Skywatch Line for Wednesday and Thursday, January 1 and 2, 2025, written by Alan French
This is Dudley Observatory’s Skywatch Line for Wednesday and Thursday, January 1 and 2, 2025, written by Alan French.
The Sun rises at 7:26 A.M. on Wednesday and Thursday, and sets at 4:32 P.M. on Wednesday and 4:33 on Thursday. Thursday gained 3 minutes, 35 seconds of daylight compared to last Thursday.
The Moon was new last Monday and has now returned to the evening sky as it moves toward first quarter. On Wednesday the Moon will set less than two hours after sunset. At 5 P.M. a 4.4% illuminated slender crescent will be 10-degrees above the southwestern horizon, 23 degrees below and right of Venus. By 5:30 it will be 6-degrees high and a lovely sight against darker skies. Look for earthshine, the light of our nearly full Earth, faintly illuminating the visible part of the Moon not in sunlight
(and the rest, of course, but swamped by the direct sunlight). The Moon will set at 6:20.
By Thursday night the Moon will be 10% illuminated and 20-degrees high at 5:00 P.M. Brilliant Venus will be just under 11-degrees above Venus and the pair will be a lovely sight. (On Friday night they will be even closer.) Moonset is at 7:36. It will reach first quarter next Monday.
Mars rises at 5:48 P.M. toward the northeast and is 33-degrees above the eastern horizon by 9:00 P.M. Mars will be closest to Earth on Sunday, January 12. On January 13 Mars will appear very close to the Moon, parts of Earth will see the Moon pass in front of (occult) Mars. The occultation will be visible here, and essentially all the continental U.S., and conveniently timed. From Schenectady the Moon will start
moving in front of Mars just before 9:22 P.M. and start moving out from in front of Mars just after 10:36 P.M. The Red Planet will be at opposition on January 15.
There is a nice pass of Tiangong, the Chinese space station, across the southern sky on Thursday night. During this pass it will move into the Earth’s shadow and fade from view when well above the horizon.
Look for Tiangong coming up from the west southwestern horizon between 6:07 and 6:08 P.M. Just before 6:09 it will pass above Venus and then above fainter Saturn. At 6:10:21 (HH:MM:SS) the space station will be 49-degrees above the southern horizon. Seconds before 6:11, when 42-degrees above the southeastern horizon, it will move into the Earth’s shadow and fade from view.