Natural Calendar - December 2020

The purpose of this feature is to give scout leaders, educators and naturalists an idea of some of the natural events coming up each month.  We will try to cover a variety of natural events ranging from sky events to calling periods of amphibians, bird and mammal watching tips,  prominent wildflowers and anything else that comes to mind.  We will also note prominent constellations appearing over the eastern horizon at mid-evening each month for our area for those who would like to learn the constellations.  If you have suggestions for other types of natural information you would like to see added to this calendar, let us know!

Note: You can click on the hyperlinks to learn more about some of the featured items.  To return to the Calendar, hit the "back" button on your browser, NOT the "back" button on the web page.  All charts are available in a "printer friendly" mode, with black stars on a white background.  Left clicking on each chart will take you to a printable black and white image. 

Though we link book references to nationwide sources, we encourage you to support your local book store whenever possible.

 

Notes From November 2020

November brought cooler temperatures, lots of blue skies and shorter days. While walking on November 19th, I heard the rattling cries of Sandhill Cranes. It's a sound of the season, and it never fails to lift my spirits when the first flight of Sandhills appears in late fall. Looking skyward, I spotted a "V" of fourteen birds circling overhead.

The last day of November brought a light snow and a chilly morning. I took this shot of the pond next to my house at first light on December 1st.

 

The pond in the early morning, after the first snow of the year. December 1st, 2020.

 

 Sand Hickory, November 24th
One species of tree that I was not familiar with before I moved to Lookout Mountain is the Sand Hickory. As the name implies, it does well in sandy soils. Lookout Mountain, which is an extension of the South Cumberland Mountains, provides this sandy soil in abundance.

The Cumberlands are topped by Pennsylvanian sandstones. The harder sandstone acts as a "caprock", providing some erosion protection for the softer Mississippian sedimentary rocks beneath. The soil on top of Lookout Mountain is therefore very sandy and drains well. Because of that the soil is good for agricultural use.

The range of Sand Hickories is shown in the lower left illustration of the montage below. The range extends east and north all the way to Delaware. The species also occurs in parts of East and Central Tennessee, though I've never encountered it there. I wonder how many I've missed seeing in Tennessee.

My house here is surrounded by a nice stand of oaks, Virginia Pine and Sand Hickories. Suffice to say that my squirrels are very well fed this time of year. When I moved here, I realized that my hickories had traits that I had not seen in the hickory species that I knew. The leaves have 7-9 leaflets. The underside of the leaflets have silvery-tan scales, which gives them a pale appearance beneath.  Hence the scientific name Carya pallida.

 

 Clockwise From top left; Sand Hickory Trunk, Sand Hickory Nuts, Sand Hickory shell and kernel, Range

The bark of Sand Hickories is noticeably furrowed, as can be seen in the image at right.

At top right  are a selection of Sand Hickory "nuts," though botanically they are classified as drupes. When we eat the kernel of a hickory drupe, we are eating a seed.

Sand Hickories have the smallest nuts of any of the hickory species. The shells range from about 0.5 inches in length to 1.45 inches.

At bottom left is an opened shell with the kernel exposed. The small size and the interior partitioning of the shell make getting the kernel out a little difficult. Once removed, though, the kernels are quite good and sweet.

 

Sky Events for December 2020:

The Geminid Meteor Shower peaks on the evening of December 13th and the morning of the 14th. Their will be no interference from the Moon so it's definitely worth checking out this year.

The December Solstice, marking the beginning of winter in the Northern Hemisphere and the beginning of summer in the Southern Hemisphere, occurs at 5:02am EST on December 21st. This is the shortest day of the year. However, those wishing for a little more daylight in the afternoon should be happy to learn that the earliest sunset occurs around December 7th, roughly two weeks before the solstice. Unfortunately the latest sunrise does not occur until the first week in January. This seeming discrepancy is caused by two factors; the tilt of Earth's axis in space relative to the plane of its orbit around the Sun, and the eccentricity of Earth's orbit.

