Skywatch Line for Friday, January 24, through Sunday, January 26, written by Sam Salem
This is Dudley Observatory’s Skywatch Line for Friday, January 24, through Sunday, January 26, written by Sam Salem.
On Friday, Sun rises at 7:17am and sets at 4:58pm; Moon rises at 3:18am and sets at 12:05pm.
The waning crescent Moon will lie close to Antares on Friday morning. Antares is the brightest star in the constellation of Scorpius the Scorpion.
Mars is barely more than 2° from Pollux, in the constellation of Gemini the twin, on Friday. Mars is slowly retrograding westward. It will reach its western stationary point on February 24, when will appear just about equidistant from both Pollux and Castor. After that, it will resume its usual eastward, prograde, motion.
Mars shows best in a telescope from late evening through the middle of the night when it’s very high toward the southeast or south, respectively. Mars remains about 14.5 arcseconds in apparent diameter.
Venus, magnitude –4.7 near the Aquarius-Pisces border, shines high and bright as the “Evening Star” in the southwest during twilight, then lower in the west-southwest later in the evening. It sets almost due west about 2½ hours after dark.
Spot much fainter Saturn, as twilight deepens, near Venus. In a telescope Venus appears about 44% sunlit. Its terminator is slightly concave. Venus is enlarging week by week as it swings toward Earth, while waning in phase as it draws closer to our line of sight to the Sun.
Jupiter shines at a bright magnitude –2.6 in the constellation of Taurus. It dominates the high south during evening, with fainter Aldebaran, fainter Beta Tauri, and the Pleiades nearby. Jupiter is still a good 45 arcseconds wide.
Saturn, magnitude +1.1 in the constellation of Aquarius, sits in the southwest after dark near Venus. I’s beginning to pull away from it. The two planets were in conjunction 2.2° apart on January 18th. Saturn is almost 6° below Venus this Friday.
Uranus, magnitude 5.7 at the Taurus-Aries border. It sits 19° west of Jupiter along the ecliptic.
Neptune, at magnitude 7.9, is high in the southwest right after dark in the vicinity of Venus and Saturn. Use a finder chart to locate Uranus and Neptune.
Spot the equilateral Winter Triangle in the southeast. Sirius is its brightest and lowest star. Betelgeuse stands above Sirius by about two fists at arm’s length. Left of their midpoint shines Procyon. Sirius is cold white, Betelgeuse is yellow-orange, and Procyon is very slightly yellowish white. Standing 4° above Procyon is 3rd-magnitude Gomeisa, Beta Canis Minoris. It is the only other easy naked-eye star of Canis Minor after Procyon.