Caribbean Compass Yachting Magazine - November 2021

— Continued from previous page
Saturday, December 4th
The Moon occults Mercury this morning. The New Moon and Mercury will be
lost in the glare of the Sun for the next few days. You may see posts about a solar
Tonight the Moon is southwest of Jupiter. Tomorrow it will relocate into Aquarius
and southeast of Jupiter.
As the Moon begins to set you may catch a few shooting stars passing through
the night sky. The Monocerotids meteor shower peaks tonight. The best area to spot
any meteors is straight overhead. They will appear
to radiate out of Monoceros, the constellation east
of Orion.
Sunday, December 12th
The sigma-Hydrids meteor shower will peak
overnight. This minor shower is active December
3rd to December 15th. Meteors from this shower
travel at a higher velocity than the other showers
this period. They will appear blue in color. Meteors
that enter our atmosphere at a slower rate will
appear red.
Tuesday, December 14th
The Geminids is one of the strongest meteor
showers of the year. This is the one major shower
that provides good activity prior to midnight. The
Geminids is active December 7th to December 17th.
The peak volume of meteors could be 120 per hour
if viewed from a location with a very dark sky. The
Geminids are often bright and intensely colored.
IMAGE 2 JIM ULIK
* All times are given as Atlantic Standard Time
(AST) unless otherwise noted. The times are based
on a viewing position in Grenada and may vary by
only a few minutes in different Caribbean locations.
Jim Ulik sails on S/V Merengue.
Left: Predicted transit of the International Space Station
on November 17th after 1800 hours.
Below: The location of radiants from a few
of the meteor showers this period.
eclipse today but it will not be visible in the
Caribbean. The path of totality for this eclipse
will be limited to Antarctica and the southern
Atlantic Ocean. A partial eclipse will be visible
throughout much of South Africa. This is the
best time of the month to observe faint objects
such as galaxies and star clusters because there
is no moonlight to interfere.
Monday, December 6th
There is a close approach between Venus and
the waxing crescent Moon in the western sky after
sunset. Both objects, located in Sagittarius, will
appear above or east of the Milky Way. Venus is
now brighter in the night sky than any other day
in 2021. It may be less than 25 percent illuminated
but the sulfuric acid clouds reflect 75 percent of
the Sun’s rays. Two objects exceeding in brightness
are the Sun and Moon.
Tuesday, December 7th
The Puppid-Velids meteor shower will be active
from December 1st to December 15th. Tonight the
shower will produce its peak number of meteors.
The best time to view the shower is after midnight.
The Moon has left Venus and now appears
near Saturn. The pair is close enough to be seen
through binoculars in the Goat-Fish
constellation, Capricornus.
Wednesday, December 8th
The Moon makes a close approach to Jupiter.
IMAGE 3 JIM ULIK
NOVEMBER 2021 CARIBBEAN COMPASS PAGE 29
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