Sky Guide December 2015

For the beginners this month we take a look at the constellation
of Gemini with bright star Castor providing a nice easy double
star to split with a telescope. We move over to the feet of the
Gemini twins to scan for some nice open clusters, including
Messier 35, before hunting down the beautiful Eskimo planetary
nebula. Finally, we go looking for a star known to have a planet
of its own.


Next we round up the planets that are visible in December:
Jupiter, Venus & Mars are still around for observers after
midnight and we have the possibility of a naked eye visible comet
in the early hours of the morning in early December as C2013 US10
Catalina raises northern hemisphere hopes.


We have the Geminid meteor shower peaking on the night of the
12/14th December – which always puts on a great show and then we
take you on a tour of the often overlooked deep sky objects in
our winter skies around the constellations of Orion, Lepus and
Eridanus.