Items of Interest
January 2009
Skywatchers willing to brave the cold air on January nights will be rewarded with such memorable sights as majestic
Orion climbing high across the south, trailed by
Sirius, the brightest star in the night sky. Orion's shoulder, orange Betelgeuse, is the hub of the Winter Circle, a great loop of bright stars. These astronomical luminaries twinkle fiercely through the nippy night air.
3rd
The
Quadrantid meteor shower is at its peak.
3rd/4th
Mercury is farthest from the
Sun for its current evening appearance. It looks like a moderately bright star quite low in the southwest shortly after sunset. It is to the upper left of brighter
Jupiter.
4th
Earth is at aphelion, its closest point to the Sun for the year.
12th
Regulus, the star that represents the "heart" of
Leo, the lion, is to the lower left of the
Moon as they rise this evening.
13th
Regulus rises above the Moon this evening.
Saturn is a little farther to the lower left of the Moon.
14th
Saturn is to the left of the Moon as they rise in late evening. It looks like a bright golden star. They are high in the southwest at dawn on the 15th.
14th
Venus is farthest from the Sun for its current "evening-star" appearance. It looks like a brilliant star in the southwest at sunset.
20th
Mercury is at conjunction, passing between Earth and the Sun.
21st
The Moon brushes past Antares, the brightest star of
Scorpius, the scorpion, in the dawn sky.
26th
An annular solar eclipse is visible from parts of Africa, Asia, Australia, Antarctica, and the South Pacific. The Sun will form a "ring of fire" around the intervening Moon. It is not visible from North America.
29th
Venus, the brilliant "evening star," stands to the upper left of the crescent Moon at nightfall. They will move closer together as they drop toward the western horizon.
30th
Venus is below the Moon this evening.
