Volume 16 -- Issue 12 Sky Watch Calendar -- December 2010 01. Mercury at eastern Elongation Thin Waning Crescent Moon   Near Saturn 02. Thin Waning Crescent Moon   Near Venus and Spica 03. Launch of STS-133 to ISS 05. New Moon 06. Uranus Resumes Direct Motion 07. Thin Waxing Crescent Moon   Near Mercury and Mars Ataksuki Spzcecraft Arrives at Venus SpaceX Launch of Dragon 1 10. Mercury Begins retrograde Motion 13. First Quarter Moon Moon at Apogee - 404 406 km Moon Near Jupiter 14. Geminid Meteor Shower Peak 16. Cassini Titan Flyby Moon Near Hamal in Aries 18. Sun Enters the   Astronomical Sign of Sagittarius Uranus at East Quadrature Waxing Gibbous Moon   Near the Pleiades 19. Waxing Gibbous Moon   Near Aldebaran in Taurus 20. Mercury at Inferior Conjunction 21. Full Moon Total Lunar Eclipse December Solstice Sun Enters the Astrological   Sign of Capricornus Cassini Enceledus Flyby 22. Waning Gibbous Moon   Near The Gemini Twins 24. Waning Gibbous Moon   Near Regulus in Leo 25. Moon at Perigee - 368 465 km 27. Pluto in Solar Conjunction 28. Last Quarter Moon Moon Near Saturn 29. Waning Crescent Moon   Near Spica in Virgo 31. Waning Crescent Moon   Near Venus End of Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter Mission