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rOSS hOCKHAM'S jANUARY sKY gUIDE:
Although the Quadrantids have been known to produce some 50-100 meteors in a dark sky.
Their peak is extremely narrow and most think you’ll see on average 30 meteors an hour.
They radiate from the constellation Quadrans Muralis (The Mural Quadrant)
Never heard of it? That’s because it no longer exists.
This constellation was created by the French astronomer Jerome Lalande in 1795
which was located between the constellations of Boötes (The Herdsman) and Draco (The Dragon).
You can see in the pic they now radiate not far from the star Arcturus in Bootes, and Ursa Minor (The Little Bear) but are low until the early hours of the morning which will be best and with no Moon in the way could put on quite a show.
You should be able to spot all of the planets this month.
But a couple will be a challenge as they are close to the Sun.
Venus starts low in the afternoon sky but towards late January it sweeps past the Sun joining Mars
which is starting to creep up in the morning sky.
Both are quite low before sunrise rising at 18:30 in the South-East.
Mercury is popping up in the afternoon sky slowly heading towards Saturn
until it sets around 17:15 with the ringed planet setting at 18:00 in the South-West.
Jupiter is further to their left, setting later around 20:00
Uranus and Neptune are still up for a while in the night sky but are a bit tricky to find.
Neptune is around 11oclock of Jupiter, in between the constellations Pisces (The Fish) and Aquarius (The Water Bearer)
in an area of faint stars with little to sign post you to, setting around setting around 21:30.
Uranus may be easier to find being higher up just to the left of the small constellation Aries (The Ram)
which is easier to find, but is again in an area with little to star hop from
with it setting around 02:15, you’ll have more time to spot it than Neptune.
There are a couple of promising comets in the January skies.
Comet c/2019 L3 Atlas will appear its brightest on the 10th at around mag 9.7
which makes it a target for comet hunters with even a small telescope or 10x50 binoculars.
The Moon gets out of the way towards the end of the month which will be best time to have a hunt for it.
This comet will reach Perihelion (The point in its orbit, when a planet or comet is nearest the Sun) this month
when it will be 330 million miles from the Sun as it skims through the constellation Gemini (The Twins)
past Castor's (One of the twins) right arm on 11th, heading towards his legs in February.
Now it’s quite hard to explain the precise location of a comet
unless its right next to a specific object as they move each night.
Comet c/2019 L3 Atlas will appear its brightest on the 10th at around mag 9.7
which makes it a target for comet hunters with even a small telescope or 10x50 binoculars.
The Moon gets out of the way towards the end of the month which will be best time to have a hunt for it.
This comet will reach Perihelion (The point in its orbit, when a planet or comet is nearest the Sun) this month
when it will be 330 million miles from the Sun as it skims through the constellation Gemini (The Twins)
past Castor's (One of the twins) right arm on 11th, heading towards his legs in February.
Now it’s quite hard to explain the precise location of a comet
unless its right next to a specific object as they move each night.
Another comet to keep an eye on is 19P/Borrelly which was discovered in 1904.
It was visited by a NASA probe called Deep Space 1 which discovered it has a shape resembling a chicken leg or drumstick.
At approximately 5 miles wide it takes 6.9 years to make an orbit of the Sun
looping from inside the orbit of Mars to outside the orbit of Jupiter and back again.
It came closest to earth at 175.5million on 11th of December.
It is currently moving up through the constellation Cetus (The Kraken) into Pisces (The Fish)
and will be around 8.9 magnitude, reaching its best on 1st February.
Both these comets are great targets for Astro-Photographers with c/2019 L3 Atlas currently sporting a short tail
It was visited by a NASA probe called Deep Space 1 which discovered it has a shape resembling a chicken leg or drumstick.
At approximately 5 miles wide it takes 6.9 years to make an orbit of the Sun
looping from inside the orbit of Mars to outside the orbit of Jupiter and back again.
It came closest to earth at 175.5million on 11th of December.
It is currently moving up through the constellation Cetus (The Kraken) into Pisces (The Fish)
and will be around 8.9 magnitude, reaching its best on 1st February.
