Two great Lunar Craters: Tycho and Copernicus
This is a great night to observe two of the greatest craters on the Moon Tycho and Copernicus.
Tycho is towards the bottom of Moon in a densely cratered area called the Southern Lunar Highlands. It is a relatively young crater which is about 108 million years old. It is interesting in that it is thought to have been formed by the impact of one of the remnents of an asteroid that gave rise to the asteroid Baptistina. Another asteroid originating from the same breakup may well have caused the Chicxulub crater 65 million years ago. It has a diameter of 85 km and is nearly 5 km deep. At full Moon the rays of material that were ejected when it was formed can be see arcing across the surface. Copernicus is about 800 million years old and lies in the eastern Oceanus Procellarum beyond the end of the Apennine Mountains. It is 93 km wide and nearly 4 km deep and is a classic "terraced" crater. Both can be seen with binoculars.
Night Jan 3rd/4th - Quadrantid Meteor Shower
The early morning of Jan 4th will give us the chance.. if clear.. of observing the Quandrantid meteor shower. The shower is expected to peak on the morning of the 4th of January. The radiant where the meteors appear to come from is in the constellation 'Bootes' not far below the tail of Ursa Major the Great Bear.
The peak hourly rate can reach 200 but they are not particularly bright so a good dark observing site will help. Binoculars will easily show that there are two stars Mizar the brighter and Alcor the Horse and Rider. You may even spot this without binoculars. A small telescope will show that Mizar is a double star.
January: Look for the Great Red Spot on Jupiter
This list gives some the best times during January to observe the Great Red Spot which should then lie close to the central meridian of the planet. The GRS can move in position around the surface and a second set of calculations puts the times of transit a little later than those given.
2nd 22:30 21st 23:15
5th 20:00 22nd 19:07
7th 21:39 24th 20:46
10th 19:09 26th 22:25
14th 22:27 29th 19:55
17th 19:57 31st 21:34
19th 21:36
January 10th after sunset - A chance to spot Vesta
After sunset looking southwest is the constellation Aquarius. Just up and to the left will be the minor planet Vesta shining at magnitude 8.
January 12th.. 13th and 14th after sunset - Venus close to Neptune
Venus shines brightly at magnitude -3.9 whilst Neptunes is just magnitude +8. On the 13th they are just over 1 degree apart so they will all lie well within the field of view of a pair of binoculars.
January 16th 1 hr before dawn - Saturn.. Spica and a Third Quarter Moon
Before dawn on the 16th January there is a nice grouping of Saturn.. Spica and a third quarter Moon. Some hours earlier as they rise the three will almost lie in straight line.
26th January - The Andromeda Galaxy
In the early evening the galaxy M31 in Andromeda is visible high in the southwest to west. There are two ways of finding it. Using a chart..
1) Find the square of Pegasus. Start at the top left star of the square - Alpha Andromedae - and move two stars to the left. Then turn 90 degrees to the right.. move down to one reasonably bright star and continue a similar distance in the same direction. You should easily spot M31 with binoculars and if there is a dark sky you can even see it without binoculars. The light that you see left Andromeda well over two million years ago!
2) You can also find M31 by following the "arrow" made by the three rightmost bright stars of Cassiopeia down to the lower left as shown on a chart.
View the International Space Station
Use the link below to find when the space station will be visible in the next few days. In general, the space station can be seen either in the hour or so before dawn or the hour or so after sunset. This is because it is dark and yet the Sun is not too far below the horizon so that it can light up the space station. As the orbit only just gets upto the latitude of the UK it will usually be seen to the South and is only visible for a minute or so at each sighting. Note that as it is in low-Earth orbit the sighting details vary quite considerably across the UK. The NASA website linked to below gives details for several cities in the UK. (Across the world too for non-UK forum members.)
See where the space station is now: Current Position:- h**p://spaceflight.nasa.gov/realdata/tracking/index.html
Click on 'Sighting opportunities' or choose your Uk city here:- h**p://spaceflight1.nasa.gov/realdata/sightings/cities/region.cgi?country=United_Kingdom®ion=England
This is a great night to observe two of the greatest craters on the Moon Tycho and Copernicus.
