Lunation 1075:   16 Nov- 15 Dec 2009

10th December 2009 - 12th December 2009

Morning 25 day moon low in the south around 08:15 UT on the 12th

24d Moon later still (~04:00UT), edging south, move down to next chimney, Sun rising low in SE, seen ~08:30 UT here

Moon rising later.  (need timings for your area? - try Timeand Date.com )

Seen approx 2.30am here in the ESE - ready to cross over sun's path to be a New Moon on the 16th

Saturn was nearby and Mars higher in the SE - but drifting cloud was even closer

9th December 2009 - dawn moon

9th December, 8 am, sun rising in the SE, Venus hidden!  22-day moon now in the SW

Moon via Camera-phone

2nd - 5th December 2009

5th Dec: Morning moon and seagulls!	Still setting towards the NW
4th Dec - 9.30am an hour before moonset	Clearer skies that the previous evening ... Sets at Az 311deg
3rd Dec early evening swift clouds after the rain	A brief clear 16-d moon
3rd Dec - same evening - Orion fights the bright moon and I fight the clouds	Betelgeuse shines red

2nd December 2009 onwards - moving across the sky ...

Should the sky be dark and clear around 5 pm tonight, here are a few of the sights to look for ...

West - summer triangle of Lyra, Cygnus and Aquila above Hercules

South - Pegasus with Jupiter in Capricorn below

East - the moon rising in the NE -> E with Taurus and the Pleiades, the bright clusters of Perseus above and the Andromeda Galaxy higher in the E

North - the Plough shows the constellation of Ursa Major

A Binocular/Naked Eye guide can be found on http://www.dibonsmith.com/menu.htm

And for those of you interested in the myths behind the Constellation names there are links here:

http://www.greekforme.com/constellations.html ( Thanks Helen )

30th Nov 2009 - 12 day moon via Bresser

Still indoors :-( but crisp views of the details via the Bresser

27th Nov 2009 - almost 10-day moon

Again from inside, fuzzy pics - but good views through the Bresser Skylux in the still-blue early evening ...

This through the 25mm e/p - closer-up views were good with 12mm, 15mm, but not the photos :-(

26th Nov 2009 - 9 day moon

Terminator moves on ... plenty to see with the Bresser

25th Nov 2009

It's fuzzy, cloud sweeping over it,  from a warm indoor room,

  through double-glazing,  with neighbours security lights flashing on and off

BUT it was still a (short) viewing session of the moon through

a telescope (Bresser Skylux)  after months of cloudy skies and illness 8-)

Photos not clear but there was plenty to see ... (need an Atlas? Excellent free software from Virtual Moon Atlas)

21st Nov 2009

Our moon is clouded over (for a change!) so here's one of Saturn's ... Enceladus

Image credit: NASA/JPL/Space Science Institute

This unprocessed image was captured by NASA's Cassini spacecraft during its Nov. 21, 2009 flyby of Saturn's moon Enceladus. It shows the moon's south polar region, where jets of water vapor and other particles spew from fissures on the surface.
More pics and info on: http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/cassini/main/index.html

20th Nov 2009

A moon!!  4 days old and skulking round the chimneys

Friday the 13th, November 2009