January will bring another great meteor shower, one that the Moon will not interfere with. There will also be a lunar eclipse over North America that the weather will hopefully not interfere with. I hope that many of you will be able to witness this event!
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| Mercury |
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| Venus |
Venus will more than make up for Mercury's lackluster performance this month. Venus will remain, shining brightly, in our morning sky this month. On the morning of the 5th, Venus can be found nearly 25° high in the southeastern sky. If you use a telescope, or even a pair of binoculars, this planet will appear half lit on this day, which is also the day that it reaches its greatest western elongation (the furthest point to the Sun's west when viewing the solar system from above.) As the month progresses, Venus will lose altitude but still shine brightly. By the 22nd, Jupiter can be found just 2° below Venus, and by the 30th, the Moon will join the pair, creating quite a nice trio.
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| Mars |
Mars can still be found in the constellation of Pisces the Fish all month long. While it is to far away to offer any surface detail by Earthbound amateur telescopes, it is still an easy target with the unaided eye. If you are unfamiliar with the location of Pisces, just look to the south after sunset. Mars will shine more brightly than the stars of this constellation so it should be easy to tell the difference between the background stars and the planet. The reddish orange shine also helps.
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| Jupiter |
Jupiter will remain in the morning sky this month. While it won't shine as brightly as Venus, it should still be easy to spot before the Sun rises. Jupiter will rise earlier with each passing morning and by the 22nd can be found just 2° away from Venus. As mentioned, the Moon will join the pair on the 30th. If you brave the cold and use a pair of binoculars, you will be able to spot Jupiter's four largest moons, and with a telescope you can see the cloud bands of this gas giant. As 2019 progresses, Jupiter will return to our night sky.
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| Saturn |
Saturn will pass on the far side of the Sun from our perspective on the first day of January. We won't be able to see this planet until the second half of the month when it will join Venus and Jupiter in the morning sky. While Saturn won't be in a very good position in the sky for telescope use, it will return to our evening sky later this year where the views will improve.
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| Uranus |
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| Neptune |
Both Uranus and Neptune will again be found close to Mars this month. If you target Mars with a pair of binoculars, you should be able to spot these two ice giants. They will appear as a disk in your field a view while stars appear as points of light. Neither planet will offer any planetary detail since they lie so far away, but you should still be able to detect the colors with your eyes.
Meteor Shower
The Quadrantid Meteor Shower peaks on January 3rd under moon free skies this year. These meteors will appear to radiate from the direction of Ursa Major with a peak of nearly 120 meteors per hour. It's not expected for the other meteor showers this year to do as well as this one, so if the weather permits and you can brave the cold, be sure to watch this shower. I missed the meteor shower of December, so I hope to have the chance to watch this one.
Total Lunar Eclipse
Towards the end of the month, the Earth will pass between the Sun and Moon, casting its shadow on the Moon creating a total lunar eclipse. The event will begin on the evening of the 20th at 11:37 Mountain Time. Totality occurs 2 hours later and lasts for about an hour before you notice the shadow of the Earth moving off of the Moon. During totality, the Moon will appear about the same color as Mars, reddish-orange. Hopefully the weather will cooperate this month so we can view this amazing event. Be sure to bundle up if you plan on viewing the eclipse!
Monthly Breakdown
January 01: Moon and Venus pass within 2°
January 03: Moon and Jupiter pass within 3°
January 03: Quadrantid Meteor Shower Peaks
January 05: New Moon 🌑
January 10: Moon and Neptune pass within 3°
January 12: Moon and Mars pass within 5°
January 14: First Quarter Moon 🌓
January 20/21: Total Lunar Eclipse starts at 11:37 Mountain Time
January 21: Full Moon 🌕
January 22: Venus and Jupiter pass within 2°
January 27: Last Quarter Moon 🌗
January 30: Moon and Jupiter pass within 3°
January 31: Moon and Venus pass within 0.1 °
Think About This....💡
In late 2017, early 2018, we saw an object from another solar system pass through ours. Scientists named it "Oumuamua", which means 'scout' in Hawaiian. This was quite an exciting discovery because it is the first known object from outside our solar system to pass through ours.
There was another spacecraft landing on Mars this year. InSight from NASA, left Earth in May of 2018 and landed on the red planet on November 24th. InSight was designed to measure the seismic activity, create 3D models of the planetary interior, and measure the internal heat flow of Mars. This mission will likely produce interesting data and give us a better understanding of Mars.
A newly discovered object in our solar system is now the largest, most distant object known to orbit our Sun. It has been nicknamed "Farout" with its orbit at around 120 AU from the Sun. That's over 100 times the distance from the Earth to the Sun! It likely takes over 1,000 Earth-years to complete one orbit of it's own around the Sun. Farout is estimated to be about 500 km across and pinkish in color. More research needs to be done on this newly discovered dwarf planet to narrow down the exact size, color, and the time to complete one orbit. It is true that there are other objects with highly elliptical orbits such as comets and smaller rocky bodies in the Oort Cloud which orbits our Sun between 5,000 and 100,000 AU. So far, Farout is the largest known body.
Don't forget to stargaze as often as you can in 2019. You never know what you might find!
There was another spacecraft landing on Mars this year. InSight from NASA, left Earth in May of 2018 and landed on the red planet on November 24th. InSight was designed to measure the seismic activity, create 3D models of the planetary interior, and measure the internal heat flow of Mars. This mission will likely produce interesting data and give us a better understanding of Mars.
A newly discovered object in our solar system is now the largest, most distant object known to orbit our Sun. It has been nicknamed "Farout" with its orbit at around 120 AU from the Sun. That's over 100 times the distance from the Earth to the Sun! It likely takes over 1,000 Earth-years to complete one orbit of it's own around the Sun. Farout is estimated to be about 500 km across and pinkish in color. More research needs to be done on this newly discovered dwarf planet to narrow down the exact size, color, and the time to complete one orbit. It is true that there are other objects with highly elliptical orbits such as comets and smaller rocky bodies in the Oort Cloud which orbits our Sun between 5,000 and 100,000 AU. So far, Farout is the largest known body.
Don't forget to stargaze as often as you can in 2019. You never know what you might find!
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| Now get outside and look up! |
Planet images taken by NASA.
Andrew vs. the Cosmos taken by Jeff Greenland.
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