 by December and 14, although some meteors should be visible between 06 and 19 December. They radiate from the constellation Gemini and originates from the asteroid 3200 Phaeton. This year, New Moon will guarantee a dark sky, so it would be a wonderful show. The best observation is to the east after midnight in a dark area.December 21, 2012 - Winter Solstice. The December solstice occurs at 11:12 UT. South Pole of the Earth will be tilted towards the Sun, and will reach the most northern position in the sky. This makes it the first day of winter (winter solstice), the northern hemisphere, and the first day of summer (summer solstice), in the southern hemisphere.
December 28, 2012 - Full Moon. Earth will be between the Sun and Moon, and therefore, the Moon will be fully illuminated as seen from Earth. This phase takes place at 10:21 UT.
By what I have presented here, nothing unusual will happen in 2012 astronomically speaking. There will not be big alignments of planets, and will not come to us the planet Nibiru, therefore, no end of the world will happen. not this time. The year 2012 will come and will pass like any other year. All is known. The only threat that we would have would be a large asteroid that is not detected in time, and that would be on the path of the Earth, or other forces that we have not discovered yet. The rest are just unfounded opinions and speculations.

Posted in: Astronomical calendar 2012