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Have you ever wondered how the Stargazer predicts astronomical events with such certainty? Does it seem like he has a cosmic crystal ball? Actually what I use is far more reliable than the devices of fortune tellers.

In foretelling night sky events, I rely on smart people who know how to calculate the movements of the Sun, Moon, planets, stars and other heavenly objects we enjoy watching. These experts share their predictions in various formats, several of which I use extensively.

While most astronomical events are as reliable as clockwork—like Moon phases, solar and lunar eclipses, movements of the planets, and the pattern of stars visible on any given night—some are less predictable and are presented as educated guesses—like the intensity of meteor showers, the expected brightness of comets, and the color of a fully eclipsed Moon.

For starters it’s hard to beat two monthly magazines:

Sky & Telescope (www.skyandtelescope.com)

and Astronomy (www.astronomy.com), each costing around $40 per year.

Longer-range predictions are found in Guy Ottewell’s annual Astronomical Calendar, available for about $30 through Sky & Telescope’s website.

And for night-sky simulations there are some amazing computer programs available like :

Software Bisque’s The Sky (www.bisque.com) being the one I use regularly. Night sky events vary by time and viewing place so these programs allow users to designate any location by selecting from a list of cities or by entering the latitude and longitude. And they allow the entry of any date and time, usually with a range of hundreds, even thousands, of years into the past or future.

By entering the appropriate data, I can see and even print out a sky map of how the night sky will appear at an upcoming star party. Or in my archaeoastronomy study, I can simulate a long-ago night sky. For example, by entering the latitude and longitude of an ancient Maya capital, and a date they were known to have lived there, I can see the night sky as seen by ancient Mayas to whom the night sky had great importance.

Since there are far more night-sky events than I have space to mention in this column, I’m selective in what I call to your attention. Most folks don’t have telescopes, so I focus on naked-eye events, although sometimes I mention things for which binoculars are helpful. And most of us live in light-polluted areas, so I skip objects or events requiring extremely dark skies. For those wanting a more inclusive calendar of events, my Website has a detailed monthly Sky Calendar.

Sky Calendar.

* Dec. 31st Thurs. evening: 45 minutes after sunset just above the southwestern horizon, Mercury is to the left of brighter Jupiter, and higher up the crescent Moon is above Venus.

* Jan. 3rd Sat. morning: The Quadrantid meteor shower peaks; and Earth is at perihelion, nearest the Sun for the year in its slightly elliptical orbit.

* Jan. 4th Sun.: The Moon is at 1st quarter.

* Jan. 10th Sat.: The full Moon is called Moon After Yule and Old Moon.

* Jan. 15th Thur. morning : The gibbous Moon is to the lower left of Saturn.

Naked-eye Planets Evening: Brilliant “evening star” Venus dominates the west with Mercury and Jupiter far to the Venus’ lower right at dusk. Morning: Saturn is high in the south.

Stargazer appears every other week. Paul Derrick is an amateur astronomer who lives in Waco, TX. Contact him at:

918 N. 30th,

Waco, TX .76707 or call him

(254) 753-6920 or e-mail him

paulderrickwaco@aol.com

See the Stargazer Web site at stargazerpaul.com.