Day: December 13, 2021

December 13 Today In History

Today’s Important Historical Events

1577 Francis Drake sets sail from England on a circumnavigation of the world

1636 The Massachusetts Bay Colony organizes three militia regiments to defend the colony against the Pequot Indians. Recognized today as the founding of the United States National Guard.

1642 Dutch explorer Abel Tasman sights the South Island of present day New Zealand; initially he calls it Staten Landt and changes it a year later to Nieuw Zeeland [1]

1920 League of Nations establishes the International Court of Justice in The Hague

2002 The European Union announces that Cyprus, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Poland, Slovakia and Slovenia will become members from May 1, 2004

2003 Former Iraqi President Saddam Hussein is captured near his home town of Tikrit, during Operation Red Dawn by US forces

Today’s Historical Events

1294 Saint Celestine V abdicates the papacy after only five months; Celestine hoped to return to his previous life as an ascetic hermit.

1545 Council of Trent (19th ecumenical council) opened by Pope Paul III

1570 Sweden and Denmark signs Peace of Stettin

1572 Spanish army beats Geuzen fleet (confederacy of Calvinist Dutch nobles) under admiral Lumey

1577 Francis Drake sets sail from England on a circumnavigation of the world

1621 Emperor Ferdinand II delegates 1st anti-Reformation decree

1636 The Massachusetts Bay Colony organizes three militia regiments to defend the colony against the Pequot Indians. Recognized today as the founding of the United States National Guard.

1642 Dutch explorer Abel Tasman sights the South Island of present day New Zealand; initially he calls it Staten Landt and changes it a year later to Nieuw Zeeland [1]

1 From nzhistory.govt.nz

Today’s Historical Events in Film and TV

1950 James Dean begins his career with an appearance in a Pepsi commercial

1953 KOAM TV channel 7 in Pittsburg-Joplin, KS (CBS) begins broadcasting

1956 “Anastasia” comeback film for Ingrid Bergman is released in the US, role wins Bergman Academy Award for Best Actress.

1957 “Peyton Place” film based on the novel by Grace Metalious, directed by Mark Robson and starring Lana Turner and Hope Lange is released

1961 “The Young Ones” directed by Sidney J. Furie, starring Cliff Richard, Robert Morley and Carole Gray premieres in London

1970 Neil Simon‘s “Gingerbread Lady” premieres in NYC

1975 1st time “Saturday Night Live” uses a time delay, Richard Pryor hosts

1978 CBS’ premiere of “Lovey: A Circle of Children Part II”, sequel to “A Circle of Children”, which is also based on Mary Mac Cracken

Today’s Historical Music Events

1759 First music store in America opens (Philadelphia)

1823 Gioachino Rossini arrives in London

1895 First complete performance of Gustav Mahler’s 2nd Symphony

1928 George Gershwin‘s “An American In Paris” premieres at Carnegie Hall, NYC, performed by the New York Philharmonic conducted by Walter Damrosch

1947 “Caribbean Carnival” closes at International Theatre, NYC, after 11 performances

1950 “Let’s Make an Opera” opens at John Golden Theater, NYC; runs for 5 performances

1961 The Beatles sign a formal agreement to be managed by Brian Epstein

1963 Capital records signs right of first refusal agreement with The Beatles

Today’s Historical Events in Sports

1901 Test debut of English cricketer Sydney Barnes vs Australia at the SCG, took 5-65 in 1st innings

1930 George Sisler’s career ends when Boston Braves release him

1931 National Football League Championship: Green Bay Packers (12-2-0) win 3rd straight first past the post title

1936 National Football League Championship, Polo Grounds, NYC: Green Bay Packers beat Boston Redskins, 21-6; Packers 4th title; Redskins move to Washington, D.C. for 1937 season

1942 National Football League Championship, Griffith Stadium, Washington, D.C.: Washington Redskins upset Chicago Bears, 14-6

1952 NFL Dallas Texans (former Boston Yanks) play last game, losing to the Lions in Detroit, finish with record of 1-11

1956 Dodgers trade Jackie Robinson to Giants for pitcher Dick Littlefield & $35,000. Robinson will retire rather than be traded.

1960 Italy beats US in Davis cup (1st time in 24 years US not in finals)

Astronomy Picture of the Day

Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation written by a professional astronomer.

