Monthly Night Sky information provided by Chris Vaughan (@Astrogeoguy) at Starry Night Education (@StarryNightEdu).
The Earth will reach perihelion, its minimum distance from the sun for the year, on Saturday, January 4 at 8 a.m. EST, or 5 a.m. PST, or 13:00 GMT. At perihelion Earth will be 91.404 million miles (or 147.101 million km) from our star, about 1.67% closer than our mean distance of 1.0 Astronomical Unit. […]
In the southwestern sky after sunset on Saturday, January 4, the yellowish dot of Saturn will appear several finger widths below (or celestial WSW of) the waxing crescent moon – close enough to share the view in binoculars (orange circle). Venus will gleam to their lower right. The moon and Saturn will be visible from […]
The star Algol in the constellation of Perseus represents the glowing eye of Medusa from Greek mythology. Also designated Beta Persei, it is among the most accessible variable stars for skywatchers. During a ten-hour period that repeats like clockwork every 2 days, 20 hours, and 49 minutes, Algol dims noticeably and re-brightens by about a […]
The moon will complete the first quarter of its 29.53-day journey around Earth on Monday, January 6 at 6:56 p.m. EST, or 3:56 p.m. PST, or 23:56 GMT. At first quarter, the moon’s 90-degree angle from the sun causes us to see it half-illuminated on its eastern side. First quarter moons always rise around mid-day […]
On early-January evenings, the constellation of Auriga, the Charioteer is positioned high in the eastern sky. The constellation is dominated by the very bright (magnitude 0.05), yellow, sun-like star Capella, nick-named the Goat Star. Look several finger widths to the right (or 4 degrees to the celestial south) of Capella for a narrow, sideways triangle […]