“January Skywatching Adventures: Get Cozy with Astro Bob’s Celestial Guide!”

Busy, busy, busy. Numerous events are occurring in the nighttime sky during the chilliest month of the year. Key features include flybys of two distinct space stations, a couple of occultations, a meteor shower, and Mars’ close encounter with Earth.

The four most luminous planets are still visible. Venus and Saturn sparkle in the southwestern sky at twilight, while Jupiter and Mars accompany the bright winter stars in the east. Pay attention to Venus as it travels faster than Saturn, passing the ringed planet between Jan. 17-19, resulting in a spectacular naked-eye conjunction.

Contributed / Bob King

Weather allowing, we should witness the yearly Quadrantid meteor shower on the morning of Jan. 3 with no moon to spoil the view. The meteors will radiate from the now-defunct constellation of the Mural Quadrant (Quadrans Muralis), a faint cluster of stars situated below the handle of the Big Dipper that was once acknowledged as a constellation before it was discarded. Up to 25 meteors each hour are anticipated this year for viewers in the United States.

On the evening of January 9th, the moon will cover and reveal multiple bright stars of the Pleiades cluster. While times may differ based on location, in the Duluth region, the moon will hide the star Merope starting around 6:18 p.m. local time, followed by Alcyone (7:01 p.m.), Atlas (7:45 p.m.), and Pleione (7:48 p.m.) as it moves from west to east across the cluster. Astronomers refer to these celestial covers as occultations.

On Jan. 13, the full moon occults Mars, which will coincidentally shine at its most brilliant for the year. This phenomenon will be observable nationwide. Early in the event, you can observe the moon gradually approach the planet without any optical instruments. However, you’ll require binoculars or a small telescope to see Mars vanish at the moon’s forefront (and later reemerge on the opposite edge) due to the intense brightness.

For a compilation of disappearance and reappearance timings for various locations, visit

lunar-occultations.com/iota/planets/0114mars.htm

. To adjust the timings displayed to your local time zone, subtract 5 hours for Eastern Standard Time; 6 hours for Central Standard Time; 7 hours for Mountain Standard Time; and 8 hours for Pacific Standard Time. For instance, in Duluth, Mars will vanish behind the moon at 2:12 Universal Time (Jan. 14). Subtract 6 hours to get 8:12 p.m. CST (Jan. 13). Mars will reappear just over an hour later at 3:11 UT or 9:11 p.m. CST.

Contributed / Stellarium

This month’s highlighted constellation is none other than Orion. His three-starred belt is recognized globally. Although these stars seem interconnected, each exists at varying distances. Alnitak, on the left, is 800 light-years distant; Alnilam, in the center, is 1,300 light-years away, while Mintaka, on the right, shines from 900 light-years away. All three fortuitously align along nearly the same line of sight, which explains their visually striking arrangement.

The trio resides near the center of a large rectangle formed by four stars that includes the prominent and famous stars Betelgeuse and Rigel. Orion is an ancient constellation that dates back to the Sumerians in Mesopotamia over 5,000 years ago. He symbolizes the mythical hero Gilgamesh who battled the Bull of Heaven, which is recognized today as Taurus.

To the ancient Greeks, he was a great hunter, wielding a solid brass club and accompanied by his dogs Canis Major and Canis Minor. When Orion boasted of his hunting prowess, a scorpion (Scorpius) was dispatched to fatally sting him. Both the hunter and his rival were positioned in the sky opposite each other. To this day, as Scorpius rises in the east, Orion seeks refuge beneath the western horizon.

Download the complimentary

Stellarium Mobile app

for Android and iPhone to assist you in locating and identifying the current planets and constellations. Conduct a Google search, then install the application, set it to night mode (red screen), and point your phone skyward. For a free January sky map and calendar, navigate to

www.skymaps.com/downloads.html

Events (a.m. denotes the event occurs in the morning sky):

Jan. 1 – Spot a slender lunar crescent low in the southwestern sky 40 minutes after sunset. Look “2 fists” underneath and to the right of Venus.

Jan. 1-11 – China’s Tiangong space station will pass across the southern sky during the early evening hours. Similar to the International Space Station, it revolves around Earth with a crew of astronauts. However, as it is smaller, it appears fainter. For a complete list of pass timings for your vicinity, log into

Heavens-Above.com

and then click on the blue Tiangong link.

Contributed / Stellarium with additions by Bob King

Jan. 3 (a.m.) – Maximum of the yearly Quadrantid meteor shower. Observe between 4-6 a.m. local time. Meteors will stream from the northeastern sky below the handle of the Dipper.

Jan. 3 – Crescent moon and Venus will be positioned together 1-2 hours post-sunset in the southwestern sky.

Jan. 4 – Thick lunar crescent glows just a few degrees to the left (east) and above Saturn in the southwestern sky.

Jan. 6 – First

quarter moon

Jan. 9 – Waxing gibbous moon eclipses members of the Pleiades star cluster early this evening. Utilize 7-10x binoculars, or ideally, a small telescope to penetrate the moon’s brightness.

Jan. 10 – Moon positioned close to the luminous planet Jupiter tonight.

Contributed / Stellarium

Jan. 13 – Full Wolf Moon obscures the planet Mars this evening! Employ binoculars or a small telescope to witness the moment Mars vanishes along the moon’s left (eastern) edge and subsequently reappears at the opposite limb.

Jan. 13-31 – The International Space Station (ISS) will conduct nightly transits from west to east across the evening sky. For a comprehensive list of timings for your location, visit Heavens-Above.com and click the blue ISS link. The ISS is the largest and most luminous satellite, comparable to Jupiter and Venus in gleam.

Jan. 15 – Mars reaches opposition. Both Earth and Mars are aligned on the same side of the sun and come their nearest to one another in almost two years. Our planet is positioned between Mars and the sun, so from our viewpoint, the two celestial bodies appear at opposite ends of the sky — they’re at opposition. When the sun sets in the west, Mars ascends in the east and remains visible the entire night, shining nearly as brilliantly as Sirius, the brightest star in the night sky. Mars won’t exhibit this brilliance again until April 2031.

Jan. 17 – Mars forms a nearly perfect straight line with the stars Pollux and Castor in Gemini tonight.

Contributed / Stellarium

Jan. 17-19 – Twin gemstones Venus and Saturn are in conjunction and cozy up together in the southwestern sky from dusk until early nightfall. Venus is the more brilliant and glows to the upper right of Saturn.

Jan. 21 (a.m.) – Last quarter moon. Illuminates the southern sky to the lower left of Virgo’s most luminous star, Spica.

Jan. 29 – New Moon

Jan. 31 – Slim lunar crescent glows below and to the right of Saturn at dusk.