Sky Watch January & February 2008
Since it is winter in the northern hemisphere, most people think the Earth must be farther from the Sun. In fact, on January 2nd the Earth will be at its closest approach to the Sun for all of 2008, about 91,400,000 miles or 147,000,000 kilometers away.
The night of January 3- 4th will be the maximum of the Quadrantid meteor shower. Meteors or shooting stars are seen as a bright streak of light flashing across the sky. They are caused by pebble-sized bits of debris burning up some 50 miles above the Earth. The Ouadrantid meteor shower is one of the best meteor showers, producing some 120 meteor per hour. The best time to look is between midnight and dawn.
Four planets are currently visible in the night sky. All look like very bright stars. The reddish Mars is high overhead in the early evening, Saturn rises in the east as the Sun is setting in the west and is visible all night long, and Venus and Jupiter are seen closer together in the pre-dawn eastern sky.
If you want to see bright stars, this is the time of year. Just south of Mars are seven bright stars that form Orion, the Hunter. Two stars mark his shoulders, two more his knees and three his belt. To the west of Mars is a bright red-orange star, Aldebaran, the red right eye of Taurus, the Bull. To the east of Mars are two bright stars of about the same brightness, Castor and Pollux, the heads of the Gemini twins.
On February 20th there will a total eclipse of the Moon. When the Moon enters the lighter part of the Earth’s shadow at 8:35 p.m. Once it enters the darker part of the shadow at 9:43 p.m. you will clearly be able to see the curved shadow of the Earth on the Moon. The Moon is completely covered by 11:00 p.m., mid-eclipse is at 11:26 p.m. and totality ends at 11:52 p.m. At 1:09 a.m. the Moon leaves the Moon leaves the darker part of the Earth’s shadow.
Lunar eclipses are very slow events, so there is no need to watch constantly, just take a look from time-totime. At mid-eclipse the Moon may appear a dark blue or even a deep red. Look to the east of the eclipsed Moon to see Saturn and to the west of the Moon to find the bright star Regulus in Leo, the Lion.
