The Galactic Times

Mercury Greatest Elongation
2022-12-20 - 2022-12-21
Magnitude -0.6

Solstice
2022-12-18 02:00 - 11:00 (America/Chicago)
3:48 PM US Central Time

Sun enters Sagittarius
2022-12-17 - 2022-12-18

Mercury and Venus 5.9 degrees apart
2022-12-16 11:00 - 12:00
see in binoculars about 30 minutes after Sunset

Last Quarter Moon
2022-12-15 - 2022-12-16

Geminid meteor shower peak
2022-12-13 - 2022-12-14

Apogee of Moon--Micro Waning Gibbous Moon
2022-12-10 - 2022-12-11

Pollux 1.8 degrees N of Moon
2022-12-10 - 2022-12-11

Mars covered up by Moon!!!! *
2022-12-07 12:00 - 17:30
Except for southern and east coast US. Lasts up to an hour, depending on where you are, beginning near end of twilight on west coast, near midnight in northern New England.

Earliest sunset
2022-12-06 - 2022-12-07

Mars at opposition, visible all night*
2022-12-06 - 2022-12-07
* except when occulted 🙂

Full Moon
2022-12-06 - 2022-12-07

Uranus 0.7 degrees South of Moon*
2022-12-04 - 2022-12-05
* but occulted for observers in Europe, North Africa, Middle east, Russia and north Japan.

Neptune ceases retrograde motion
2022-12-03 - 2022-12-04

Neptune 3 degrees N of Moon
2022-12-01 11:00 - 2022-12-02 11:00

Moon passes Jupiter by 3 degrees
2022-11-30 - 2022-12-01

Sun enters Ophiuchus!!!!
2022-11-29 - 2022-11-30

First Quarter Moon
2022-11-29 - 2022-11-30

Mars closest to Earth!
2022-11-29 - 2022-11-30

Mercury and Venus in quasi-conjunction
2022-11-28 11:00 - 12:00
Deep in the evening twilight! Use binoculars and look carefully, within 30 minutes after sunset.

Moon passes Saturn*
2022-11-27 - 2022-11-29
* but timing depends on where you are! In North America is is around midnight — setting time — on the 28th.

Perigee--Super 3-day Crescent Moon!
2022-11-26 11:30 - 12:30

Jupiter halts retrograde motion
2022-11-23 - 2022-11-24

Sun enters Scorpius
2022-11-22 - 2022-11-23

New Moon
2022-11-22 - 2022-11-23

Morning Crescent lower left of Spica
2022-11-20 22:00 - 2022-11-21 00:00

Leonids
2022-11-16 - 2022-11-19
The Moon is too close to where the Leonid meteors will stream from. While it is not the best place to look for meteors, the radiant point where they stream from, it does rather make for washing out the shower all over the sky anyway. Every 33 years the Leonids does get pretty active, from its measly 20 per hour to hundreds or thousands, but this year it will be hard put to even get that 20 visible with the Moon light washing out the Lion’s mouth.

Last Quarter
2022-11-15 - 2022-11-16
Near the Sickle of Leo and above Regulus. This will wipe out the Leonids.

Mars now visible all night
2022-11-14 - 2022-11-15

Moon at Apogee, 2-degrees from Pollux
2022-11-13 02:00
