Skywatch: What’s happening in the heavens in December

December’s heavens display a lovely pair of evening planets, shooting stars and a South American total solar eclipse you can catch online.

Look above the treetops after sunset in the southwest for the large, gaseous planets Jupiter (the brighter one) and Saturn, which are about two degrees apart in the sky now. For the next three weeks, they will get closer each night, so that by Dec. 21, Jupiter and Saturn will be at their closest — that is from our earthly perspective — since the year 1623, according to astronomer Geoff Chester of the U.S. Naval Observatory.

“Jupiter and Saturn will appear to be extremely close to one another for a few days before and after Dec. 21, but on that date, Dec. 21 — which is the winter solstice — to the unaided eye, they will almost look like one object,” Chester said. “This grand conjunction is going to be pretty cool.”

For Washington, on the solstice, sunset will be several minutes before 5 p.m. After that, skygazers should discern Jupiter (-2.0 magnitude, bright) emerging in the darkening sky. Before the conjunction, spy the ringed Saturn (+0.6 magnitude, dim) as a dot next to Jupiter, according to the observatory.

In reality, the planets are far from each other. On Dec. 21, Jupiter will be more than 550 million miles from Earth, while Saturn is more than 1 billion miles from our blue planet, according to Chester.

The young, skinny moon passes by Jupiter and Saturn on the evenings of Dec. 16 and 17.

Also in the evening, catch Mars after dusk high in the southeast.

At the start of December, our red neighbor is -1.1 magnitude, which is bright enough to see with the unaided eye.

On Dec. 23, the first quarter moon appears to swing by Mars, which by now is substantially dimmer, according to the observatory.

By year’s end, Mars is close to zero magnitude.

In the morning heavens, Venus begins December by rising in the eastern sky around 5 a.m., at a magnificent -3.9 magnitude, very bright. On Dec. 12, the tiny sliver of a waning crescent moon visits our other neighboring planet in the southeast, perfectly placed for morning dog walkers.

Bundle up, step outside and bring hot coffee. On the evening of Dec. 13-14, the Geminid meteors are expected to reach their peak at about 120 meteors per hour (according to the Royal Astronomical Society of Canada) and possibly up to 150 an hour, said the International Meteor Organization (Imo.net).

With a new moon, there will be no moonlight washing out meteors. To watch: Be patient and look up.

A total solar eclipse crosses through Chile and Argentina on Dec. 14 with totality occurring for a little more than two minutes. The middle of the total solar eclipse is 11:14 a.m. Eastern time.

To see the eclipse, go online. On Dec. 14, astrophysicist John Mulchaey, director of the Carnegie Observatories, offers eclipse background.

After his talk, stay with Mulchaey as online viewers can safely see the eclipse via live stream, from 10:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. Hosted by Carnegie Science.

For online meeting details, go to Carnegiescience.edu. Also, catch the eclipse action hosted by San Francisco’s Exploratorium (exploratorium.edu/eclipse) starting at 10:15 a.m. Eastern time.

Down-to-Earth Events:

●Dec. 4 — “The TRIPLE Project: A System to Explore Europa’s Icy Oceans,” a lecture by Christoph Waldmann, of Germany’s University of Bremen, discusses sending a space probe to explore Europa, the ice-crusted oceanic moon of Jupiter. 8 p.m. Hosted by PSW Science. For details, go to Pswscience.org.

●Dec. 12 — “Shedding Light on Gravitational Waves,” a talk by Bethany Cobb Kung, associate professor of physics at George Washington University. Hosted by the National Capital Astronomers. 7 p.m. For details, visit Capitalastronomers.org.

Blaine Friedlander can be reached at PostSkyWatch@yahoo.com.