SKYLIGHTS

Skylights featured on Astronomy Picture of the Day

Skylights featured nine times on Earth Science Picture of the Day: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 -- Full List Restored!

Photo of the Week.. Quiet sunset.

Astronomy news for the two weeks starting Friday, December 30, 2016.

The next Skylights will appear Friday, January 13. Happy New Year to all.

The Moon
- First quarter, Thursday, January 5, around moonrise.
- Full Moon, Thursday, January 12, around moonset.
- Moon at perigee, 5.5 percent closer than average, Tuesday, Jan. 10.
- New Year's Day, early evening, crescent Moon is southwest of Venus, between it and Mars.
- Moon west of Hyades, Monday, January 8.
Planets
- Earth is at perihelion (closest to Sun), 147,100,998 km, (91.404 million miles).
- Pluto is in conjunction with Sun, Saturday, January 7.
- Venus is at greatest elongation, 47 degrees east of the Sun
- Mars still sets at 9:30 PM.
- Jupiter rises near midnight, and transits the meridian just after dawn.
- Saturn rises near dawn.
Other The Quadrantid meteor shower peaks the morning of Wednesday, January 4.
One of the better showers of the year, it emanates from the defunct constellation Quadrans near Bootes.

Look for Orion on the meridian in the late evening, with pentagon-shaped Auriga above it. Faint box-like Lepus is below him, with brilliant Sirius of Canis Major down and to the right. Leo rises a couple hours past midnight, while Pegasus gallops to the west.