 

Morning Sky:

Venus is slowly moving closer to the horizon each day, but it continues to be bright and beautiful in the dawn sky this month. It begins the month rising about 2 hours before the Sun and by month's end will rise less than 1-1/2 hours before the Sun. As the month progresses its apparent size diminishes and it gets more gibbous. It is the brightest star-like object in the eastern sky before dawn so you won't have any problem picking it out.  

Evening Sky:

 
Jupiter at dusk, October 19th, 2020, 12.5 Inch Newtonian Reflector and ZWO ASI 120MM Camera. South is up to match the view in an inverting telescope..
Jupiter is in the south at dusk at the beginning of the month and will remain in Sagittarius until December 18th. It will then move into Capricornus. It is best viewed at dusk, when it is highest in the sky. It's fun to watch the dusky belts change from night to night. Since the planet takes less than ten hours to rotate, you can watch details move across the disk during an evening. And, of course, it's always fun to watch the dance of the four Galilean moons. But the big news this month is the extremely close conjunction between Jupiter and Saturn. The two planets will appear to approach each other on December 21st to within 6 minutes of an arc! The last time these two planets were closer than this was in the year 1226!

Saturn is only about 2 degrees to the east of Jupiter as the month begins. Like Jupiter it starts the month in Sagittarius and will move into Capricornus on December 15th.
Saturn, Tethys and Dione, June 11th, 2016, 20 Inch Newtonian Reflector and ZWO Camera. South is up to match the view in an inverting telescope.

One important thing to remember about the Jupiter - Saturn conjunction on the 21st is that you need to observe the pair as soon as possible after sunset. For Tennessee and north Georgia, even only 30 minutes after sunset, the two planets will be only about 18 degrees above the horizon. At 45 minutes after sunset they will be only about 15 degrees above the horizon. The lower they sink to the horizon, the more blurry your view will be due to atmospheric turbulence. They are close enough together that you should be able to see both planets together in a telescope's field of view if you use a moderate power. But the view in binoculars, and naked eye, should also be striking.

 

 
Mars, October 15th, 2020, ZWO ASI 120MMS camera. South is up to match the view in an inverting telescope.
Mars will appear smaller as the month goes on as the Earth pulls away from it. It will begin the month appearing a little over 14 seconds of an arc in diameter and end the month at around 10.5 seconds of an arc. By the end of the month it will be difficult to observe much detail on the planet.  At the beginning of the month it is low in the east at dusk. The best views will occur when Mars crosses the meridian and is due south, around 9:00pm EST on November 1st. As the month goes on it will reach the meridian earlier. One thing you will immediately notice is that Mars will appear gibbous through the eyepiece.

If you are not used to viewing Mars it will appear quite small through the eyepiece. After all, its diameter is only a little over half that of Earth. Picking out the subtle details on Mars takes patience. Plan on spending some time viewing it and wait for moments when the atmosphere steadies.

 
 
 
 
The Orion Nebula, Messier 42, January 2008, Televue 85mm Apochromatic
Refractor and SBIG ST-2000XCM CCD Camera
Constellations:

The views below show the sky looking east at 10:00pm EST on December 15th.  The first view shows the sky with the constellations outlined and names depicted.  Star and planet names are in green.  Constellation names are in blue.  The second view shows the same scene without labels.

Look for the bright stars Castor and Pollux in the constellation of Gemini, The Twins. Compare the colors of the bright stars Betelgeuse and Rigel in Orion.  Betelgeuse is a red giant and Rigel is a very hot, blue-white supergiant.  If you have a telescope or binoculars, look at the center of the three "sword" stars below Orion's belt.  There you will find the Orion Nebula, M42, one of the most magnificent emission nebulas in the sky.  The red glow of hydrogen alpha light is visible only in very large telescopes and the nebula appears as a small greenish glow in small telescopes.  Crouching beneath the feet of  Orion, is  Lepus, the Hare.  Sirius, the brightest star in the sky, shines below Orion.  Sirius is in Canis Major, the Great Dog, and for that reason is known as the Dog Star.  In the late summer, Sirius rises at the same time as the Sun.  Because of this, the late summer days are known as the "dog days."   The faint constellation Monoceros, the Unicorn, follows Orion over the eastern horizon.  Low in the eastern sky below Gemini is Canis Minor, with its bright star Procyon.  Procyon means, "before the dog," and refers to the fact that Procyon rises just before the Dog Star, Sirius.  Look below Gemini and see if you can spot the faint glow of M44, the "Beehive Cluster."  This cluster is located in Cancer, the Crab.

