In the evenings around Christmas, in the clear sky, you can see the small parade of the planets Jupiter, Saturn and Venus, which has attracted the attention of astrologers since early December. This was announced by the physicist Pencho Markishki from the Institute of Astronomy with NAO at BAS and the Department of Astronomy at Sofia University “St. Kliment Ohridski”.
He specified that for Eastern Bulgaria the appropriate observation time will start at about 17 hours and 20 minutes, and for Western – from about 17 hours and 40 minutes. The celestial attraction will be visible above the southwestern horizon. The brighter of these three planets, Jupiter and Venus, begin to be seen with the naked eye at dusk, and the weaker Saturn is later discovered in the already advanced twilight.
Unlike in early December, Mercury has now joined the parade, but it will be the most difficult planet to see – it will be very low in the southwest, in the fading glow after sunset, Markishki said.
The planets will be seen in an almost straight line along the ecliptic. The brightest of them is Venus. Viewed through a telescope or with powerful binoculars, it will look like a thin crescent moon – with only 8% illuminated disk.
The map shows the sky over the southwestern horizon on December 24 at 5:45 pm, for an observer from the Sofia region.
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