2021 December 13

Meteors and Auroras over Iceland

Image Credit & Copyright: James Boardman-Woodend; Annotation: Judy Schmidt

Explanation: What’s going on behind that mountain? Quite a bit. First of all, the mountain itself, named Kirkjufell, is quite old and located in western Iceland near the town of Grundarfjörður. In front of the steeply-sloped structure lies a fjord that had just begun to freeze when the above image was taken — in mid-December of 2012. Although quite faint to the unaided eye, the beautiful colors of background aurorae became quite apparent on the 25-second exposure. What makes this image of particular note, though, is that it also captures streaks from the Geminids meteor shower — meteors that might not have been evident were the aurora much brighter. Far in the distance, on the left, is the band of our Milky Way Galaxy, while stars from our local part of the Milky Way appear spread across the background. Tonight the Geminids meteor shower peaks again and may well provide sky enthusiasts with their own memorable visual experiences.

December 13 Daily Correspondence Digest for the Northern Hemisphere’s Moon Phase and Planetary Positions

You can use this link to go forward or backward in time for Moon phase information. If you are curious you can even find out what phase the Moon was in when you or anyone else, you know was on the date the person was born.

From Moongiant.com

The Moon’s current phase for today and tonight is a Waxing Gibbous phase. This phase is when the moon is more than 50% illuminated but not yet a Full Moon. The phase lasts about 7 days with the moon becoming more illuminated each day until the Full Moon. During a Waxing Gibbous the moon rises in the east in mid-afternoon and is high in the eastern sky at sunset. The moon is then visible through most of the night sky setting a few hours before sunrise. The word Gibbous first appeared in the 14th century and has its roots in the Latin word “gibbosus” meaning humpbacked.

Visit the December 2021 Moon Phases Calendar to see all the daily moon phase for this month.

Today’s Waxing Gibbous Phase

The Waxing Gibbous on December 13 has an illumination of 73%. This is the percentage of the Moon illuminated by the Sun. The illumination is constantly changing and can vary up to 10% a day. On December 13 the Moon is 9.67 days old. This refers to how many days it has been since the last New Moon. It takes 29.53 days for the Moon to orbit the Earth and go through the lunar cycle of all 8 Moon phases.

The 8 Lunar Phases

There are 8 lunar phases the Moon goes through in its 29.53 days lunar cycle. The 4 major Moon phases are Full Moon, New Moon, First Quarter and Last Quarter. Between these major phases, there are 4 minor ones: the Waxing Crescent, Waxing Gibbous, Waning Gibbous and Waning Crescent. For more info on the Moon Cycle and on each phase check out Wikipedia Lunar Phase page.

Phase Details

Phase: Waxing Gibbous
Illumination: 73%
Moon Age: 9.67 days
Moon Angle: 0.50
Moon Distance: 395,363.93 km
Sun Angle: 0.54
Sun Distance: 147,256,382.71 km

Useful Moon Resources

Check the weather before a night of Moon gazing at weather.com

For a list of all the current meteor showers visit American Meteor Society

If you need to calculate the planetary positions for a specific use and time, click on this link

Currentplanetarypositions.com

To figure out GMT (Greenwich Mean Time) to your local time use this link

For Your Local Time and Date

Northeastern Hemisphere

The time for the Custom Planetary Positions is from the local time in Frankfurt, Germany, Europe

13 December 2021
04:00 pm GMT 5:00 PM CEST
Zodiac: Tropical (Standard Western)

Sun:21 Sagittarius 52
Moon:21 Aries 50
Mercury:29 Sagittarius 53
Venus:25 Capricorn 50
Mars:00 Sagittarius 11
Jupiter:27 Aquarius 15
Saturn:10 Aquarius 03
Uranus:11 Taurus 21 Rx
Neptune:20 Pisces 27
Pluto:25 Capricorn 23
True Lunar Node:01 Gemini 39
Mean Lunar Node:00 Gemini 30 Rx
Lilith (Black Moon):16 Gemini 26
Chiron:08 Aries 27 Rx
Ceres:01 Gemini 25 Rx
Pallas:12 Pisces 29
Juno:10 Capricorn 23
Vesta:14 Sagittarius 38
Eris:23 Aries 46 Rx
Fire:7
Earth:4
Air:6
Water:2
Cardinal:6
Fixed:3
Mutable:10

Northwestern Hemisphere

 

The time for the Custom Planetary Positions is from the local time in Chicago, Illinois, USA

December 13, 2021
11:00 pm GMT 5:00 PM CST
Zodiac: Tropical (Standard Western)

Sun:22 Sagittarius 09
Moon:25 Aries 23
Mercury:00 Capricorn 20
Venus:25 Capricorn 54
Mars:00 Sagittarius 23
Jupiter:27 Aquarius 18
Saturn:10 Aquarius 05
Uranus:11 Taurus 21 Rx
Neptune:20 Pisces 27
Pluto:25 Capricorn 23
True Lunar Node:01 Gemini 39
Mean Lunar Node:00 Gemini 29 Rx
Lilith (Black Moon):16 Gemini 28
Chiron:08 Aries 27 Rx
Ceres:01 Gemini 21 Rx
Pallas:12 Pisces 32
Juno:10 Capricorn 29
Vesta:14 Sagittarius 48
Eris:23 Aries 45 Rx
Fire:6
Earth:5
Air:6
Water:2
Cardinal:7
Fixed:3
Mutable:9

13 December Daily Correspondence Digest for the Southern Hemisphere’s Moon Phase and Planetary Positions

You can use this link to go forward or backward in time for Moon phase information. If you are curious you can even find out what phase the Moon was in when you or anyone else, you know was on the date the person was born.

