What's Up in the Night Sky

January 2016 - Vol. 20, No. 1

This Month's Night Sky - NOTE: The next paragraph describes the sky as it appears at 10 pm EST (11 pm EDT) near mid- month. The sky also looks this way at 11 pm EST (midnight EDT) during the beginning of the month and at 9 pm EST (10 pm EDT) by month's end.

Welcome to the 20th anniversary volume of the What's Up almanac! Sirius (Canis Major), the brightest star in the night sky, shines brilliantly in the South. It forms the bottom leg of the Winter Triangle. The triangle's upper stars are reddish Betelguese (Orion) to the right and whitish Procyon (Canis Minor) on the left. Capella (Auriga) appears directly overhead later in the evening and you might even glimpse Canopus (Carina) very low (below Sirius) in the South. Looking North you will find the "Big Dipper" (Ursa Major) with its handle still pointing towards the horizon. Cassiopeia's famous "W" asterism is high in the Northwest and Regulus (Leo) shines in the East. Don't forget to look for Castor and Pollux (Gemini "twins") above the Winter Triangle.

MERCURY is visible in the evening sky during the early part of the month and well placed for northern observers, moves into the morning and presents a better view to the southern sky around the 20th of the month. VENUS shines in the morning sky, look for the queen of the sky to approach the beautiful ringed planet early in the month. MARS is still also in the morning sky, rising aound 2 am with Virgo. JUPITER rises in evening with Leo, the lion constellation. SATURN in the morning sky . URANUS sets after midnight.

Review how to determine Angular Measurement.

Calendar of Events

NOTE: For those observers not in the ET zone, convert the calendar times to your zone's time by subtracting one hour for CT, two for MT and three for PT. Don't forget to adjust for Daylight Savings Time when necessary by subtracting one hour from your planisphere's time. Dawn and dusk times must also be corrected. See your local newspaper, TV news, or cable TV's Weather Channel for sunrise and sunset times. Unfortunately some of these events may occur during daylight hours in your area.

DATE	EVENT
02	Moon at apogee. Earth at perihelion, yes it is during Summer in the the southern hemisphere.
03	Mars 1.5 deg S. of Moon.
04	Quadrantid meteor peak, up to 120 per hour!
07	Venus 3 deg S. of Moon. Saturn 3 deg S. of Moon.
09	Venus .1 deg N. of Saturn.
14	Mercury at inferior conjunction.
15	Moon at perigee.
20	Aldebaran 0.6 deg S. of the Moon occultation from Hawaii, northern Mexico, USA, S. Greenland, Canada, and W. Europe.
28	Jupiter 1.4 deg N. of Moon.
30	Moon at apogee.

Lunar Almanac for January 2016

Phases of the Moon	Phase and Date(s)	Best viewed before local midnight
	New 10	Deep Space Objects
	1st. Qtr 16	Planets & Moon
	Full 24	Moon
	Last Qtr 02	Deep Space & Planets

Topic of the month: Astronomical Year in Review 2016

What's Up in 2016

Astra's What's Up almanac presents an overview of astronomical events in 2016. First, the bright planets starting with MERCURY. The first planet in the solar system will reach Inferior conjunction on the 14th of this month, marking a passage from the evening sky where it is most easily viewed in the north to the morning sky favoring southern observers. Because of its eccentric orbit and inclined orbit, Mercury is best seen from the south as it approaches perihelion. This year a transit of Mercury on May 9th when it passes the disk of the Sun, this will favor observers in North America. VENUS will start off 2016 with a close conjunction with SATURN and remain in the morning sky to be occulted by the MOON on April 6. Begining in May our sister planet with lurk behind the Sun until she reappears low in the evening sky in July. In August, Venus will join MARS and JUPITER for a triple conjunction and move into a second conjuction with SATURN in October. By the end of 2016, our sister planet will fly high in the sunset sky. Always use caution when observing the inner planets when they are close to the Sun.

August 24, 2016 Moving on to planets outside Earth's orbit, MARS will reach opposition again in 2016. Views of he red planet during this opposition will favor the southern hemisphere and unfortunately, the night of opposition on May 22 comes just one day after the full moon. The planet's north pole will be tilted toward Earth and the entire polar cap may be observed this opposition. Mars will be in Scorpius that will allow a comparison with the red star Antares, on August 24th the red planet passes within 2 deg of the first magnitude star. It will be interesting to see which one appears more red. A conjunction between SATURN and MARS the next evening will make this area of the sky a fascinating study. MARS ends the year in Aquarius setting. The giant planet JUPITER will reach opposition on March 8th, a few weeks after a close conjunction with the MOON. The giant planet will spend much of the year in Leo, moving into Virgo in August where it will be occulated by the MOON from Southeast Asia and parts of Australia. The giant planet disappears from view in September to return to the morning sky in October. A third conjucntion with the MOON takes place on the 28th. The ringed planet SATURN will spend the year in the constellation of Ophiuchus, reaching opposition on June 3rd. SATURN will be seen with the red planet for much of the year. Saturn's rings will be tilted 26-26.7 deg toward the EARTH.

There are four eclipses expected in 2016, two solar and two lunar. The best eclipse will occur on March 9th, with the greatest eclipse occuring over the Pacific Ocean and lasting 4 minutes and 9.5 seconds. The track of this eclipse begins in the Indian Ocean and crosses over some Pacific Islands in the JAVA sea and will hit Sumatra and Borneo. Partial eclipse will be visible from Southeast Asia and Autralia as well as Honolulu. For more details check the eclipse page sponsored by NASA. A second eclipse will occur in the constellation of Leo and at best will apear annular across southern Africa. The lunar eclipses this year are penumbral and will not attract much attention on March 23 and September 16. If the moon is visible from your location, the surface will appear to darken only after the shadow has covered at least two thirds of the lunar disk.

--See You Under the Stars!
Astra for Astra's Almanac

The star chart above was generated by Stellarium, a free open source planetarium program. This image was created by Dawn Jenkins, using Stellarium and a graphic editing program to format the image for this web page. Stellarium offers much to amateur astronomers and is being used in planetariums. Simple charts like the one above can be used on the internet for non-profit, illustration purposes. Proper credit is due of course! Thank you to the makers of this fine program from Astra's Star Gate.