Tycho is towards the bottom of Moon in a densely cratered area called the Southern Lunar Highlands. It is a relatively young crater which is about 108 million years old. It is interesting in that it is thought to have been formed by the impact of one of the remnents of an asteroid that gave rise to the asteroid Baptistina. Another asteroid originating from the same breakup may well have caused the Chicxulub crater 65 million years ago. It has a diameter of 85 km and is nearly 5 km deep. At full Moon the rays of material that were ejected when it was formed can be see arcing across the surface. Copernicus is about 800 million years old and lies in the eastern Oceanus Procellarum beyond the end of the Apennine Mountains. It is 93 km wide and nearly 4 km deep and is a classic "terraced" crater. Both can be seen with binoculars.
Night Jan 3rd/4th - Quadrantid Meteor Shower
The early morning of Jan 4th will give us the chance.. if clear.. of observing the Quandrantid meteor shower. The shower is expected to peak on the morning of the 4th of January. The radiant where the meteors appear to come from is in the constellation 'Bootes' not far below the tail of Ursa Major the Great Bear.
The peak hourly rate can reach 200 but they are not particularly bright so a good dark observing site will help. Binoculars will easily show that there are two stars Mizar the brighter and Alcor the Horse and Rider. You may even spot this without binoculars. A small telescope will show that Mizar is a double star.
January: Look for the Great Red Spot on Jupiter
This list gives some the best times during January to observe the Great Red Spot which should then lie close to the central meridian of the planet. The GRS can move in position around the surface and a second set of calculations puts the times of transit a little later than those given.
2nd 22:30 21st 23:15
5th 20:00 22nd 19:07
7th 21:39 24th 20:46
10th 19:09 26th 22:25
14th 22:27 29th 19:55
17th 19:57 31st 21:34
19th 21:36
January 10th after sunset - A chance to spot Vesta
After sunset looking southwest is the constellation Aquarius. Just up and to the left will be the minor planet Vesta shining at magnitude 8.
January 12th.. 13th and 14th after sunset - Venus close to Neptune
Venus shines brightly at magnitude -3.9 whilst Neptunes is just magnitude +8. On the 13th they are just over 1 degree apart so they will all lie well within the field of view of a pair of binoculars.
January 16th 1 hr before dawn - Saturn.. Spica and a Third Quarter Moon
Before dawn on the 16th January there is a nice grouping of Saturn.. Spica and a third quarter Moon. Some hours earlier as they rise the three will almost lie in straight line.
26th January - The Andromeda Galaxy
In the early evening the galaxy M31 in Andromeda is visible high in the southwest to west. There are two ways of finding it. Using a chart..
1) Find the square of Pegasus. Start at the top left star of the square - Alpha Andromedae - and move two stars to the left. Then turn 90 degrees to the right.. move down to one reasonably bright star and continue a similar distance in the same direction. You should easily spot M31 with binoculars and if there is a dark sky you can even see it without binoculars. The light that you see left Andromeda well over two million years ago!
2) You can also find M31 by following the "arrow" made by the three rightmost bright stars of Cassiopeia down to the lower left as shown on a chart.
View the International Space Station
Use the link below to find when the space station will be visible in the next few days. In general, the space station can be seen either in the hour or so before dawn or the hour or so after sunset. This is because it is dark and yet the Sun is not too far below the horizon so that it can light up the space station. As the orbit only just gets upto the latitude of the UK it will usually be seen to the South and is only visible for a minute or so at each sighting. Note that as it is in low-Earth orbit the sighting details vary quite considerably across the UK. The NASA website linked to below gives details for several cities in the UK. (Across the world too for non-UK forum members.)
See where the space station is now: Current Position:- h**p://spaceflight.nasa.gov/realdata/tracking/index.html
Click on 'Sighting opportunities' or choose your Uk city here:- h**p://spaceflight1.nasa.gov/realdata/sightings/cities/region.cgi?country=United_Kingdom®ion=England
