January begins with the moon as a daytime object, rising just before the sun at about 7:30 a.m. and crossing the sky before it sets at 1:30 p.m. It's just a thin crescent and difficult to see.
New moon occurs Jan. 4, and full moon is Jan. 19. New moon sometimes results in a solar eclipse and usually two weeks after or before a lunar eclipse -Dec. 21 was the lunar eclipse, two weeks later is this first solar eclipse in 2011 - a partial eclipse visible in the eastern hemisphere. Six eclipses will occur in 2011 - four partial solar eclipses and two total lunar eclipses. Jan. 15, the moon is in the close vicinity of the Seven Sisters (Pleiades); Jan. 17 sees it within a degree of the star cluster M35; and Jan. 30, Venus shares a spot in the east just before sunrise.
Mercury rises shortly after Venus at about 7:40 a.m., lingering west of the sun for a couple of weeks before beginning its swing around the sun's far side. This will be a good time to see the two inner planets together in the east, Venus rising first, followed by Mercury a couple of hours later.
Venus always puts on a good show, shining so brightly that it can cast a shadow in a moonless scene. In fact, only the moon and the sun are brighter in the sky than this cloud covered planet.
Mars is behind the sun, so won't be visible until late in the spring.
Jupiter has been glorious all winter, beaming down from high in the south through the night. As the month opens, the giant gas planet is visible in the evening twilight, setting around 10:30 p.m.
While you're out viewing Jupiter, take a few moments to ponder the great Orion constellation, due south at this time of year. Stars are being formed within the Orion Nebula. For an animation of a conceptualized tour through the star-birth gas cloud, go to this site http://hubblesource.stsci.edu/sources/video/clips/details/orion.php. Above Orion to the west are Taurus and the Pleiades, to the east is Canis Major, and above that a bit further east is the Gemini twins, Castor and Pollux. In fact, the six brightest stars are visible in this scene, all of them double or multiple stars: Sirius, Procyon, Castor, Aldebaran, Rigel, and Betelgeuse.
Uranus hugs the same bit of sky as Jupiter, cruising along together through all of January.
Neptune crosses the sky ahead of the Jupiter/Uranus pair, setting about two hours before them.
- James Edgar has had an interest in the night sky all his life. He joined the Royal Astronomical Society of Canada in 2000. He is editor's assistant and a contributor to the Observer's Handbook, production manager of the bi-monthly RASC Journal and is the society's National Secretary.
