January Skies

January Skies

January and February will provide the best viewing of the planet Mars this year. To us Mars will appear bigger and brighter than it has since 2008 or will until 2012. Reaching opposition on the 29^th Mars will rise at sunset and be visible all night long peaking at a magnitude of -1.3. On the 27^th Mars will make its closest approach to Earth at a mere 61.7 million miles! As the Earth overtakes Mars, the red planet will move westward (retrograde motion) from Leo “the Lion” about 10 degrees toward the Beehive Cluster.

Jupiter continues to dominate the early evening sky. The best viewing will be just after dark while it is still high enough in the sky to give a good stable binocular or telescopic image. By month’s end it will be significantly lower in the western sky. On January 1^st Jupiter will be only 2 degrees east of Neptune and would be a good reference point for your hunt for the blue planet with binoculars or a small telescope.

Saturn returns to the night sky rising around 11:30 p.m. on the 1^st. By the end of the month it will rise two hours earlier. On the 8^th Saturn’s rings will reach a maximum tilt of about 5 degrees and then will start to close again.

Tiny Mercury has zipped around the Sun and will make an early morning appearance in the southeastern sky from the 15^th through the 30^th. Look for it at about 10 degrees above the horizon 30 minutes before sunrise.

The Moon will be last quarter on the 7^th, new on the 15^th and 1^st quarter on the 23^rd and full on the 30^th.  On January 2^nd a waning gibbous Moon will be found to the right of Mars. Looking southwest in the early evening hours of the 17^th and 18^th, the Moon will bracket Jupiter. Again on the 30^th the full moon will be found near Mars, this time to the left and slightly below the red planet.

Jon Spargo
New Mexico Tech Astronomy Club
January 2010