EarthSky News - Dec 17 - Primordial Galaxies, Phaethon Closest, Longest Lunar Month

December 17 Primordial Galaxies, Phaethon Closest, Longest Lunar Month by:

Primordial galaxies swimming in dark matter Astronomers thought the 1st galaxies would be small. Now they've spotted 2 giant galaxies from when the universe was only 5% of its current age. 3200 Phaethon closest to Earth last night This asteroid-comet hybrid is why the Geminid meteors put on a good show in 2017. Info and images of the rock-comet at its closest, here. This century's longest lunar month starts tomorrow Lunar months are roughly 29.5 days. The upcoming one will be 7 hours longer than the mean and this century's longest lunar month. Here's why. New moon is tomorrow Lunar months start at new moons, and new moon comes Monday. It'll cross the sky with the sun during the day. Star of the week: Mirfak Mirfak isn't as famous as Algol, its brother star in the constellation Perseus. But Mirfak is easy to find and can guide you to Algol.

Looking for the perfect Christmas gift? An EarthSky lunar calendar is sure to delight. Or give the gift that gives back! Check out the new colors and designs of our EarthSky Cares Tees. A percentage of proceeds collected will be donated to select organizations.

Geminid meteor, rising moon and tarantula During Virtual Telescope Project's live feed of last week's Geminid shower, the all-sky camera at Tenegra Observatory in Arizona had an unexpected visitor.

3200 Phaethon - Geminid meteors' source - at its closest Mike Olason in Denver, Colorado captured the curious rock-comet 3200 Phaethon Saturday night, about 1 hour after Phaethon's close approach to Earth last night at 2300 UTC. At the time, Phaethon was about 6.41 million miles from Earth.  Submit your photo to EarthSky here!

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