The beginning of 2012 will be great for observers who want to gaze at planets in the evening sky. For January, Venus is becoming more noticeable as it climbs out of sunset's glare.
The Planets in January 2012
As soon as it begins to get dark, look for the brightest objects to light up in the night sky. Venus is the brightest of the starlike objects, shining at magnitude -4.0 at the beginning of the month. It can be found in the west-southwest in the constellation Capricornus. Using a pair of binoculars, look for the phase of Venus. On January 1 it's about 82-percent lit, and by January 31 it will be about 74-percent lit. By the end of the month it will also have jumped from the constellation Capricornus into Aquarius as it travels a bit higher each night.
Venus enters Aquarius the second week of January as it closes in on Neptune. On January 13, brilliant Venus will lie just over one degree to the left of Neptune. Using a telescope, aim it at Venus and look for Neptune beside it at magnitude 8.0. Neptune will look slightly greenish blue and appear more as a disk and less as a point, like surrounding stars.
January 13 is also a good night to observe because two other solar system bodies are pairing up on the opposite side of the sky. A couple hours after Venus and Neptune set, the moon and Mars will be rising in the east. Find the waning moon to the lower right of reddish Mars. Mars shines at magnitude -0.1.
Jupiter is also prominent this month, becoming the brightest point of light in the night sky after Venus sets. Jupiter shines at magnitude -2.5. Jupiter crosses from the constellation Pisces into Aries in January. On January 2, Jupiter is a bit less than five degrees from a waxing moon. The two meet again at the end of the month, on January 29 and 30, when the moon hops past Jupiter.
The crescent moon makes a lovely pairing with Venus on January 24 and 25. The full moon for January occurs on January 9 at 2:30 am EST, or just before midnight on January 8 (11:30 pm PST) for the West Coast.
The Quadrantid Meteor Shower
Quadrantid meteors can be spotted between January 1 and 5, but the peak of activity occurs in the early morning hours of January 4. Look toward the constellation Bootes for a chance at up to 40 meteors an hour. Most meteor showers are named after the location of the sky the meteors seem to come from, but this shower is not named after Bootes. An extinct constellation known as Quadrans Muralis used to exist between Bootes and Draco, but it has since been considered obsolete and removed from star maps.
Source: Celestron's The Sky software
Kelly Whitt - I have been a professional writer for more than a decade, covering many topics from science-based articles to do-it-yourself home ...
