dipper@utastro.UUCP (Debbie Byrd) (12/22/84)
The moon is new today -- and near Jupiter in the west tomorrow. More -- right after this. December 22 Jupiter and the Moon Earth's moon takes about a month to orbit our world once -- so once each month the moon comes in between the Earth and sun. Then the moon is said to be new -- and it's invisible in our sky -- hidden in the sun's glare. Well, that's the situation today. The moon is new today -- between the Earth and sun -- and so impossible to see from the surface of the Earth. But by tomorrow the moon will have edged away from that imaginary line between the Earth and sun. Moving eastward in orbit as it always does, the moon will appear slightly east of the sun -- which translates to mean it'll be low in the western sky shortly after the sun goes down. The sunlit half of the moon will face mostly away from our world -- so tomorrow after sunset, we'll see the moon as a slim crescent. It so happens that this slim crescent moon is near a planet tomorrow evening -- Jupiter -- which has been visible in our sky throughout the past year. Now Jupiter is going the opposite way from the moon in our sky. As the moon appears a little higher in the west each evening, Jupiter is sinking down into the sun's glare. It'll be gone from our evening sky entirely shortly after the first of the year -- only to return to the sky visible before dawn around the end of January. So take a look outside Sunday evening shortly after sunset. In the west, you'll find a slim crescent moon -- near the giant planet Jupiter. Script by Deborah Byrd. (c) Copyright 1983, 1984 McDonald Observatory, University of Texas at Austin