Home Back to screen-friendly "Monthly Sky"
Throwing a leg up over our fence of mountains,
And rising on his hands, he looks in on me"
(from Robert Frost's 1923 poem
Full Moon:
Jan 7
New Moon:
Jan 21
STAR GAZE (Jan 23):
Sun: Sets at 5:47pm, astronomical twilight ends at 7:15pm
and begins at 6:08 the next morning. Sun rises on Jan 24 at 7:36am.
Moon: (illuminated 6%) The thin crescent Moon sets at 7:55am. From moonset
unil the beginning of astronomical twilight the next morning, we get about 10.2
hours of darkess.
Jupiter & it's moons: Jupiter rises at 9:22pm. No Jovian moon
events are visible tonight. Jupiter culminates (is highest in the sky) at
3:41am. The Great Red Spot crosses Jupiter's meridian at 4:03am.
Saturn: Saturn has already risen by sunset. It culminates
at 10:57pm. The "star" located about 3.5 ring-diameters away to the
east-south-east is really the moon Titan. This winter is great time to view
Saturn. It reached opposition on December 31 and the rings appear very tilted
to our view.
Asteroids: Ceres (in Gemini) has already
risen by sunset on the night of the gaze. It culminates at 11:33pm. You can
see it in binoculars as a star-like object at magnitude 7.1.
You can check the Yahoo group for
AstroAsheville (or call Tim @ 251-0040
or John @ 251-1933 x17 (before 5:00) or 667-9268 (after 5:00)) for a go/no-go
decision and to verify location.
CLUB MEETING:
The club meeting is the first Thursday of every month, at
6 p.m. at Sim’s
Group located at 230 Short Coxe Ave., Asheville, NC.
Happy Starwatching! Dress Warm!
Blue Ridge Parkway Information
Line is 828-298-0398
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THE BIG PICTURE: Each chart below covers a very wide area of sky, roughly from eastern horizon to western horizon. Constellations are green stick figures. The dividing line between constellations are dashed blue lines. The purpose is to show the large scale structure of the night sky: why certain types of objects are visible in certain areas of the sky.
1. Above: 6 hr
R.A. (passes overhead on winter evenings,as in January): OPEN CLUSTERS
in the sky north to south (Auriga to Pupis). Open Clusters are generally within
the arms of the galaxy and are roughly co-located with the Milky Way. They are
plotted as tan circles above. You are looking away from the center of the galaxy.
(Note: all types of objects are labeled, not just open clusters.)
2. Above: 12
hr R.A. (passes overhead on spring evenings; rises before sunrise in January)
GALAXIES in the sky north to south (Ursa Major to Virgo). They are plotted
as blue ovals in the chart above. At 9:00pm during mid-June, the Milky Way is
rising in the east. Just to the west of the zenith is the North Galactic Pole,
in the constellation Coma Berenices. In southwest Coma Berenices happens to
be the heart of the Local Supercluster of galaxies. Many of these galaxies are
visible in medium-sized telescopes.
3.
Above: 18 hr R.A. (passes overhead on summer evenings; not visible in
January): GLOBULAR CLUSTERS (yellow cross inside a circle) & PLANETARY
NEBULAE (blue circle in a cross) in the sky north to south (Cygnus to Sagittarius).
The lower-middle of this chart is towards the center of the Milky Way galaxy.
Charts created using Megastar
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(Much of the above info derived from Sky & Telescope and Astronomy magazines, Ottewell's Astronomical Calendar, The Night Sky Observer's Guide, Megastar 5.0, Planets202, the ol' Miller Planesphere, and a little (very little) common sense.)
www.AstroAsheville.org