Planet Scenes December 2019
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Venus now a little past Saturn. |
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After Venus passed Jupiter in late November, she closed in on Saturn, scheduled to pass the ringed planet on December 11. These views on December 7 show Venus still about 5 degrees away; on one of these images, Jupiter can still barely be seen to the far lower right. It's easy to imagine the Sun farther down the ecliptic, roughly following a line from Saturn to Venus down below the horizon; according to Guy Ottewell's Astronomical Calendar for 2019 (scroll down to the end to see the entries for December), the Sun will set at its earliest time of the year tomorrow, December 8, so even though the days will continue to shorten for another two weeks, right now "feels" like the shortest day because we experience the time of sunset more readily than sunrise. |
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Venus and Saturn, December 2019 Venus and Saturn are in the midst of a close conjunction in the evening sky. |