The December 1999 ce StarDial Jehana Wed Dec 1 19:55:11 1999 December 1999 StarDial:*p*Dec 01 - Venus At Perihelion*p*Dec 02 - Asteroid 1999 VN6 Near-Earth Flyby (0.182 AU)*br*Dec 02, 1989 -- Solar Max fell from orbit and burned up in Earth's*br*atmosphere. Launched in 1980, Solar Max was repaired in the cargo bay of the Space Shuttle Challenger in 1984. Solar Max studied the Sun and discovered 10 comets skimming past or crashing into the Sun.*p*Dec 03 - Mercury At Its Greatest Western Elongation (20 Degrees)*br*Dec 03 - Asteroid 1999 RR28 Near-Earth Flyby (0.319 AU)*br*Dec 03 - The Moon passes 3° north of Venus at 4 pm, EST*br*Dec 03 - 25th Anniversary (1974), Pioneer 11 Flyby Of Jupiter.*br*Dec 03 - Your intrepid Pict and Brugh of the Star River stargazer *br*celebrates one of her innumerable birthdays, and hopes to celebrate many more, if these asteroid flybys let her...*p*Dec 04 - Comet Shoemaker 1 Closest Approach To Earth (2.027 AU)*p*Dec 06 - Asteroid 1999 SK10 Near-Earth Flyby (0.111 AU)*br*Dec 06, 1882 - The atmosphere of Venus is detected for the first time.*p*Dec 07 - Dark Moon occurs at 5:32 pm EST*p*Dec 08 - The Moon is at apogee (252,665 miles from Earth) at 6:04 am EST *p*Dec 09 - Comet Machholz 2 Perihelion (0.749 AU)*p*Dec 10 - Comet Shoemaker-Levy 8 Perihelion (2.721 AU)*br*Dec 10 - Asteroid 1999 RH27 Near-Earth Flyby (0.260 AU)*p*Dec 11 - Moon Occults Neptune*p*Dec 12 - Moon Occults Mars*br*Dec 12 - Moon Occults Uranus*br*Dec 12, 1871 - Pierre Jules Cesar Janssen (1824-1907, France) uses*br*spectroscopy from an eclipse in India to propose that the corona consists of both hot gases and cooler particles and therefore is part of the Sun. Jules Janssen discovered dark lines in the solar corona spectrum. (ref Royal Society 1999)*p*Dec 13, 14 - Geminids Meteor Shower Peak*br*Dec 13 - Mars passes 0.7° south of Uranus at midnight EST*br*Dec 13 - Asteroid 1999 VT25 Near-Earth Flyby (0.210 AU)*p*Dec 14 - Mars Passes 0.6 Degrees From Uranus.*p*Dec 15 - First quarter Moon at 7:50 pm EST *p*Dec 16 - Comet Schuster Perihelion (1.550 AU)*br*Dec 16, 1965 - Pioneer 6 was launched to observe the Sun, orbiting*br*between Earth and Venus in a 311-day orbit. The spacecraft is still*br*functional to this day, and is the world's oldest surviving spacecraft.*p**br*Dec 17 - Eurockot Rockot Launch (Russia)*br*Dec 17 - Mercury passes 5° north of Antares at 3 am EST*br*Dec 17 - Asteroid 1996 FG3 Closest Approach To Earth (0.483 AU)*br*Dec 17 - 15th Anniversary (1984), ALH84001 Discovered In Antarctica (Mars Meteorite, the one that raised the fuss about extraterrestrial life...)*p*Dec 18 - Moon passes 4° south of Jupiter at 1 am EST *p*Dec 19 - Moon passes 3° south of Saturn at 4 am EST *br*Dec 19, 1973 - Skylab took its now famous photo of a giant solar*br*prominence loop.*p*Dec 20 - Comet Arend Closest Approach To Earth (1.417 AU)*br*Dec 20 - Asteroid 1999 US3 Near-Earth Flyby (0.368 AU)*p*Dec 21 - Moon passes 1.3° north of the star Aldebaran at 4 am EST *p*Dec 22 - Winter Solstice, 07:44 UT, 2:44 am EST*br*Dec 22 - Ursids Meteor Shower Peak*br*Dec 22 - Moon is at perigee (221,614 miles from Earth) at 5:55 am EST *br*Dec 22 - Full Moon occurs at 12:31 pm EST *br*Dec 22, 0968 - First clear description of the corona seen during a*br*total eclipse, by a chronicler in Constantinople. The first mention of the corona may have been due to Plutarch, who lived from about AD 46 to 120. Plutarch's book 'On the Face in the Orb of the Moon' contains a reference to 'a certain splendour' round the eclipsed Sun which could well have been the corona.*br*Dec 22, 1870 - Jules César Pierre Jules Cesar Janssen (1824-1907,*br*France) uses a balloon to escape the German siege of Paris to study the December 22 eclipse in Algeria. He reached Aran (or Wahran), Algeria, but the eclipse is clouded out.*p*Dec 25 - Christmas Day.*br*Dec 25, 2038 - Partial Solar Eclipse with magnitude of 0.845 on*br*Christmas Island. On December 26, 2019 there is a partial eclipse of*br*magnitude 0.658 on the same island. At Christmas Creek, Western Australia, both partial eclipses: a magnitude of 0.798 and 0.297. Christmas Island will get a total solar eclipse on 22 July 2028 with almost 4 minutes of totality.*p*Dec 27 - Comet Wild 1 Perihelion (1.961 AU)*p*Dec 29 - The last quarter Moon happens at 9:04 am EST *p*Dec 31 - Comet C/1999 L3 (LINEAR) Perihelion (2.099 AU)*br*Dec 31 - New Years Eve, common era. Contrary to all the hype, this is NOT the last day of this millennium. It's not even the end of the century. Rather, the last day of the millennium will occur December 31, 2000. *br*Dec 31, 1842 - Annular eclipse on New Years eve. December 31, 1880 *br*Partial solar eclipse on New years eve. December 31, 2195 Partial Solar Eclipse on New Years eve. December 31, 2233 Total Solar Eclipse of December 31, 2233 will be visible on New Years day, January 1, 2234 for the West Pacific. December 31, 2252 Total Solar Eclipse of December 31, 2252 will be visible on New Years day, January 1, 2253 for the West Pacific.*p**br*RESOURCES:*p*Space Calendar: http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/calendar/*br*Astronomy Magazine: http://www.astronomy.com/*br*Solar Eclipse Newsletter: http://www.MrEclipse.com/*p*