 

 

December 15th, 10:00pm EST, Looking East

 
 

December 15th, 10:00pm EST, Looking East

On Learning the Constellations: 

We advise learning a few constellations each month, and then following them through the seasons.  Once you associate a particular constellation coming over the eastern horizon at a certain time of year, you may start thinking about it like an old friend, looking forward to its arrival each season.  The stars in the evening scene above, for instance, will always be in the same place relative to the horizon at the same time and date each December.  Of course, the planets do move slowly through the constellations, but with practice you will learn to identify them from their appearance.  In particular, learn the brightest stars (like Sirius and Procyon in the above scene), for they will guide you to the fainter stars.  Once you can locate the more prominent constellations, you can "branch out" to other constellations around them.  It may take you a little while to get a sense of scale, to translate what you see on the computer screen or what you see on the page of a book to what you see in the sky.  Look for patterns, like the three stars in a line in Orion's belt.

The earth's rotation causes the constellations to appear to move across the sky just as the sun and the moon appear to do.  If you go outside earlier than the time shown on the charts, the constellations will be lower to the eastern horizon.  If you observe later, they will have climbed higher. 

As each season progresses, the earth's motion around the sun causes the constellations to appear a little farther towards the west each night for any given time of night.  If you want to see where the constellations in the above figures will be on January 15th at 10:00 EST, you can stay up till 12:00am EST on the December 15th and get a preview.  The westward motion of the constellations is equivalent to two hours per month. 

Recommended:

Sky & Telescope's Pocket Star Atlas is beautiful, compact star atlas. 

A good book to learn the constellations is Patterns in the Sky, by Hewitt-White

For sky watching tips, an inexpensive good guide is Secrets of Stargazing, by Becky Ramotowski. 

A good general reference book on astronomy is the Peterson Field Guide, A Field Guide to the Stars and Planets, by Pasachoff.  The book retails for around $14.00. 

The Virtual Moon Atlas is a terrific way to learn the surface features of the Moon.  And it's free software.  You can download the Virtual Moon Atlas here.

Apps:  We really love the Sky Safari 6 Pro.  It is available for both iOS and Android operating systems.  There are three versions.  The Pro is simply the best astronomy app we've ever seen.  The description of the Pro version reads, "includes over 100 million stars, 3 million galaxies down to 18th magnitude, and 750,000 solar system objects; including every comet and asteroid ever discovered."

Another great app is the Photographer's Ephemeris.  Great for finding sunrise, moonrise, sunset and moonset times and the precise place on the horizon that the event will occur.  Invaluable not only for planning photographs, but also nice to plan an outing to watch the full moon rise.  Available for both androids and iOS operating systems.

 

Amphibians:

 
Upland Chorus Frog
December really marks the beginning of the breeding season for Tennessee frogs and toads.  We have had breeding choruses of Upland Chorus Frogs as early as December 4th.  Breeding even before Wood Frogs, these irrepressible denizens of flooded winter fields and other wet areas will call throughout the cold winter months.  Listen for their call, which sounds like someone dragging their thumb across the teeth of a plastic comb, on mild wet winter evenings.  Listen also for Southern Leopard Frogs.  We hear them throughout the fall.  Many other Tennessee frogs and toads can be seen on mild December nights, but most are silent.


Recommended:  The Frogs and Toads of North America, Lang Elliott, Houghton Mifflin Co.

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Nature Notes Archives:  Nature Notes was a page we published in 2001 and 2002 containing our observations about everything from the northern lights display of November 2001 to frog and salamander egg masses.

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