From Moongiant.com

The Moon’s current phase for today and tonight is a Waxing Gibbous phase. This phase is when the moon is more than 50% illuminated but not yet a Full Moon. The phase lasts about 7 days with the moon becoming more illuminated each day until the Full Moon. During a Waxing Gibbous the moon rises in the east in mid-afternoon and is high in the eastern sky at sunset. The moon is then visible through most of the night sky setting a few hours before sunrise. The word Gibbous first appeared in the 14th century and has its roots in the Latin word “gibbosus” meaning humpbacked.

Visit the December 2021 Moon Phases Calendar to see all the daily moon phase for this month.

Today’s Waxing Gibbous Phase

The Waxing Gibbous on December 13 has an illumination of 73%. This is the percentage of the Moon illuminated by the Sun. The illumination is constantly changing and can vary up to 10% a day. On December 13 the Moon is 9.67 days old. This refers to how many days it has been since the last New Moon. It takes 29.53 days for the Moon to orbit the Earth and go through the lunar cycle of all 8 Moon phases.

The 8 Lunar Phases

There are 8 lunar phases the Moon goes through in its 29.53 days lunar cycle. The 4 major Moon phases are Full Moon, New Moon, First Quarter and Last Quarter. Between these major phases, there are 4 minor ones: the Waxing Crescent, Waxing Gibbous, Waning Gibbous and Waning Crescent. For more info on the Moon Cycle and on each phase check out Wikipedia Lunar Phase page.

Phase Details

Phase: Waxing Gibbous
Illumination: 73%
Moon Age: 9.67 days
Moon Angle: 0.50
Moon Distance: 395,363.93 km
Sun Angle: 0.54
Sun Distance: 147,256,382.71 km

Useful Moon Resources

Check the weather before a night of Moon gazing at weather.com

For a list of all the current meteor showers visit American Meteor Society

If you need to calculate the planetary positions for a specific use and time, click on this link

Currentplanetarypositions.com

To figure out GMT (Greenwich Mean Time) to your local time use this link

For Your Local Time and Date

Southeastern Hemisphere

The time for the Custom Planetary Positions is from the local time in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia 

13 December 2021
06:00 am GMT 5:00 PM AEDT
Zodiac: Tropical (Standard Western)

Sun:21 Sagittarius 26
Moon:16 Aries 45
Mercury:29 Sagittarius 13
Venus:25 Capricorn 44
Mars:29 Scorpio 53
Jupiter:27 Aquarius 11
Saturn:10 Aquarius 01
Uranus:11 Taurus 22 Rx
Neptune:20 Pisces 27
Pluto:25 Capricorn 22
True Lunar Node:01 Gemini 38
Mean Lunar Node:00 Gemini 31 Rx
Lilith (Black Moon):16 Gemini 23
Chiron:08 Aries 27 Rx
Ceres:01 Gemini 30 Rx
Pallas:12 Pisces 24
Juno:10 Capricorn 13
Vesta:14 Sagittarius 25
Eris:23 Aries 46 Rx

Fire:6
Earth:4
Air:6
Water:3
Cardinal:6
Fixed:4
Mutable:9

Southwestern Hemisphere

The time for the Custom Planetary Positions is from the local time in Sao Paulo, Brazil, South America

13 December 2021
08:00 pm GMT 5:00 PM BRT
Zodiac: Tropical (Standard Western)

Sun:22 Sagittarius 02
Moon:23 Aries 52
Mercury:00 Capricorn 08
Venus:25 Capricorn 52
Mars:00 Sagittarius 18
Jupiter:27 Aquarius 17
Saturn:10 Aquarius 04
Uranus:11 Taurus 21 Rx
Neptune:20 Pisces 27
Pluto:25 Capricorn 23
True Lunar Node:01 Gemini 39
Mean Lunar Node:00 Gemini 30 Rx
Lilith (Black Moon):16 Gemini 27
Chiron:08 Aries 27 Rx
Ceres:01 Gemini 23 Rx
Pallas:12 Pisces 31
Juno:10 Capricorn 26
Vesta:14 Sagittarius 44
Eris:23 Aries 45 Rx
Fire:6
Earth:5
Air:6
Water:2
Cardinal:7
Fixed:3
Mutable:9