Sky Watch January & February 2009
Happy New Year! While astronomy has played a role in the development of our calendar (the month is based on one moon, the time from new moon to new moon), astronomically there is really nothing special about January 1st. Perhaps you come down to the islands to escape the cold winter up north. Would it surprise you to learn that the Earth is closer to the Sun on January 4th (only 94,505,000 miles away) than on any other day this year? As the Earth orbits the Sun, its path is not a circle, but an ellipse. Thus, the distance from the Earth to the Sun is not always the same. The Earth is closest to the Sun in January and farthest from the Sun in July.
Early in the evening after the Sun sets and it begins to grow dark, look to the West (where the Sun set) and you should see a very bright star-like object. It may even seem to change color from white to red to blue. This is the celestial object most reported as an UFO -- the planet Venus.
Dominating the sky almost directly overhead are seven bright stars that form Orion, the Hunter. Two stars form his shoulders (bright red Betelgeuse and Bellatrix), two more his knees (Saiph and the very bright Rigel) and three his belt. If you think of Orion facing you, in his left hand (on your right), he holds high his shield of faint stars. High over hishead, his right hand (on your left) holds a club also made of faint stars. Orion's shield protects him from Taurus, the Bull and he is about to hit Orion with his club. You may have trouble finding a bull in the sky, but to the west of Orion look for a bright red star Aldebaran. This star is the red right eye of the bull.
Orion is not alone in his celestial hunt. By Orion's feet are his two hunting dogs. Canis Major the Big Dog is easy to find. Look for the brightest star in the night sky, Sirius, and you have found the Big Dog. Between Sirius and Orion is a somewhat fainter star, this is Procyon and Canis Minor, the Little Dog.
Above Procyon in the Little Dog and Betelgeuse in Orion, look for two bright stars nearby each other and of about the same brightness. They almost look like twin stars, and in fact these two stars, Castor and Pollux, mark the heads of the Gemini Twins. Gemini and Taurus are two of the star groups or constellations of the zodiac.
The night of January 3-4 is the maximum of the Quadrantid meteor show. Look between midnight and dawn you may see some 45 "shooting stars" per hour. Meteors are caused by pebble sized bits of rock burning up as they pass through the air some 50 miles above the Earth.
