Welcome to SkyEye, your guide to this month's celestial events. All times and dates are given in Universal Time (UT). Nightly darkness estimates are calculated for Greenwich, London (51.5° N, 0° W).
| Date | Event | |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Sun | Moon at perigee |
| 2 | Mon | |
| 3 | Tue | Dark skies enhance this year's viewing of the Quadrantids meteor shower. |
| 4 | Wed | Earth at perihelion |
| 5 | Thu | Minor planet 4 Vesta reaches opposition in the constellation Gemini. At magnitude 6.2, it is on the edge of naked-eye visibility. |
| 6 | Fri | First Quarter Moon |
| 7 | Sat | |
| 8 | Sun | |
| 9 | Mon | |
| 10 | Tue | |
| 11 | Wed | |
| 12 | Thu | |
| 13 | Fri | |
| 14 | Sat | Venus at inferior conjunction |
| Full Moon | ||
| 15 | Sun | |
| 16 | Mon | |
| 17 | Tue | Moon at apogee |
| 18 | Wed | |
| 19 | Thu | |
| 20 | Fri | |
| 21 | Sat | The Moon occults the first-magnitude star Spica. This event starts at approximately 2100 UT and is visible from much of Asia. |
| 22 | Sun | Last Quarter Moon |
| 23 | Mon | |
| 24 | Tue | |
| 25 | Wed | The Moon occults the first-magnitude star Antares during daylight hours. |
| 26 | Thu | Mercury at superior conjunction |
| 27 | Fri | Saturn at opposition |
| 28 | Sat | |
| 29 | Sun | New Moon |
| 30 | Mon | Moon at perigee - coming so close after New Moon, high tides may be expected. |
| 31 | Tue | |
The word planet is derived from the Greek word for "wanderer." Unlike the background stars, planets seem to move around the sky, keeping mostly to a narrow track called the ecliptic, the path of the Sun across the stars.
| Object | Location | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Sun | Sagittarius -> Capricornus |
The Earth makes its annual closest approach to the Sun on 4 January. |
| Mercury | Sagittarius -> Capricornus |
Mercury gets lower in the east as it heads towards superior conjunction on 26 January. It reappears in evening skies next month. |
| Venus | Sagittarius | The "evening star" falls towards the horizon, disappearing early in the month and reaching inferior conjunction on 13 January. It exchanges places with Mercury, appearing in the morning sky late in the month. |
| Mars | Aries | The red planet sets in the early morning hours. Look for it in the south or southwest after sunset. |
| Jupiter | Libra | The largest of the planets is a morning sky object, rising as Mars sets. It rules the eastern skies before sunrise, at least until Venus arrives late in the month. |
| Saturn | Cancer | At opposition on 27 January, the ringed planet is at its brightest and is visible all night. Watch it as it closes in on the "Beehive Cluster". |
| Uranus | Aquarius | This distant gas giant is difficult to see, setting in mid-evening. |
| Neptune | Capricornus | Since it reaches conjunction next month, Neptune is too close to the Sun to observe. |
| Pluto | Serpens (Cauda) | With a brightness of around fourteenth magnitude, the smallest planet in the solar system can be seen only through a good-sized telescope. However, because it was at conjunction with the Sun only last month, it is difficult to see in the east just before sunrise. This distant planet is finally going to receive a visitor from Earth; the New Horizons spacecraft began its ten-year journey at 1900 UT on 19 January. |
Constellations are patterns of stars in the sky. The International Astronomical Union (IAU) recognises 88 different constellations. The brightest stars as seen from the Earth are easy to spot but do you know their proper names? With a set of binoculars you can look for fainter objects such as nebulae and galaxies or some of the closest stars to the Sun.
Descriptions of the sky for observers in both the northern and southern hemispheres are available for the following times this month. Subtract one hour from your local time if summer (daylight savings) time is in effect.
| Local Time | Northern Hemisphere | Southern Hemisphere |
|---|---|---|
| 1730 hours (1830 hours summer time) | 45° N | 30° S |
| 1930 hours (2030 hours summer time) | 45° N | 30° S |
| 2130 hours (2230 hours summer time) | 45° N | 30° S |
| 2330 hours (0030 hours summer time) | 45° N | 30° S |
| 0130 hours (0230 hours summer time) | 45° N | 30° S |
| 0330 hours (0430 hours summer time) | 45° N | 30° S |
| 0530 hours (0630 hours summer time) | 45° N | 30° S |
Much of this information can be found in this month's issue of your favourite amateur astronomy magazine available in your local bookshop. Another excellent source is the current edition of the Astronomical Calendar by Guy Ottewell and published by the Universal Workshop at Furman University.
The image of the Sun in the SkyEye banner is courtesy of the SOHO/EIT consortium. The composite image from May 1998 combines EIT images from three wavelengths (171Å, 195Å and 284Å) into one that reveals solar features unique to each wavelength. SOHO is a project of international cooperation between ESA and NASA.
Copyright © 1995-2006 by David Harper and L.M. Stockman