Photo of the Week. The first purple light of dawn
lights the sky, announcing a new day.
Astronomy news for the week starting Friday, January 19, 2007.
Climbing out of evening twilight, the Moon is in its waxing crescent
phase during nearly all of the week. It does not pass first quarter until Thursday, January 25,
about the time the sky darkens with the Moon fairly high to the
south. The first view of the growing crescent will be the evening
of Saturday the 20th in mid-twilight with the Moon in striking pose
with now-obvious and very bright
Venus, the Moon just up and to the left of the planet. The
lunar disk will actually occult Venus as seen from southern Africa
and South America. The night of Sunday the 21st, it also passes
Uranus, though the event will be impossible to see. Be sure to
admire the Earthlight on the
lunar nighttime side.
Jupiter,
rising around 4 AM, now quite rules the pre-dawn morning sky. Look
for it in the southeast then look to the southwest of the bright
planet to find Antares in Scorpius. Further to the east lies
much more difficult-to-see Mars, which
rises about the time twilight begins. Back in the evening, Venus
rules, the planet easily seen even in fairly bright twilight. Now
setting just after twilight ends, Venus will make a fine nighttime
sight during May and June. In between lies Saturn, which rises
about due east (and to the west of Leo's Regulus) about
the time Venus sets and twilight ends. From that time on, it is
the only ancient planet on view until Jupiter rises, the ringed
planet crossing the meridian to the south about 1:30 AM, when it
moves into western skies.
January is the prime time to view the grand winter constellations. By 9:30 PM, Orion lies high to the south, the
three-star belt, which rides the
celestial equator, an instant guide to
the mythical Hunter. Up and to the left of the belt is the
magnificent red supergiantBetelgeuse, while down and to the
right is the blue supergiant Rigel. Below the Belt dangles the
three-star Sword, the middle one
of which holds the great Orion
Nebula, which is easily visible in any kind of binocular. Then
follow the Belt down and to the left to the brightest star of the
sky and champion twinkler, Sirius
in Canis Major. Above and to the
right of the Hunter lie Aldebaran, Taurus, and the Pleiades star cluster, while well up and to the left is
Gemini, all topped by Auriga with bright Capella. To the east of Betelgeuse
find Procyon in Canis Minor, which with Betelgeuse and
Sirius helps make the Winter
Triangle.
