2018 Week 2: (January 7-January 13)

The first week of the year has gone by and most of us who took a long vacation are heading back to work.  We are in for a treat next week as far as things go in the sky!  Be sure to catch Jupiter and Mars hanging out close together in the southern sky in the morning.  They will fit in the same telescope field of view for a couple more days and move out of the same binocular field by the middle of the month.  For more information about this very close conjunction, see the weekly update from last week.

http://simonjastronomy.blogspot.com/2017/12/2018-week-1-december-31-january-6.html

There will be another planetary conjunction happening next week with Saturn and Mercury.  The chart below highlights all the great stuff in the sky!

Date	Event
January 8	Last Quarter
January 9	Venus in Superior Conjunction
January 10	Jupiter 4°S of Moon
January 11	Mars 5°S of Moon
January 13	Mercury 0.6°S of Saturn

On Monday (which gets its name from 'day of the moon') the Moon will be at last quarter and will seem half illuminated in the morning sky.  Later, at midnight, Venus will be in superior conjunction.  This means the planet is directly in line behind the Sun from the Earth.  At inferior conjunction, the planet is directly in line in front of the Sun.  This unfortunately means Venus will not be visible throughout the month, but will come into view in the evening sky late in February.

The Moon appears close to both Jupiter and Mars on the morning of January 11.  It is certainly worth a shot through binoculars.  They will appear in a circle of about 5° in diameter before the morning Sun comes up.  The map below shows you this conjunction.  Look to the southeast sky.

Jupiter/Mars/Moon

Later in the week Saturn and Mercury will pair up.  They will be closer to the horizon and I am not sure how well you will be able to see them in the bright twilight.  Although they are naked eye objects you may require binoculars to cut through the twilight.  If you have a clear view of the eastern horizon it would be worth pointing your telescope as the planets will be approximately half a degree (apparent width of the Moon) away from each other.  An interesting fact is that Saturn's largest Moon, Titan, is about 100km larger in diameter than Mercury.

Saturn/Mercury

The weather for next week starts off warm and then starts to cool down drastically.  I'd get out in the morning early in the week to check out the dance between Jupiter and Mars!  Stay tuned for more great updates about the sky as we move further into 2018!