What’s up? The night sky October-December 2022
As the Moon rises around 6.40 pm on Tuesday 8 November it will appear blood red on the horizon, a stunning sight. For WA observers it will already be in total lunar eclipse, the red colour is due to the light from the Sun being refracted through our Earth’s atmosphere, with the Earth’s shadow falling across the Moon.
It will remain in total eclipse for another hour before gradually brightening as it moves into a partial eclipse for another hour. This will be the last total lunar eclipse visible in Australia until March 2025, but luckily WA sees a solar eclipse on 20 April next year! If you are going to observe the eclipse next year, remember not to look directly at the sun without appropriate protection, such as special eclipse glasses. Note: regular sunglasses are not good enough to allow eclipse viewing.
November is the best time of the year to view the constellation of Pegasus in the northern sky. Look for four stars forming the ‘square’.
If you’re up early on the morning of 14 December, look up to the north-western sky near the stars Castor and Pollux in Gemini as the Geminid meteor shower will be at its peak.
The best time to view the planets will be evenings in December with five planets visible to the unaided eye.
View of Pegasus in the northern evening sky in November. (Produced using Stellarium, www.stellarium.org)
Rob Hollow, CSIRO