January 2009
Skywatchers willing to brave the cold air on January nights will be rewarded with such memorable sights as majestic Orion climbing high across the south, trailed by Sirius, the brightest star in the night sky. Orion's shoulder, orange Betelgeuse, is the hub of the Winter Circle, a great loop of bright stars. These astronomical luminaries twinkle fiercely through the nippy night air.
3 The Quadrantid meteor shower is at its peak.
3/4 Mercury is farthest from the Sun for its current evening appearance. It looks like a moderately bright star quite low in the southwest shortly after sunset. It is to the upper left of brighter Jupiter.
4 Earth is at perihelion, its closest point to the Sun for the year.
12 Regulus, the star that represents the "heart" of Leo, the lion, is to the lower left of the Moon as they rise this evening.
13 Regulus rises above the Moon this evening. Saturn is a little farther to the lower left of the Moon.
14 Saturn is to the left of the Moon as they rise in late evening. It looks like a bright golden star. They are high in the southwest at dawn on the 15th.
14 Venus is farthest from the Sun for its current "evening-star" appearance. It looks like a brilliant star in the southwest at sunset.
20 Mercury is at conjunction, passing between Earth and the Sun.
21 The Moon brushes past Antares, the brightest star of Scorpius, the scorpion, in the dawn sky.
26 An annular solar eclipse is visible from parts of Africa, Asia, Australia, Antarctica, and the South Pacific. The Sun will form a "ring of fire" around the intervening Moon. It is not visible from North America.
29 Venus, the brilliant "evening star," stands to the upper left of the crescent Moon at nightfall. They will move closer together as they drop toward the western horizon.
30 Venus is below the Moon this evening.
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* Lunar phase times are listed for the U.S. Central Time Zone.
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