Both these comets are great targets for Astro-Photographers with c/2019 L3 Atlas currently sporting a short tail
On the evening of the 12th, it's a great time look at the Moon, to spot the jewelled handle
where The Montes Jura (Jura Mountains) Tips catch the sunlight making them shine out of the darkness
to the top left of the Mare Imbrium.
On the 13th, pop back to the Moon tonight at the same location and see if you can spot
the lower section of the Jura mountains where it juts out into the Mare.
This part looks like a maiden sitting on the moon with wavy hair.
She's best seen with reflector telescopes, as these flip the image
showing her sat on the rocks peering across the Moon.
If you fancy a bit of Minor planet hunting, 7 Iris (A847PA) reaches opposition tonight.
At around 7.7 magnitude makes it a great time to try and spot it.
It's located between the stars Pollux in the constellation Gemini and Procyon in Canis Minor
Slowly moving each night up towards Pollux’s knee, being just below it on the1st of February.
7 Iris (A847PA) is a large asteroid orbiting between Mars and Jupiter in the main portion of the asteroid belt
and is about 124 miles in diameter, making it larger than 99% of asteroids.
the lower section of the Jura mountains where it juts out into the Mare.
This part looks like a maiden sitting on the moon with wavy hair.
She's best seen with reflector telescopes, as these flip the image
showing her sat on the rocks peering across the Moon.
If you fancy a bit of Minor planet hunting, 7 Iris (A847PA) reaches opposition tonight.
At around 7.7 magnitude makes it a great time to try and spot it.
It's located between the stars Pollux in the constellation Gemini and Procyon in Canis Minor
Slowly moving each night up towards Pollux’s knee, being just below it on the1st of February.
7 Iris (A847PA) is a large asteroid orbiting between Mars and Jupiter in the main portion of the asteroid belt
and is about 124 miles in diameter, making it larger than 99% of asteroids.
On the 14th, Mercury and Saturn appear quite close in the evening sky.
Around 30 minutes after the Sun sets at 16:19pm, they will be visible for you to spot for around an hour and a half
before setting themselves towards the South-West.
If you have a telescope, being careful Not To Look At The Sun
see if you can see Mercury’s current crescent phase as it is between us and the Sun.
On the 22nd, a new feature has been brought to our attention.
On this morning’s bright moon you may be able to make out a large lava patch, a Mare called Orientale.
Located along the Moon’s left side, Orientale is the largest and best-preserved example of a Multi-Ring Basin.
Any impact craters larger than about 180 miles in diameter are known as Basins.
Orientale is about 580 miles wide and looks a bit like a bullseye on a darts board, but we only get to see the edge of it
as the Moon wobbles sightly in its orbit, tilting this side slightly towards us.
On the 26th, our Moon occult’s a double star in the constellation Libra (The Scales) around 05:23
but check timings for your area as times differ slightly depending on location.
Both stars are visible with the naked eye but binoculars will be great a great tool to see this with.
The stars themselves are around 77 light years away and will start to slip behind the moon's bright side around 05:23
with the next star following suit 9 minutes later but as I said it will vary so I’d say be out looking at 5am.
They begin to reappear from the opposite side at around 06:35.
On the 27th, the constellation Canis Major (The Greater Dog) doesn’t get that high in our UK skies
but this month is the best time to spot it.
The constellation's best feature is the brightest star in our sky, Sirius (The Dog Star).
This huge blue-white star is where the term "The Dog Days of Summer" comes from
because Sirius is behind the sun as seen from Earth in Northern Hemisphere during summer.
Its easily found by drawing a line down from Orion's belt.
Apart from this Canis Major also holds another slightly more hidden gem.
M41 is a bright open star cluster just below Sirius that can be seen with binoculars
but a telescope will bring out a bunch of blue and red-orange stars.
The cluster has a true diameter of 25 light years and is about as big as the full moon in our skies
containing about 100 stars, including several red giants and several white dwarfs
but we can only resolve around 50 of these through our telescopes.
but this month is the best time to spot it.
The constellation's best feature is the brightest star in our sky, Sirius (The Dog Star).
