The New Year embarks with several great opportunities for Solar System sights in January and the promise of what may be the best comet sighting in three decades during the last 2 months of 2013. We will start this month’s discussion with the solar system’s biggest planet, Jupiter.
Spectacular conjunctions of Jupiter and our Moon occurred in both November (just before Thanksgiving) and December (a week before Christmas). In both, the Moon and Jupiter appeared separated in our skies by only a few degrees of space. In January, on the 21st, this will happen again, when the waxing gibbous Moon will appear less than one degree below Jupiter around 10 pm EST (9 pm CST). This is even closer than in the previous two months.
The reason this can happen in successive months —– and by the way —- will happen again in February and March —- is because Jupiter reached opposition on December 2nd. At that point Earth and Jupiter were closer to each other then they have been in just over a year, and Jupiter appeared to rise opposite the Sun( in the East) as the Sun was setting in the west. Jupiter is still relatively close to us, though we have moved away from it somewhat in our smaller and faster orbit around the Sun. Jupiter will in fact be the dominant planet in the night time all through winter and spring.
Jupiter is seen now between the Pleiades star cluster (also called the 7 sisters and in Japanese is called Subaru) and the Hyades star cluster (within the V-shaped zodiac constellation of Taurus the Bull. It is several times brighter than orange-colored Aldebaran, which is Taurus’s brightest star. So mark this date and location for this Moon/Jupiter conjunction on January 21st.
The Geminid meteor shower of December 13/14 was really good last month, with one to two meteors per minute being reported by several skywatchers. This month offers another good meteor shower known as the Quadrantids, which peaks on January third. The direction to look is east-northeast and the best time is from 3 am to dawn. The Geminids last month were a bit easier to see because their peak was around 10 pm or after. The Quadrantids peak more around 3 to 4 am and on to dawn. Though far from convenient especially on a cold January night, looking for these meteors is worth the effort.
Saturn rises in the southeast around 3 am on January 1st; about 1 am on January 30th. By an hour from dawn it is 30 degrees above the southeast horizon, appearing among the stars of Libra; a small, dim zodiac constellation.
Astronomers, both professionals and amateurs around the world are already tracking COMER ISON, which may become the brightest comet anyone alive today has ever seen. This prediction is based upon some pretty reliable science. On November 28th 2013, Comet Ison will be only 680,000 miles form the Sun along its orbit; on December 26th, at its closest to Earth it will be only about 1.6 million miles away. These facts mean it will be bright. Most of us will not be able to see much of this comet until early fall when it is expected to get to naked-eye brightness (around magnitude 5 and 6). Eventually some predict it may reach the brightness of the Full Moon! I will try to keep you updated on its movements and its expected brightness, though if it performs as we expect, you will be hearing a lot about it from folks other than me.
Moon phases for January: Full (Jan. 16th); New (Jan. 11th); 1st Quarter (Jan. 18th); Last Quarter (Jan. 4th)
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