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Excuse Me While I Kiss the Sky -- Month of January 2024

Posted by Guy Pirro   01/04/2024 02:40AM

Excuse Me While I Kiss the Sky -- Month of January 2024

The Horsehead Nebula IC434 (on the right) and Flame Nebula NGC 2024 (on the left) -- Sculpted by stellar winds and radiation, a magnificent interstellar dust cloud by chance has assumed a strange, but very recognizable horse head shape. Fittingly named the Horsehead Nebula, it is some 1500 light-years away, embedded in the vast Orion Molecular Cloud Complex, a very productive star-forming region. About five light-years "tall," the dark cloud is visible only because its obscuring dust is silhouetted against the glowing red emission nebula IC 434. The Flame Nebula on the left side of the image is also a part of the Orion Cloud Complex. The bright star Alnitak, the easternmost star in the Belt of Orion visible just to the right of the nebula, shines energetic light into the Flame and makes it glow. [Video and Content Credits: NASA, the Office of Public Outreach – Space Telescope Science Institute (STScI), JPL – Caltech, Preston Dyches, Christopher Harris, and Lisa Poje with subject matter guidance provided by Bill Dunford, Gary Spiers, Lyle Tavernier, and Molly Wasser] [Image Credit:  Frank Barrett, Astromart Gallery Contributor - https://www.astromart.com/gallery/user/349 ]

 


Excuse Me While I Kiss the Sky -- Month of January 2024

Happy New Year and welcome to the night sky report for January 2024 -- Your guide to the constellations, deep sky objects, planets, and celestial events that are observable during the month. The January sky is filled with bright stars in the constellations Orion, Taurus, Gemini, Canis Major, and Canis Minor. Find these cosmic gems by looking toward the southeast in the first few hours after it gets dark. The northern hemisphere also features beautiful views of Capella - a pair of giant yellow stars, Aldebaran - a red giant star, two star clusters - the Hyades (Caldwell 41) and the Pleiades (M45), and the Crab Nebula (M1, NGC 1952). The moderate Quadrantid meteor shower is active from Dec. 28 to Jan. 12, and peaks overnight on Jan. 4th. The Moon will wash out faint meteors, but the shower often produces bright fireball meteors. The night sky is truly a celestial showcase. Get outside and explore its wonders from your own backyard.

The year kicks off with the Quadrantid meteor shower, which peaks after midnight on January 4th. Light from the third-quarter moon will brighten the sky on the peak night, causing fainter meteors to be lost from view. But the shower does produce a decent number of bright meteors called fireballs, so it can still be worth your time. If viewing from a dark sky location, you may see 20-25 meteors per hour at the peak. You can catch a few meteors in the few days before or after, as well. In fact, the shower is active through around January 12th, so you might catch a fireball in the week after the peak when the Moon has moved out of the predawn sky.

 

 

On January 8th, in the hour before sunrise, look for brilliant Venus rising with a slim crescent Moon in the southeast. Bright star Arcturus hangs high above them. The Moon will appear quite close to the red giant star Antares, the fiery red heart of Scorpius, that morning. And for observers in parts of the Western USA, the Moon will actually occult, or pass in front of, Antares as the pair are rising that morning. And if you have a view of the horizon, this is also good morning to spot Mercury before the sky brightens. It's quite low, but rises above 10 degrees off the horizon as dawn warms the sky, and it will be shining even brighter than Arcturus.

Next up, the crescent moon visits Saturn on Jan. 13th and 14th. You'll find the pair in the southwest for a couple of hours following sunset both nights. Then the Moon pairs up with Jupiter in the evening on the 17th and 18th. This is actually a great week to pull out the telescope or binoculars, because as soon as it's fully dark, you can work your way across the sky, starting with Jupiter and its moons, our own Moon, the Pleiades, Aldebaran and the Hyades star cluster, and the Orion Nebula.

One of the things that makes skywatching so interesting is that the sky is always changing. The stars rise in the east and set in the west each night. The Moon gradually waxes and wanes as it goes through its monthly cycle. And likely you've also noticed that which stars you can see on a given night changes slowly over the course of the year. The bright stars and constellations we see on warm summer nights are not the ones that fill the chilly sky in winter.

