Sky Shorts: Don't miss launch of a most impressive telescope - Canton Repository

Inferior conjunction is when Earth and Venus make their closest approach to each other.

As Venus comes closer to Earth, the apparent size increases and the phase changes.

Grab your binoculars and scan below Venus for the fuzzy glow of the comet’s coma.

Jupiter appears second and is to the upper left of Venus.

Saturn shines at magnitude 0.6 and will make a close pairing with Venus, 14 degrees apart, on Dec.

Mercury joins the group, late in the month, and will be below and to the right of Venus.

28, Mercury and Venus pass each other by 4.2 degrees.

Uranus, magnitude 5.7, is located in Aries and is 11 degrees south of the brightest star in Aries, Hamal1

25 is less than 5 degrees north of its rival, the star, Antares, which is brighter of the two.

Look for the three stars in a line, which make up the belt of Orion.

The bright red-orange star up and to the left of the belt is Betelgeuse.

The bright blue-white star down and to the right of the belt is Rigel. Draw a line up from the belt to a red, orange star, Aldebaran, which is the eye of Taurus, the Bull.

Above Taurus, the small cluster of stars is the Pleiades or Seven Sisters.

Making a counterclockwise loop from the Pleiades, the next bright star is Capella.

Following the two stars at the end of the cup to the next bright star, is Polaris or the North Star. The constellation Cassiopeia is above Polaris and resembles the letter ‘M.” West: Sinking lower are the bright stars Vega, Deneb and Altair which form the Summer Triangle.

From the left point of the “M” shape, scan slowly up to the left.

Facing east, you will see a small cluster of stars, the Pleiades or the Seven Sisters.

The Pleiades is a beautiful open star cluster.

Scan below the three stars of Orion’s belt.

You will see a fuzzy area with bright stars.