SKYWATCHER'S REPORT, DECEMBER 10, 1991

   Hello. This is the Smithsonian SkyWatcher's Report for the week
beginning December 10, 1991, from the Albert Einstein Planetarium at
the National Air and Space Museum.

   A waxing crescent Moon beams down in the evening skies this week,
with First Quarter occurring on the 14th at 4:31 AM Eastern Standard
Time, when Luna lies just south of the Great Square of Pegasus.  The
Moon will not interfere with this year's display of the Geminid
Meteors, which peaks just before dawn on the 14th.  While last
month's Leonids were something of a bust, this shower has proven to
be very consistent over the centuries and is now regarded as the most
reliable and consistent of the annual meteor showers.  The parent
body of this shower was discovered in 1983 by the Infrared Astronomy
Satellite and has been named Phaethon since it brushes perilously
close to the Sun in its year-and-a-half-long orbit.  The particle
stream from Phaethon is almost 5000 years old and hence is evenly
distributed around its orbit, which is why the shower is so
consistent.  A single observer at a dark location can expect to see
some 50 shooting stars per hour, and by dawn the radiant, near the
star Castor in Gemini, is almost directly overhead.  The shower
should be at better than one-quarter strength for a few days on
either side of the peak.  This is one of the few showers which puts
on a good show before local midnight, but this year the Moon won't
set until that hour, so early morning observers will benefit most. 
In recent years the activity has picked up somewhat, with hourly
rates of up to 130 meteors reported in 1988 at the shower's peak
time.  This should be the best meteor shower of the year, weather
permitting of course!

   Early in the evening you can still catch Saturn low in the
southwestern sky, but he's getting to the point where he's a
difficult sight from the city.  At the end of twilight he's only 15
degrees above the horizon, and by 8 PM he's gone for the night. 
You'll need to find some wide open space to catch him in his swan
song.

   The waxing Moon courses her way through the dim constellations of
the Autumnal sky during the course of the week, rendering these
already obscure asterisms even more indefinite.  The stars in this
part of the sky are the so-called "water-signs" of the Zodiac, and
all of them have something to do with aquatic legends.  To the
ancients these stars foretold of fierce winter storms, dark nights,
and gale-tossed oceans, and the paucity of bright stars reflected the
darkness and fear of vast ocean expanses.  It is indeed one of the
most somber parts of the night sky.

   By midnight, however, the scene changes.  High in the southeast
lie the bright stars of Orion surrounded by his retinue of glittering
companions.  Nature has given us nine of her 25 brightest luminaries
to help get us through the longest nights of the year, and watching
over all of them is the figure of the Hunter, perhaps the single most
spectacular asterism in the entire sky.  This constellation may be
seen from every inhabited part of the globe, and it has played a
pivotal role in countless legends from cultures old and new.  I
happened to be out in the country a few nights ago on an
exceptionally clear night and found myself staring in awe at Orion
and his cohorts, so seemingly close and yet as infinite as time
itself.  No wonder the ancients revered the sky!

   After midnight Jupiter begins to steal a little of Orion's
thunder.  The giant planet shines with the combined light of all of
Orion's stars, and so makes a fitting rival.  He then dominates the
sky until the pre-dawn arrival of Venus, who ushers the rising Sun. 
So get up early some morning and take in the show.  It's well worth
the price of admission!

   And, until next week, let the stars get in your eyes, and thank
you for calling the Smithsonian.