Hi, this is my first question and I risk displaying my ignorance, but here goes. I am attempting to find out what constellations and/or planets would be directly overhead of Jerusalem, Israel on the evening of Dec. 20 2012. Starting with darkness that day and running through until daybreak the next day, Dec 21 2012 what particular constellations and planets would appear overhead and at what precise time would this be. I have received one answer from Mike Boschat through his astronomy page that Jupiter would be overhead in or near Taurus at midnight of Dec. 21 2012 but I need information for the day before or a site where I can go and easily find this info. This is for a book project I am working on and I would greatly appreciate any help that anyone can give me. Thanks

I suggest you go to www.heavens-above.com, put Jerusalem as your observing location then go to the whole sky chart. You can adjust date and time and you shuld be able to find your answer.

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"The very powerful and the very stupid have one thing in common: They don't alter their views to fit the facts, they alter the facts to fit their views." The Doctor, Doctor Who: The Face of Evil.

Another thing to consider is the Mayan Calendar. The date of 12/21/2012 held special significance for them. . . .something along the lines of the world coming to an end due to a rare celestial alignment. Part of the alignment is the Earth arriving at the end of one of its axial rotations, something that happens on a timescale of tens of thousands of years, I just can't remember exactly. There are other factors in the alignment, as well, but I can't recall the details. I saw this on the Discovery channel (or a similar one) just a few days ago.

Or, has been pointed out over and over elsewhere, something in fact exactly like their calendar rolling over. Not the end of the world. And not because of any celestial alignment, either, but because of the number of days that have gone by.

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Gillian

"Now everyone was giving her that kind of look UFOlogists get when they suddenly say, 'Hey, if you shade your eyes you can see it is just a flock of geese after all.'"

"You can't erase icing."

"I can't believe it doesn't work! I found it on the internet, man!"

Hum,
Jupiter is indeed in Taurus.
Saturn is in Virgo.

The other planets and the moon are below the horizon at midnight.
i recommend you download a free software planetarium program and have a play around yourself (just to double check).

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`Irony` actually does mean `metal like`...

o, is this about the 2012 doomsday prediction? I didnt watch it, but the history channel had a program where they had 'experts' talking about the 2012 doomsday prediction which i never heard off.

Not quite overhead, but Jupiter will be around 62° altitude. (View centered on zenith.)

I'll echo Blob's suggestion; going from dusk to dawn at that latitude will cover a lot of sky.

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Thank-you for all the advice and suggestions. Yes I am persuing the Mayan angle but it does not take centre stage in the story. More of a background worry for those who easily believe. Personally, I think the guy in charge of the Mayan calendar project just got tired of the whole thing and left off at Dec. 21 2012. Maybe not enough government funding. Thanks again, love this site. Paul58

No more than Pope Gregory XIII got tired of the gregorian calendar and left off at 31 December, 2000 (not 2001, but there are enormous discussions on that subject, so we'll say that really doesn't matter for the point at hand!). The point is, as I said earlier, that it doesn't end on 21 December, 2012. It rolls over, just as our calendar rolls over every 1000 years. It just takes a different amount of time.

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Gillian

"Now everyone was giving her that kind of look UFOlogists get when they suddenly say, 'Hey, if you shade your eyes you can see it is just a flock of geese after all.'"

"You can't erase icing."

"I can't believe it doesn't work! I found it on the internet, man!"