This is because the stars rise 4 minutes earlier each day, and it adds up over time. In just one week, a given star will rise 28 minutes earlier than it does tonight. And in 1 month, the same star will be rising about 2 hours earlier. So at 4 minutes per day, or 2 hours per month, after 6 months, the stars of summer are rising a full 12 hours earlier than they did back in June, placing them high in the daytime sky. But in their place, the evening sky belongs to the stars of winter.

This slow-motion cycle in the sky plays out annually as Earth moves in its orbit around the Sun. Our view outward into space during the night depends on where Earth is in its orbit. At one part of the year, our view of space from Earth's night side looks in one direction, and six months later the view is in the opposite direction. And so our nighttime view of the cosmos changes over the course of the year, because the stars aren't moving -- We are. And that change happens at a pace of 4 minutes per day.

 

 

January nights are filled with bright stars. Looking toward the south or southeast in the first few hours after dark, you'll spy the bright constellations of winter in the Northern Hemisphere: Of course there's Orion the hunter; the big dog constellation Canis Major; and the lesser known little dog, Canis Minor with its bright star Procyon. Y-shaped Taurus, the bull, includes the bright Hyades and Pleiades star clusters. And just east of Orion, you'll find the bright stars Castor and Pollux, which form the heads of the twins in Gemini. Make sure you take a moment to appreciate the beauty of the January sky, which more than meets the definition of "star studded," with so much to marvel at.

Orion the hunter is the centerpiece constellation in January, striding into the night sky with a belt of three stars. Above Orion lies a five-sided figure that forms Auriga, the charioteer, who was associated with goats. Its brightest star is Capella, which is actually a pair of giant yellow stars.

Auriga balances on a horn of Taurus the bull. In Greek mythology, Taurus was seen as the god Zeus in disguise. His eye is orange Aldebaran, a red giant star nearing the end of its life. A number of the stars that form the bull’s V-shaped head are part of a star cluster called the Hyades.

The bull’s shoulder is marked by the distinctive Pleiades star cluster, also called the Seven Sisters. The cluster contains more than 250 stars, but only six or seven are visible to the naked eye. The view of the Pleiades from the Palomar Observatory shows the brightest stars surrounded by a dusty cloud. The dust reflects the blue light of these hot stars.

At the tip of Taurus’s horn lies the Crab Nebula. The Crab is the remains of a star that exploded as a supernova, observed by Chinese, Japanese, and Arab astronomers in 1054. Telescopes on the ground and in space have observed different forms of light given off by the Crab Nebula. Different wavelengths of visible and invisible light reveal details of the supernova remnant. Combining information from different wavelengths helps us to better understand the expanding cloud of glowing gas and the spinning neutron star that remains at its core.

The night sky is always a celestial showcase. Explore its wonders from your own backyard.

The following Deep Sky Objects are found in constellations that peak during the month. Some can be viewed with a small telescope, but the majority will require a moderate to large telescope. The following is adapted from my personal viewing list: "The Guy Pirro 777 Best and Brightest Deep Sky Objects."

  

Constellation: Auriga

IC 405                          Diffuse Nebula           C31 Flaming Star Nebula

IC 2149                        Planetary Nebula        P126

NGC 1664                    Open Cluster               Herschel 400 H59-8

NGC 1778                    Open Cluster               P68

NGC 1857                    Open Cluster               Herschel 400 H33-7

NGC 1883                    Open Cluster               P211

NGC 1893                    Open Cluster               P69

NGC 1907                    Open Cluster               Herschel 400 H39-7

NGC 1912                    Open Cluster               M38

NGC 1931                    Open Cluster               Herschel 400 H261-1

NGC 1960                    Open Cluster               M36

NGC 2099                    Open Cluster               M37

NGC 2126                    Open Cluster               Herschel 400 H68-8

NGC 2192                    Open Cluster               P212

NGC 2281                    Open Cluster               Herschel 400 H71-8

 

Constellation: Canis Major

IC 468                          Diffuse Nebula           P132

IC 2165                        Planetary Nebula        P133

NGC 2204                    Open Cluster               Herschel 400 H13-7

NGC 2207                    Galaxy                         P216

- IC 2163                    Galaxy                              - Interacting with P216

