{"id":4549,"date":"2017-01-17T09:49:16","date_gmt":"2017-01-17T14:49:16","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/wp.umpi.edu\/utimes\/?p=4549"},"modified":"2025-08-23T16:11:35","modified_gmt":"2025-08-23T20:11:35","slug":"winter-observing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wp.umpi.edu\/utimes\/2017\/01\/17\/winter-observing\/","title":{"rendered":"Winter Observing"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>December and January will bring several interesting items to observe, but if you wish to see them, remember to dress warmly.\u00a0 Northern Maine has a habit of being sub-freezing and even sub-zero during these months, so keeping warm will be important.<br \/>\n<!--more--><\/p>\n<p>A nice thing about living this far north is the length of the nights.\u00a0 Sundown happens before 4 p.m. and sun up occurs after 7 a.m. That\u2019s close to 15 hours of night time.<\/p>\n<p>The first thing I would like to point out is that the International Space Station (ISS) will be making several close passes to bright stars and a planet.\u00a0 The interesting thing with these events is that the ISS may help you identify the object it is passing.\u00a0 Many of these passes will actually be closer than the diameter of the full moon.\u00a0 Look for the following passes:<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Mars\u201312\/01<\/p>\n<p>Capella\u201312\/08, 12\/13<\/p>\n<p>Altair\u201312\/15, 12\/19<\/p>\n<p>Vega\u201312\/17, 01\/11<\/p>\n<p>Deneb\u201301\/04<\/p>\n<p>Pollux\u201301\/13<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>There are two fairly good meteor showers occurring in December and January.\u00a0 The first is the Geminid Meteor Shower.\u00a0 This shower peaks on Dec. 13 with about 32 meteors per hour.\u00a0 But the moon is full on the day this shower peaks, so only the brightest meteors will be visible.<\/p>\n<p>The second meteor shower is the Quadrantid Meteor Shower.\u00a0 This meteor shower is named after a now extinct constellation and actually emanates from the constellation Bootes.\u00a0 This meteor shower has the potential to be large with as many as 50 or 60 meteors visible in an hour.\u00a0 This meteor shower will peak on Jan. 3 when the moon is at First Quarter, so the moon will not be a factor for viewing.\u00a0 The only problem will be the ice-cold temperatures we will be experiencing at that time of the year.\u00a0 Remember, the best way to watch a meteor shower is from a comfortable lounge chair.\u00a0 Just remember a heavy jacket and a good sleeping bag or quilt.<\/p>\n<p>Finally, we may have a comet that may be bright enough to be visible to the naked eye at the end of January and in February.\u00a0 Comet 45P\u2013Honda-Mrkos-Pajdusak&#8211;will be coming out of the sun\u2019s glare in late January.\u00a0 When it does, it will be bright enough to see with binoculars and may be bright enough to see with the unaided eye.\u00a0 As a side note, 2017 may be a bumper year for comets.\u00a0 Current estimates suggest that we may have comets that may be visible through binoculars and one or two that may be bright enough to be seen with the unaided eye.\u00a0 For more information about comets, go to <a href=\"https:\/\/in-the-sky.org\/data\/comets.php\">https:\/\/in-the-sky.org\/data\/comets.php<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>THE NIGHT SKY<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>The International Space Station is visible as follows:<\/p>\n<p>Evenings \u2013 Through Dec. 21<\/p>\n<p>Mornings \u2013 Dec. 29 through Jan. 20<\/p>\n<p>Evenings \u2013 After Jan. 27<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>For the times of other events, go to www.calsky.com.\u00a0 You will need to register at this site and load your location to be able to get exact times.\u00a0 The University of Maine at Presque Isle is located at 68d00m7.8s west longitude and 46d40m45.6s north latitude.<\/p>\n<p>To get a free sky chart, go to www.skymaps.com.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Sun and Planet Visibility<\/p>\n<p>12\/15\/2016<\/p>\n<p>07:09 Sunrise.<\/p>\n<p>15:44 Sunset.<\/p>\n<p>16:00 \u2013 17:00 Mercury.<\/p>\n<p>15:42 \u2013 19:12 Venus.<\/p>\n<p>16:18 \u2013 20:54 Mars.<\/p>\n<p>01:36 \u2013 06:54 Jupiter.<\/p>\n<p>Not visible&#8211;Saturn.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>01\/01\/2017<\/p>\n<p>07:16 Sunrise.<\/p>\n<p>15:55 Sunset.<\/p>\n<p>Not visible\u2014Mercury.<\/p>\n<p>15:54 \u2013 19:54 Venus.<\/p>\n<p>16:30 \u2013 20:54 Mars.<\/p>\n<p>00:36 \u2013 07:00 Jupiter.<\/p>\n<p>05:48 \u2013 06:42 Saturn.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>01\/15\/2017<\/p>\n<p>07:11 Sunrise.<\/p>\n<p>16:11 Sunset.