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[Music]

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what's up for December you're evening

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Planet highlights including The

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Disappearance of Mars and the

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constellation Pegasus

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the month begins and ends with the moon

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visiting the giant planets on December

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1st find the moon just a couple of

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finger widths apart from Jupiter in the

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evening Sky then from the 25th through

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the 31st look to the Southwest following

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Sunset to see an increasingly full moon

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slipped past Saturn and then again past

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Jupiter viewers with a clear view to the

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Horizon will be able to search for Venus

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and Mercury in the fading glow of sunset

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just a few degrees above the skyline

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December 7th brings one of those magical

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moments when the sky changes

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dramatically before your very eyes it's

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called a lunar occultation as the moon

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passes in front of or occults the red

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planet Mars the spectacle will be

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visible in parts of North America Europe

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and Northern Africa viewers in the

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Southeast U.S and on the East Coast will

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see the moon just graze past Mars

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for viewers in the U.S Mars disappears

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behind the moon sometime between about 6

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30 and 9 pm depending on your location

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so check your favorite Sky watching app

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to find out the time for your area now

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the moon passes in front of planets in

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the night sky several times per year in

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fact it generally occults Mars itself at

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least a couple of times per year but

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each occultation is visible from only a

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small portion of Earth's surface so it's

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not super common for any particular spot

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on earth to see them frequently of

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course the moon passes in front of stars

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all the time if you're watching through

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binoculars they just blink right out but

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planets are not just points of light

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like stars they appear as circular

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little discs so planets actually take

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several seconds to disappear and later

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re-emerge so if you're in the viewing

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Zone enjoy this relatively rare

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opportunity to watch a bright Planet

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being occulted by the moon

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looking high in the southwest sky on

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December evenings you can find a

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constellation named for one of the more

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Fantastical beasts of ancient mythology

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that's Pegasus the winged horse in Greek

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myth Pegasus rode into adventures with

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the hero baleraphon and later carried

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the Thunderbolts of Zeus himself who

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rewarded him by placing him Among the

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Stars Pegasus is one of the largest of

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the 88 constellations its most prominent

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feature and the key to finding it in the

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sky is this asterism or pattern of stars

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called the Great Square these four stars

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of roughly equal brightness form the

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central part of the horse's body

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this December it's easy to locate

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Pegasus thanks to brilliant Jupiter face

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Southward to find the giant planet

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halfway up the sky with the great Square

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beginning about 15 degrees to the north

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of it Pegasus is a useful constellation

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for stargazers as it's a good starting

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place for finding your way to other

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features in the night sky the

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constellation itself contains a number

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of dazzling deep Sky objects including

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globular cluster M15 and the Tangled

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galaxies of Stefan's Quintet

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with this year drawing to a close here's

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hoping you seek out the winged stallion

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Pegasus as you Ponder what new

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adventures await in the next year

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here are the phases of the moon for

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December

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stay up to date with all of NASA's

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missions to explore the solar system and

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Beyond at nasa.gov

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I'm Preston dykes with NASA's jet