Anyone who’s been following along here will note that I’ve been mentioning a lot of morning stuff recently, but that’s because the universe is in charge: Mother Nature decides what and when, and I just get to point it out.
Understand that I am not a morning person, and therefore would not normally be up at 6 a.m. on December 4, and especially the 7th, without good reason. This year I will. If you should also be up, here’s a little something to check while that morning coffee is brewing.
We have a visitor.
On December 4, if it’s a clear morning, you would notice the Moon fairly high in the eastern sky. Joining it, a few finger widths up and to the right, would be bright Jupiter. If you have a decent view down near the horizon, brilliant Venus would grab your eye, and half way back up toward the Moon would be a much dimmer, but definitely red, Mars.
But, this planetary alignment is not why I have you up in the pre-dawn.
Grab those binoculars you always keep at hand (sharp-eyed country folk might be able to go without). Find Venus, then look slowly down and to the left about half way to the horizon. You should find a fuzzy patch called C/2013 US10 Catalina.
Catalina is a comet. Like most comets, it was born in the Oort Cloud, a region of debris half way to the next star. Having whipped around the Sun in mid November, it’s now on it’s way out of the solar system into interstellar space, sadly never to be seen again. If you choose to sleep in, you will not be able to ‘catch it next time’.
But, don’t fret if you don’t catch Catalina on the 4th; you’ll have ample other opportunities. For the next few days, Venus will move closer, and on the 7th, a crescent Moon will join the other two in the same binocular field, a rare occurrence that even I will get up for. No clouds, please.
While Catalina is an early morning object right now, it will be moving rapidly northward and rising a little earlier each day, becoming an evening object early in January. On the 1st, with the familiar strains of ‘Auld Lang Syne’ in the background, Catalina will celebrate the new year by passing a thumb width to the right of the red giant Arcturus, the brightest star in the northern hemisphere.
Although it will always be a challenge with your eyes alone, Catalina will continue to be visible in binoculars each evening at least into March. It may not be bright or spectacular, but it’s come an awfully long way to make itself briefly known to us, and it’s available from your own back yard.