<\/p>\n<p>05:36 \u2013 06:36 Mercury.<\/p>\n<p>16:12 \u2013 20:18 Venus.<\/p>\n<p>16:48 \u2013 21:00 Mars.<\/p>\n<p>23:48 \u2013 06:54 Jupiter.<\/p>\n<p>05:00 \u2013 06:00 Saturn.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>12\/01 17:54 ISS 0.2 degrees from Mars.<\/p>\n<p>12\/07 04:03 First Quarter Moon.<\/p>\n<p>12\/08 16:44 ISS 1.3 degrees from Capella (Alpha Aur).<\/p>\n<p>12\/10 07:00 Saturn in conjunction with the sun \u2013 Opposite side of the sun and farthest from the Earth.<\/p>\n<p>12\/10 15:43 Earliest Sunset for Presque Isle.<\/p>\n<p>12\/10 23:36 Mercury at greatest elongation east (20.8 degrees) \u2013 best seen in the night sky.<\/p>\n<p>12\/12 18:35 Moon at perigee \u2013 closest to the Earth.<\/p>\n<p>12\/13 02:00 Geminid Meteor Shower \u2013 18\/hr.<\/p>\n<p>12:13 16:00 Geminid Meteor Shower Maximum \u2013 32\/hr.<\/p>\n<p>12\/13 17:13 ISS 1.1 degrees from Capella (Alpha Aur).<\/p>\n<p>12\/13 19:05 Full Moon.<\/p>\n<p>12\/14 02:00 Geminid Meteor Shower \u2013 30\/hr.<\/p>\n<p>12\/15 18:40 ISS 0.2 degrees from Altair (Alpha Aql).<\/p>\n<p>12\/17 16:56 ISS 0.8 degrees from Vega (Alpha Lyra).<\/p>\n<p>12\/19 16:49 ISS 0.3 degrees from Altair (Alpha Aql).<\/p>\n<p>12\/20 20:55 Last Quarter Moon.<\/p>\n<p>12\/25 01:02 Moon at apogee \u2013 farthest from the Earth.<\/p>\n<p>12\/28 13:48 Mercury at inferior conjunction \u2013 between the Earth and the sun.<\/p>\n<p>12\/29 01:53 New Moon.<\/p>\n<p>01\/01 01:37 Mars 1.1 minutes from Neptune.<\/p>\n<p>01\/01 07:16 Latest Sunrise of the year for Presque Isle.<\/p>\n<p>01\/03 06:00 Quadrantid Meteor Shower \u2013 53\/hr.<\/p>\n<p>01\/03 09:00 Quadrantid Meteor Shower Maximum.<\/p>\n<p>01\/04 06:08 ISS 1.1 degrees from Deneb (Alpha Cygnus).<\/p>\n<p>01\/04 09:17 Earth a Perihelion \u2013 Closest to the sun.<\/p>\n<p>01\/05 14:47 First Quarter Moon.<\/p>\n<p>01\/08 05:52 ISS 1.0 degrees from Deneb (Alpha Cygnus).<\/p>\n<p>01\/09 04:03 Mercury 6.8 degrees from Saturn.<\/p>\n<p>01\/10 01:08 Moon at perigee \u2013 closest to the Earth.<\/p>\n<p>01\/11 06:28 ISS 1.3 degrees from Vega (Alpha Lyra).<\/p>\n<p>01\/12 06:34 Full Moon.<\/p>\n<p>01\/12 08:18 Venus at greatest elongation east (47.1 degrees) best seen in the night sky.<\/p>\n<p>01\/12 16:04 Venus 0.3 degrees from Neptune.<\/p>\n<p>01\/13 06:19 ISS 0.3 degrees from Pollux (Beta Gemini).<\/p>\n<p>01\/13 17:12 Mercury at half phase.<\/p>\n<p>01\/14 08:30 Venus at half phase.<\/p>\n<p>01\/19 04:42 Mercury at greatest elongation west (24.1 degrees) best seen on the morning.<\/p>\n<p>01\/19 17:13 Last Quarter Moon.<\/p>\n<p>01\/21 19:17 Moon at apogee \u2013 farthest from the Earth.<\/p>\n<p>01\/27 19:07 New Moon.<\/p>\n<p>01\/29 06:00 Comet 45P \u2013 Honda-Mrkos-Pajdusak&#8211;at its brightest.\u00a0 Possibly visible to the naked eye.<\/p>\n<p>01\/30 17:46 ISS 0.6 degrees from Alnilam (Epsilon Orion).<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>December and January will bring several interesting items to observe, but if you wish to see them, remember to dress warmly.\u00a0 Northern Maine has a habit of being sub-freezing and even sub-zero during these months, so keeping warm will be important.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":96,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[7381],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4549","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-archives","et-doesnt-have-format-content","et_post_format-et-post-format-standard"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.umpi.edu\/utimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4549","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.umpi.edu\/utimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.umpi.edu\/utimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.umpi.edu\/utimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/96"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.umpi.edu\/utimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4549"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/wp.umpi.edu\/utimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4549\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8922,"href":"https:\/\/wp.umpi.edu\/utimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4549\/revisions\/8922"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.umpi.edu\/utimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4549"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.umpi.edu\/utimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4549"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.umpi.edu\/utimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4549"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}