2019 Week 1: (December 30-January 5)

This will be the first week of the New Year!  The big news starts out on New Year's Day with New Horizons' flyby of the Kuiper Belt Object now known as Ultima Thule. 

Thule in Latin refers to a legendary island that is beyond existence and Ultima is the word for furthest.  This name is quite savvy as Ultima Thule will be the furthest object we have explored.

NASA TV will have full coverage on this groundbreaking flyby.  The link below is a Sky and Telescope article written by New Horizons' Principal Investigator Alan Stern.

https://www.skyandtelescope.com/astronomy-news/new-horizons-approaching-ultima-thule/

New Horizons at the Plutonian System (Image Credit: NASA)

There are other great events happening in the sky that we can see in Calgary!  The chart below highlights them.

Date	Event
January 1	Venus 1.3°S of Moon
January 1	Saturn in conjunction with the Sun
January 3	Jupiter 3°S of Moon
January 3	Quadrantid Meteors Peak
January 4	Mercury 3°S of Moon
January 5	New Moon
January 5	Partial Solar Eclipse
January 5	Venus greatest elongation West

There will be a Solar Eclipse occurring on January 5th for those east of the International Date Line and on the 6th for the observers to the west.  A map of the eclipse region is found below.

January 5-6, 2019 Partial Solar Eclipse (Image Credit: https://www.timeanddate.com)

Throughout the week we will have three planetary conjunction with the Moon in the hours prior to sunrise.  Venus will be partying with the Moon early on New Year's morning as both will be found within the same telescopic field of view.  Two days later it will be Jupiter's turn follow by Mercury a day after that.

There is also a major meteor shower peaking on Thursday night.  You can catch the Quadrantids without the horrible glow of a Full Moon of the first week of January last year.  In the suburbs you may be able to catch about 10 per hour but may get lucky!  Look just above the head of Boötes as the radiant and see if you can catch a few!  For more information on viewing and/or recording this shower, follow the link below.

https://simonjastronomy.blogspot.com/2017/12/the-quadrantid-meteor-shower.html

Quadrantid Meteor Shower Peak

The week ends with a New Moon to start the first lunar cycle of 2019.  The same night Venus will reach its westernmost appearance in the sky away from the Sun at a whopping 47°.  It will be in a last quarter phase with only 50% of the planet illuminated.  This will be a great time to catch it in a telescope.

Get outside and observe the Winter constellations in the spells of great weather!