Amazing sky early December 2012

Sky as seen from Casablanca,  December 2nd, 2012.
Picture generated by the free software "Stellarium"

Casablanca, December 1st, 2012 at 02:30 am, I was awakened by a tremendous thunderclap. Then a torrential rain followed. From my balcony I stared to the sky filled with reddish clouds. I'm not sure if it was really reddish or that was my imagination. Then I returned to my bedroom, meditating while hearing the sound of rain; before returning to sleep. I must admit that I felt some fear; since as far as I can remember, I never heard such a violent thunder... Each time I feel a strong emotion, I take this opportunity to meditate and explore my inner space... How the emotion looks like in the feeling, in the body ? what are the thoughts associated with it ? etc. Emotions can be waves to ride and go deep in our inner world ...

24 hours later, the landscape of the night sky changed radically. Before going to sleep I look to the sky. It was peaceful. Some tiny white clouds but no wind, no rain in the horizon. I woke up at about 5am. Some minutes later I was on the rooftop of my building contemplating the starry sky. This article is about this beautiful journey in the early morning sky of this December the 2nd, 2012.

1- The brightest objects in the sky

Stars and planets magnitudes.
A green background indicates that the object
was visible today in the sky

The astronomers measure the brightness of celestial objects (stars, planets, etc.) by a unit called magnitude. The table beside shows the magnitude of the brightest objects in the sky. The lower the value, the brightest the object. A star of magnitude 1 is 2,5 brighter than a star of magnitude 2. With naked eyes,  we can see up to magnitude 6.

In the table below against I marked with a green background the stars and planets which were visible in the sky this night. Not less than 3 planets were visible this night : Venus, Jupiter and Saturn. The brightest star in the sky, Sirius, was also visible. Among the 20 most visible objects in the sky, 11 was visible this night ! 

So in this early December 2012, you can enjoy the sighting of many, many beautiful objects in the sky ... if the there is not to many clouds, of course ! Before looking to the sky, you can prepare your sighting using a planetarium software. You can enter your geographical location and the date and time of observation and the software will show you what the sky would looks like. There are a lot of good free software offering this feature. For example Stellarium is a very good and powerful planetarium software. There is also a simple but useful online software : Neave Planetarium. All these software are very helpful, especially for gazing the planets which are always changing their positions in the sky. So, first learn to locate the stars, then locate the planets in their apparent position near the stars.

2- Star and planets gazing

When I looked to the sky in the direction of the east, I saw a landscape like the following picture :

A picture captured from the on-line planetarium software : http://neave.com/planetarium/

2.1- Venus

Near the horizon, Venus was very bright. Nobody can miss it. When the daylight comes and all the stars disappear, Venus remains in the sky until the last moments before the sunrise. Venus is a very beautiful object easy to see in the sky. With a little telescope I used also to admire Venus phases ! Yes, Venus has phases like the moon, but we can't see them with naked eyes.

2.2- Saturn 

Saturn with its rings and satellites at it could be

sighted in a telescope, this December 2012

The second biggest planet in Solar System, Saturn, was also visible this night. But since it is far from the Earth than Venus, the latter is almost 50 times more luminous than the former. We can see Saturn as a little star just above Venus in the east. With a small telescope we can see the beautiful rings of Saturn as in the following picture captured from Stellarium software.

2.3- Spica and Arcturus

Above Saturn to the right I saw Spica, the brilliant star in Virgo constellation. In fact, Spica is a double stars orbiting around each other every 4 days. Above and to the left of Saturn there was Arcturus a giant red star. Its diameter is 25 times sun's one

The sky towards the west offered me a very beautiful sight. Despite the presence of the moon, a large number of bright stars were visible this night as indicated in the picture below :

Picture captured from on-line software Neave Planetarium

2.4- Orion and Canis Major constellations

Just below the moon, the brightest star in the sky, Sirius, is shining in "Canis Major" constellation. And in the west of Canis Major there is Orion Constellation, which is my favourite constellation in the sky. It contents a large number of bright stars : Betelegeuse, the giant star with a red color, Rigel the bluish star and the three aligned stars, Orion's belt. Just below those three stars there is a "nebula", a kind of cloud of young stars just being born ...

2.4- Jupiter, Aldebaran and the pleiades

Jupiter and its four satellites 

as they can be sighted today 

using a little telescope.

Picture captured using 

Stellarium free software

Jupiter is the biggest planet in our solar system and the brightest celestial object after Venus. With a little telescope I used to see Jupiter
and its sattelites as shown in the picture against.

Below Jupiter there is "Aldebaran" which is an unmistakable red star. There are also 6 or 7 little stars forming a beautiful tiny constellation called "Pleiades". It is among the most beautiful objects to be sighted in the sky.

3- Star gazing as a prayer

In the previous paragraphs I've presented some information about stars and planets we can see during this December 2012, early in the morning. The presentation is some how "cold". The stars and planets are just "objects" in the sky with size, magnitude, color, etc. But if we stay at this level, we will miss the whole mystery of the sky. So let's be aware of this mind pitfall. He can say to us : "OK, this is the planet or the star X or Y. What is the next object to see ?". If after a star sighting we just name it and we move on to the next object, then we have missed a real opportunity of a beautiful prayer. A star or planet in the sky is not just "an object", it is a true being pulsating with Live. If after making acquaintance with the star or the planet, after recognising its name, seeing its color, the shape of its constellation, etc,  we stop our mind and we see this celestial being with loving eyes and opening heart. Then we will surely feel the energy emanating from this star or planet. Even if we close our eyes and let our being be showered by the energy emanating from this celestial object, we can feel it deep in our heart. Personally, whenever I stare to the sky with loving heart, the tears come to my eyes and I feel something touching my heart... For every lover of the sky, star and planet gazing is a true deep prayer.

Post Scriptum

December 3rd, 2012, for the second consecutive night, the sky was exceptionally clear with almost no clouds. Today, I was able to see a fourth planet in the sky : Mercury. If you are living in Casablanca and if you are, for example returning from the first prayer in the mosque about 6:15 am, you can look to the sky in the direction of the east (where the sun will rise about 1 hour later). Then you can see a very bright star. In fact, this is planet Venus. Just above Venus, a less bright "star" which is the planet Saturn. Below Venus, almost aligned with Venus and Saturn, there is a bright object near the horizon : this is Mercury, the nearest planet to the sun in our solar system. You can't miss this beautiful trio, aligned and bright in the sky, just above the east horizon ! (see picture below).

In our solar system, there is 9 planets (the ninth, Pluto is no more considered as a planet by astronomers, but there is a "destroyed" ninth planet : Asteroids Belt).  Jupiter and Saturn are two giant planets having satellites of the dimension of the Earth. Venus and Mercury are the nearest planets to the sun. With naked eyes, we can see Venus, Jupiter, Saturn, Mercury and Mars. All the other planets can't be seen without using a telescope. So in this early December 2012, one to two hours before sunrise we can enjoy sighting four among five planets visible with naked eyes. So it is really a great and exceptional occasion. Don't miss it !

So, enjoy your sighting ... and don't forget to open your heart, relax your body and let the prayer happens when you stare to these beautiful celestial beings ...

The three planets as seen above the east horizon this early December 2012.
The fourth planet, Jupiter, not seen in this picture, is in the west.
Picture captured from Stellarium software