This huge blue-white star is where the term "The Dog Days of Summer" comes from
because Sirius is behind the sun as seen from Earth in Northern Hemisphere during summer.
Its easily found by drawing a line down from Orion's belt.
Apart from this Canis Major also holds another slightly more hidden gem.
M41 is a bright open star cluster just below Sirius that can be seen with binoculars
but a telescope will bring out a bunch of blue and red-orange stars.
The cluster has a true diameter of 25 light years and is about as big as the full moon in our skies
containing about 100 stars, including several red giants and several white dwarfs
but we can only resolve around 50 of these through our telescopes.
On the morning of the 28th, check out the moon and you should be able to spot the awesome crater called Aristarchus which is the biggest feature facing us on the Moon at 25miles.
It’s located to the top left of the Moon and if you use a telescope you may notice a few valleys or fault lines here too.
Aristarchus is a strangely bright crater because it is a relatively young formation, approximately 450 million years old.
The solar wind has not yet had time to darken the excavated Regolith (Moon Soil) yet
so it appears brighter than its surroundings.
On the 29th, see if you can spot a morning Mars, Venus and thin Moon around an hour and 20 minutes before sunrise.
Venus will be the brightest, with Mars just to its right with a thin crescent moon further right from that.
Pop a telescope on Venus and you will see it has a very thin crescent phase.
Naked Eye Object Of The Month:
This months naked eye object has to be the constellation of Orion (The Hunter)
As it has so many awesome features within it, it's hard to miss in our UK skies.
The first feature you will notice with your eyes is of course his famous belt of 3 bright blue stars
which Astronomers often use to sign post their way to Sirius or Aldebaran by drawing a line through them.
To the bottom right you have the bright blue star Rigel a blue-white supergiant which is about 870 light-years from the Sun.
Saiph to its left and the more famous Betelgeuse above on his left shoulder.
A red Supergiant that is said to be near the end of its life ready to explode in a supernova
between now and the next million years.
Bellatrix is the star on Orion’s other shoulder with Meissa at his head.
Binocular Objects Of The Month:
As Orion is such a cool constellation there are actually a few objects I would like to add as our Binocular objects of the month, as you are there already, you may as well have a look around.
First of all Orion’s belt, with binoculars you’ll notice it is actually an oval shape of around 50 stars
mostly bright blue and white.
Slip down a bit and you may spot the faint smudge of the Orion Nebula (M42) hanging below them.
Pop up to Orion’s head star Meissa and you will see there’s actually a kind of vertical mini Orion’s belt here.
Move across to Betelgeuse and just above it on Orion’s elbow is Ross's favourite group of stars, NGC 2169…
The number 37 written in the stars!
Telescope Object Of The Month:
Now you're expecting Ross to say "well seeing as were at Orion this month it must be the great Orion nebula".
But no… he's going to go for a lesser known Messier object known as M78
M78 is a Reflection Nebula which is the brightest Diffuse Reflection Nebula in the sky.
Reflection Nebulae are clouds of interstellar dust that reflect the light of a nearby star or stars
The energy from these stars is insufficient to ionize the gas of the nebula to create an Emission Nebula
but is enough to give sufficient scattering to make the dust visible.
It has an apparent magnitude of 8.3 and lies at an approximate distance of 1,600 light years from Earth.
It will not be as easy to see but this is one that UK Astronomy do not have in their online guides
so it will definitely be added soon!
Astro-Photography Object Of The Month:
Now this is a new object of the month!
Ross is not really an Astro-photographer but he does dabble in a bit of smartphone and DSLR camera photography
of the stars just for fun.
So he thought he would add an Astro-Photography object out there for you guys
to see if you can capture it and teach us all how you did
rather than us telling you how to capture it and have fun trying.
The first Astro-Photography Object Of the Month is M43 De Mairans Nebula or The Running Man.
Separated from the main M42 Orion Nebula by only a dark lane of dust.
M43 is illuminated by a massive star that is illuminating
and sculpting it's landscape of dust and gas with it's radiation.
You can make out a silhouette of what looks like a man running, hence the name.
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