Title: January Skywatch Highlights
Location: Hawaiian Islands
Date / Time: January 2010
Comments: January is a great month for viewing MARS! Approximately every 26 months, the RED PLANET makes a grand appearance, & that time is NOW. Mars reaches opposition & peak visibility on January 29th, & will be visible from sunset to sunrise. Early in the month, Mars rises by 9 PM, & by late January it shines conspicuously in the east just after sunset. Mars passes from Leo the Lion into Cancer the Crab during the month. It appears distinctly reddish, & shines brighter than any other point of light in the sky except for Sirius (well to the right of Mars) & Jupiter, which will be setting in the west not long after Mars appears. For best telescopic viewing of Mars, wait until the planet climbs high in the sky, around midnight, when its light passes through less of Earth's turbulent atmosphere. By the time Mars reaches its highest position in the south, SATURN will be shining brightly in the southeast. Saturn appears in Virgo the Maiden, shining slightly brighter than Spica, Virgo's brightest star. Saturn's rings currently tilt 5 degrees to our line of sight, & should be visible through a small telescope. Saturn rises just after midnight in early January, & 2 hours earlier by the end of the month. Look toward the southwestern sky shortly after sunset, & the first object you'll see is JUPITER. The gas giant planet shines like a brilliant beacon against the background stars. Jupiter crosses from Capricornus into Aquarius during the first week in January. At the beginning of the month, Jupiter sets nearly 4 hours after the Sun, though it will be setting 2 hours earlier by months end. With a small telescope or good binoculars, you can view Jupiter's 4 bright Galilean moons in their ever-changing configurations. Galileo first saw them nearly 400 years ago with a 1.5-inch telescope of lower quality than any available today. You may be able to spot MERCURY, in the morning sky, as early as January 13th, high in the southeast, 30 minutes before sunrise. Mercury shines at magnitude 0.8 that morning, and brightens rapidly to magnitude minus -0.2 by January 26th, when it reaches greatest elongation ( its greatest angular distance from the Sun). The tiny innermost planet then lies 25 degrees west of the Sun & appears 9 degrees above the horizon, 30 minutes before sunrise. We won't be seeing VENUS this month, as it passes behind the Sun, reaching superior conjunction on January 11th (when it lies on the far side of the Sun from Earth). For a January sky map, visit Bishop Museum Planetarium www.bishopmuseum.org/planetarium (bishopmuseum.org).

Maintained by Roz Reiner - Kauai, Hawaii

 

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