SkyCaramba

Most of the naked eye planets are congregating in the evening sky this week. December evenings are also a good time to see the Andromeda Galaxy. A century ago, astronomers weren't sure what it was. When one astronomer noticed something the rest missed, he blew their minds.

Mercury is an evening object, but you'll have trouble finding it. Comet Leonard enters Microscopium as its orbital position takes it closer to the sun. A popular question this time of year is what was the Star of Bethlehem. Most of the possible answers don't actually involve stars. When they do, they involve planets too.

Fast-moving Comet Leonard becomes an evening object this week. Venus slows its march eastward to turn around. The Geminid meteor shower peaks. If you ever discover an asteroid, you'll get to name it after yourself, someone else, a place, or a thing. But it's not a case of anything goes. And it's not a fast process.

Sooner is better than later for seeing this year's Geminid meteors. Consider the mystery about where the Geminids come from. They're not associated with a comet. Be considerate when using outdoor lighting. It's not just astronomy that depends on a proper light.

Three planets are in our evening sky. Mars is emerging into the morning dome. Try to see Comet Leonard. And Antarctica gets a solar eclipse.

It's been 400 years since the harvest celebration that inspired the American Thanksgiving holiday. What did the pilgrims and the Wampanoag see in the sky in 1621? Antarctica and places nearby get a solar eclipse.

Aquarius has represented spilling water since the Babylonians looked up and saw one of their gods emptying a jug.

Next week, the moon will delve almost as deeply as it can into Earth's shadow without a total eclipse. Find out where you can see it and what time it happens. Also, keep up on what's happening with Saturn, Jupiter, Venus, Mercury, and Mars.

You certainly heard about Pluto being demoted to dwarf planet status in 2006. But the news about Ceres being promoted to that status didn't get nearly as much attention. (This edition has been edited to remove the incorrect date for Ceres' close pass by Aldebaran. The correct information is they will be closest at 0.1° apart on the 3rd. My apologies for the error.) Venus crosses the teapot lid. Sa...

Venus is getting closer to the sun, but you'd never know that from the way things look lately. The deceptive view of the solar system we get from Earth made it hard for sky watchers to figure out how the planets actually move.

Mercury is emerging into the morning sky and will soon be joined by Mars. Try to spy on Jupiter's "Great Red Spot". It's not actually red. Venus goes through the southern end of Ophiuchus, the zodiac constellation most people don't know about. Get to know the Hyades.

This week's astronomical action: Venus passes through the scorpion's head. The moon passes in front of the archer's bow. Jupiter and Saturn keep hanging out in Capricornus. Naming a new constellation after a reptile turned out to be more popular than naming it after any king. And how did one variable star get the name of something fearsome but another is called wonderful?

Watch Venus and the moon making a nice cluster--or clutter--in Scorpius. Opposite behavior by stars on opposite sides of the sky from the same cause. Not all variable stars are thought to be ghoulish. One is considered to be wonderful.

You won't be able to see it, but there's a meteor shower this week. It happens in the daytime. Venus goes through the Libra diamond. Astronomy tails and tales. Don't panic or you might end up like Capricornus the goat-fish.

What you've heard your whole life about day and night being of exactly equal length on the equinox is wrong. I'll tell you why. And remember that myth about eggs standing up on their ends only on the equinox? For some reason, the myth only considers the March equinox. Follow Venus into the evening sky and see Jupiter and Saturn nearly all night.

What would you think of a star that blinks? Maybe you'd think there's something sinister about it. That's how Algol got its name. It's from Arabic for the demon . To the ancient Greeks, Algol was a blinking eye of Medusa. Before that, the ancient Egyptians may have thought of the star as a bringer of luck--good or bad depending on when the eye of Horus looked upon them. Algol still...

This is the time of year to see the dawn before the dawn. Depending on the circumstances, this faint glow might make you think the sun is rising sooner than it is or that you're approaching a city when there's just open country ahead.

Mercury moves farther into the evening sky and Venus scoots along Virgo while Mars is elusive in the evening light. Jupiter and Saturn are retrograde in Capricornus. Neptune's at opposition. Earth's at equinox.

Mars is at its northern solstice. There's more to space than what we see orbiting stars. And between the stars, there's more than just nothing. Mars and Mercury start the week close. Venus voyages through Virgo. The moon with Jupiter and Saturn. And try to find Neptune.

A traditional blue moon is coming up. That's not the second full moon of the month. Mars and Mercury are close this week. And learn how to identify the satellites and space junk you see going overhead.

Venus passes by a star named Zavijava this week. The name is fun to say. Find out what it means. Viewing this year's Perseids meteor shower should be good. A celestial swan flies high in the August evening skies. Hear some of the old legends about how it got there.

There are a couple of close pairings this month--Venus and Zavijava and then Mars and Mercury. Saturn and Jupiter are both at opposition. Northern hemisphere viewers have a chance to see the northern and southern crowns. Several animal constellations feature well this month. And there's a meteor shower that produces what some call the tears of St. Lawrence.

In astronomy, the person who first sees an object isn't necessarily the person who gets credit for discovering it. The discoverer is the one who recognizes it as something new or different. If you think it's a star, but someone else figures out it's a planet, you'll be lucky to get a footnote for "precovery" in a chapter about someone else's discovery. Usually, only a few years pass between precov...

It doesn't make sense that stars shining at magnitude 31.5 are among the dimmest the Hubble Space Telescope can see, while one shining at 0 is one of the brightest in the sky. And objects with magnitudes below 0 are even brighter! How can the lower number mean a brighter body? It starts making sense when you understand how this measurement system got started more than 2,000 years ago. And find out...

A popular misconception says toilet water goes one way in the northern hemisphere and the other way in the southern hemisphere. Unless your toilet's a giant lake, its location doesn't make a difference. Follow Venus and Mars in the evening sky while Jupiter and Saturn continue rising earlier.