Monthly Night Sky information provided by Chris Vaughan (@Astrogeoguy) at Starry Night Education (@StarryNightEdu).
From mid-January to mid-April Mars’ retrograde loop will carry it through the stars of Gemini. On Wednesday, January 22, the bright red planet will pass only 2.4 degrees from Gemini’s bright, white star, Pollux. The planet and the star will be less than two finger widths apart for several days, and binoculars close (orange circle) […]
In the southeastern sky before dawn on Friday morning, January 24, the waning crescent moon will be shining among the medium-bright stars that form the claws of Scorpius, barely missing an occultation of the southernmost star, Pi Scorpii. The moon’s easterly orbital motion (by about its own diameter every hour) will produce an occultation of […]
The bright stars of mighty Orion, the Hunter, shine in the southeastern sky during evening in January. Orion’s sword, which covers an area of 1.5 by 1 degrees (about the end of your thumb held up at arm’s length), descends from Orion’s three-starred belt. The patch of light in the middle of the sword is […]
The moon will reach its new phase on Wednesday, January 29 at 7:36 a.m. EST, 4:36 a.m. PST, or 12:36 GMT. At that time our natural satellite will be located in Capricornus and 4.6 degrees south of the sun. While new, the moon is travelling between Earth and the sun. Since sunlight can only reach […]
On Thursday, January 30, the motion of the distant, blue-green planet Uranus through the background stars of eastern Aries will slow to a stop – completing a westward retrograde loop that it began in early September. After tonight, the planet will begin to creep eastward again. At magnitude +5.7, Uranus can be seen in binoculars […]