NGC 2217                    Galaxy                         P72

NGC 2243                    Open Cluster               P134

NGC 2287                    Open Cluster               M41

NGC 2345                    Open Cluster               P73

NGC 2354                    Open Cluster               Herschel 400 H16-7

NGC 2359                    Diffuse Nebula             P20 Thor’s Helmet

NGC 2360                    Open Cluster               C58, Herschel 400 H12-7

NGC 2362                    Open Cluster               C64, Herschel 400 H17-7 Tau Canis Major Cluster

NGC 2367                    Open Cluster               P74

NGC 2374                    Open Cluster               P75

NGC 2383                    Open Cluster               P135

NGC 2384                    Open Cluster               P76

 

Constellation: Canis Minor

       NONE

 

Constellation: Gemini

IC 2157                        Open Cluster               P156

NGC 2129                    Open Cluster               Herschel 400 H26-8

NGC 2158                    Globular Cluster          Herschel 400 H17-6

NGC 2168                    Open Cluster               M35

NGC 2266                    Open Cluster               Herschel 400 H21-6

NGC 2304                    Open Cluster               Herschel 400 H2-6

NGC 2331                    Open Cluster               P157

NGC 2355                    Open Cluster               Herschel 400 H6-6

NGC 2371                    Planetary Nebula        Herschel 400 H316-2 (South) Paired with H317-2

NGC 2372                    Planetary Nebula        Herschel 400 H317-2 (North) Paired with H316-2

NGC 2392                    Planetary Nebula        C39, Herschel 400 H45-4 Eskimo Nebula

NGC 2395                    Open Cluster               Herschel 400 H11-8

NGC 2420                    Open Cluster               Herschel 400 H1-6

 

Constellation: Lepus

IC 418                          Planetary Nebula        P90 Spirograph Nebula

NGC 1904                    Globular Cluster          M79

NGC 1964                    Galaxy                         Herschel 400 H21-4

 

Constellation: Monoceros

NGC 2185                    Diffuse Nebula             Herschel 400 H20-4

NGC 2215                    Open Cluster               Herschel 400 H20-7

NGC 2232                    Open Cluster               Herschel 400 H25-8

NGC 2236                    Open Cluster               P163

NGC 2237                    Diffuse Nebula             C49 - Rosette Nebula

     - NGC 2238             Diffuse Nebula                             - Part of C49

     - NGC 2246             Diffuse Nebula                             - Part of C49

NGC 2244                    Open Cluster               C50, Herschel 400 H2-7

NGC 2250                    Open Cluster               P164

NGC 2251                    Open Cluster               Herschel 400 H3-8

NGC 2252                    Open Cluster               P91

NGC 2254                    Open Cluster               P165

NGC 2262                    Open Cluster               P231

NGC 2259                    Open Cluster               P232

NGC 2261                    Diffuse Nebula             C46 Hubble’s Variable Nebula

NGC 2264                    Open Cluster               Herschel 400 H27-5, H5-8 Christmas Tree Cluster

NGC 2269                    Open Cluster               P166

NGC 2286                    Open Cluster               Herschel 400 H31-8

NGC 2299                    Open Cluster               P167

NGC 2301                    Open Cluster               Herschel 400 H27-6

NGC 2309                    Open Cluster               P233

NGC 2311                    Open Cluster               Herschel 400 H60-8

NGC 2323                    Open Cluster               M50

NGC 2324                    Open Cluster               Herschel 400 H38-7

NGC 2335                    Open Cluster               Herschel 400 H32-8

NGC 2343                    Open Cluster               Herschel 400 H33-8

NGC 2353                    Open Cluster               Herschel 400 H34-8

NGC 2368                    Open Cluster               P235

NGC 2506                    Open Cluster               C54, Herschel 400 H37-6

 

Constellation: Orion

IC 434                          Diffuse Nebula            P92 Horsehead Nebula

NGC 1662                    Open Cluster               P39

NGC 1788                    Diffuse Nebula             Herschel 400 H32-5

NGC 1976                    Open Cluster               M42 Great Orion Nebular Cluster

