Hello again from Beckington Astronomical Society. Whilst our winter programme has been furloughed we are pleased to continue to bring you some thoughts and ideas of what to look for in the night sky.

In December we all think of Christmas and, of course, the bright star in the east as described in the Nativity story. Well, we can't promise a bright star in the east but we can look at planets in the south instead.

The big event in the night sky this month is the conjunction of Jupiter and Saturn on the 21st December. The two planets will appear to be pretty much on top of each other early in the evening. In fact they will be 0.1 degrees apart. To give you a rough idea of what this means if you hold your hand out in front of you when looking at the stars and then extend your little finger (as if drinking a cup of tea!) then the width of your finger will cover, very roughly, 1-2 degrees. This conjunction will be the closest seen for nearly 400 years so not even the members of our Society will have seen anything like it before.

To see the conjunction you need a good view of the southwest horizon. The planets will be low in the sky at sunset (16.28 UT), with an elevation of only 11 degrees. The best way to view is with a pair of binoculars or a small telescope, the planets will hopefully be shining brightly in the twilight.

Last month we suggested that the evening darkness provides a good opportunity to get younger astronomers familiar with the night sky. A good place to start is with the great constellations. Looking south check out Gemini with its bright stars of Castor and Pollux.

This constellation is also the "home" of the Geminids meteor shower. This will be visible from the 3rd to the 16th with a peak on the 13th and 14th. It is one of the most active showers and coincides with a new moon in December so seeing should be good - weather permitting!

Other constellations to pick out this month are Taurus, west of Gemini in the southern sky and the famous and instantly recognisable Orion, slightly lower in the sky.

Taurus contains two interesting sights: the Pleiades and the Hyades. These are clusters of stars with very different characteristics. The Pleiades is compact with blue-white stars whilst the Hyades are more scattered and form a rough V shape.

Aldebaran, one of the stars in Taurus, appears close to Hyades but is not actually part of them, rather it sits closer to Earth than the cluster.

Orion contains the Orion nebula which appears below the belt of stars that cross the constellation and about halfway down Orion's sword. It is one of the brightest nebulae and visible in good conditions with the naked eye.

A nebula is an enormous cloud of gas and dust and is a birthplace of stars. The Orion nebula is 1,300 light years from earth and is approximately 34 to 40 light years in diameter. A great sight to see and to explain to younger astronomers that thousands of stars are being formed as we watch. Our Society Secretary, Sandy Whitton took these images of the Orion nebula last year.

Remember to wrap up warm, clear evenings and nights are great for viewing the sights above us but it quickly gets cold.

Clear skies and an early Happy Christmas from Beckington Astronomical Society. Let us hope we can welcome you to society meetings in 2021!