The evening sky is particularly interesting during December.

Orion, Gemini and Taurus are the constellations which dominate the sky and the planets Mars and Saturn are also visible. Daylight will start to increase after the winter solstice.

Geminids and the Winter Solstice

The night of the 13th sees the return of the Geminid meteor shower.

Full Moon - 8th December

The best time to view the Geminids will be before dawn on Sunday morning. The winter solstice is on the 22nd at 0703 am. This marks the point at which hours of daylight reach an annual minimum.

The full moon is on the 8th whilst the next new moon is on the 23rd.

Beagle 2

Christmas Day will be a very special day for the British team behind the Beagle 2 which will complete its 250 million mile journey to the Red Planet on that day.

If all goes well Beagle 2 will touch down at around 3 am on the 25th. Around two hours later Mars Express, the mothercraft upon which Beagle 2 has hitched a ride, will overfly the Beagle, hopefully picking up its first signal.

By the end of the year we might even have an answer to the question, was there ever life on Mars?

Richard Angwin
Points West Weatherman