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QUIET SUN: The sun's southern hemisphere is peppered with sunspots, but none of them is
actively flaring. Solar activity remains low. NOAA forecasters estimate a 15% chance of
M-class solar flares and a scant 1% chance of X-flares on Dec. 5th. Solar
flare alerts: text, voice
SUNSET SKY SHOW: When the sun goes down tonight, step outside and look southwest. The crescent
Moon and Venus are converging for a beautiful close encounter. These are the two brightest
objects in the night sky and they pop out of the twilight long before the sky fades
to black. Erwin Matys and Karoline Mrazek of Project Nightflight photographed the pair
converging over the Canary island El Hierro on Dec. 4th:
They'll be even closer together tonight. With less than 10o of arc seperating the two, they
would fit together inside the bowl of the Big Dipper.
If you have binoculars or a small telescope, take a closer look at the heavenly bodies.
Both are crescents. Like the Moon, Venus has phases and tonight it is 27% illuminated.
For comparison, the lunar crescent is half as wide, about 13.5%.
Bonus: This week Venus is at its brightest for 2013, shining almost 200 times brighter
than a 1st-magnitude star. That's why it is so easy to see before darkness falls. Look
southwest as soon as the sun sets. A Venus-Moon conjunction surrounded by twilight blue is
one of the most beautiful sights in the heavens.