NGC 1977                    Open Cluster               P40 Running Man Nebular Cluster

     - NGC 1973             Diffuse Nebula                             - Part of P40

     - NGC 1975             Diffuse Nebula                             - Part of P40

NGC 1980                    Open Cluster               Herschel 400 H31-5

NGC 1981                    Open Cluster               P41

NGC 1982                    Diffuse Nebula             M43 DeMairan Nebula

NGC 1999                    Diffuse Nebula             Herschel 400 H33-4

NGC 2022                    Diffuse Nebula             Herschel 400 H34-4

NGC 2023                    Diffuse Nebula             P93

NGC 2024                    Diffuse Nebula             Herschel 400 H28-5 Flame Nebula

NGC 2039                    Open Cluster               P94

NGC 2068                    Diffuse Nebula             M78

NGC 2071                    Diffuse Nebula             P42

NGC 2112                    Open Cluster               P170

NGC 2141                    Open Cluster               P171

NGC 2143                    Open Cluster               P172

NGC 2169                    Open Cluster               Herschel 400 H24-8

NGC 2175                    Open Cluster               P43

     - NGC 2174             Diffuse Nebula                             - Part of P43

     - IC 2159                 Diffuse Nebula                             - Part of P43

NGC 2186                    Open Cluster               Herschel 400 H25-7

NGC 2194                    Open Cluster               Herschel 400 H5-6

 

Constellation: Taurus

Messier 45                  Open Cluster               M45 Pleiades

Caldwell 41                 Open Cluster               C41 Hyades

IC 1995                        Diffuse Nebula          P64

NGC 1514                    Planetary Nebula        P120

NGC 1554                    Diffuse Nebula           P200 Von Struve’s Lost Nebula

NGC 1555                    Diffuse Nebula           P201 Hind’s Variable Nebula

NGC 1647                    Open Cluster               Herschel 400 H8-8

NGC 1750                    Open Cluster               Herschel 400 H43-8

NGC 1807                    Open Cluster               P65

NGC 1817                    Open Cluster               Herschel 400 H4-7

NGC 1952                    Diffuse Nebula             M1 Crab Nebula

 

For more information:

Northern Latitudes:

https://hubblesite.org/resource-gallery/learning-resources/tonights-sky

https://science.nasa.gov/skywatching/whats-up

https://nightsky.jpl.nasa.gov/planner.cfm

https://solarsystem.nasa.gov/skywatching/home/

https://solarsystem.nasa.gov/skywatching/whats-up/

https://www.cfa.harvard.edu/skyreport

http://outreach.as.utexas.edu/public/skywatch.html

https://griffithobservatory.org/explore/observing-the-sky/sky-report/

http://www.beckstromobservatory.com/whats-up-in-tonights-sky-2/

https://www.fairbanksmuseum.org/planetarium/eye-on-the-night-sky

http://dudleyobservatory.org/tonights-sky/

https://cse.umn.edu/mifa/starwatch

http://www.schoolsobservatory.org.uk/learn/astro/nightsky/maps

https://tonightssky.com/MainPage.php

https://earthsky.org/astronomy-essentials/visible-planets-tonight-mars-jupiter-venus-saturn-mercury

https://www.timeanddate.com/astronomy/night/

https://stardate.org/nightsky

https://www.adventuresci.org/starcharts

https://www.astromart.com/news/search?category_id=3&q=kiss+the+sky&from=&to

 

Equatorial Latitudes:

https://heavens-above.com/SkyChart2.aspx

https://in-the-sky.org/data/constellations_map.php

https://ytliu0.github.io/starCharts/chartGCRS.html

 

Southern Latitudes:

https://www.scitech.org.au/explore/the-sky-tonight/

https://www.stardome.org.nz/star-charts--sky-spotter

 

Watch Satellites Pass Over Your Location:

https://james.darpinian.com/satellites/

 

Astromart News Archives:

https://www.astromart.com/news/search?category_id=3&q=.

 

Check out some of my favorite Words of Wisdom:

https://astromart.com/news/show/words-of-wisdom-my-favorite-quotable-quotes

https://astromart.com/news/show/words-of-wisdom-my-favorite-proverbs-from-around-the-world

 

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