1. It's not been the best of years, but 2020 ends with an excellent month of stargazing with a major meteor shower and the closest conjunction of Jupiter and Saturn since Galileo Galilei was still a working astronomer. Here's what's going on in the Night Sky This Month.

 

2. Join me on this month's sky tour, complete with snapshot astrophotos, of five lovely nebulae along the backbone of the northern Milky Way in the constellation Cygnus.

 

3. A useful trick for stargazers from the always interesting "Art of Manliness" website: how to use your hands to tell when the sun will set.

 

4. If you think the Earth is a lonely place in the vast cosmos, at least we have a home star. But there are likely thousands of rogue planets long ago cast out of their star systems by gravitational whiplash to roam the Milky Way forever alone.

 

5. And one more insightful article from Marina Koren at The Atlantic, this one about 'galaxy brain' or why looking at images from the Hubble Space Telescope is good for your mental well being.

 

6. Here's a summary of the latest computer models on how the solar system ends (spoiler alert: it doesn't go well for Earth).

 

7. Now for some consolation: there may be another 300 million Earth-like worlds out there waiting to be discovered and explored.

 

8. It appears 2020 has come for the famed Arecibo radio telescope in Puerto Rico. It has essential collapsed and been destroyed without hope of repair, ending its spectacular 60-year history of discovery. "An ignominious end to interstellar dreams".

 

9. As thoughts turn to Christmas and the year's end, and with the spectacular conjunction of Jupiter and Saturn later this month, it's worth reflecting on whether that most famous of stars, the 'Christmas Star', was real.

 

10. Any good stargazer knows that a good night under the stars is a 'holy night' of sorts. Which brings to mind a piece of music to end this month and year: a spectacular bit of singing of 'O Holy Night' by the Swedish tenor Jussi Bjorling. Yes, yes, it's in Swedish (O Helga Natt). But you know the words and it's as beautiful a piece of singing as you will ever hear.  Enjoy!

 

 

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Clear Skies!

 

Brian Ventrudo

Publisher