8 Sky Events This Week: Comet Visits Galaxy, Jovian Eclipses
December diamonds crown the night sky, lovely sights for stargazers as the solar system's royalty dances.
Jam-packed skies offer plenty of celestial treats this week for stargazers, from a comet snuggling with a galaxy to the moon courting a maiden.
From 1:12 to 2:02 a.m. EST that morning, the tiny round silhouettes of both Io and Europa will appear through backyard telescopes to slowly transit the face of the giant planet. It's amazing to think that all this action is taking place some 435 million miles (700 million kilometers) from Earth.
By Wednesday morning, the moon will have slid closer to Spica but jumped onto its other side.
Lying some 40 million light-years away, this giant island of stars shines at a feeble 9.9 magnitude and looks like a tiny, hazy oval patch through the eyepiece under dark
