As we start a new year, let's see what is in our night sky week by week. The Earth will be at perihelion on January 2 which is its closest the Earth gets to the Sun in its orbit. This is approximately 147 million kilometers. Compare this to the aphelion in July when the Earth is 152 million kilometers from the Sun. This occurs because the Earth is in an elliptical orbit around the Sun. The Sun is located at one of the foci of the ellipse.
Do not confuse the distance of the Earth to the Sun with the seasons as they occur due to the tilt of the Earth. When the Earth is in its orbit around the Sun with the Northern Hemisphere tilted toward the Sun it will be Summer in that hemisphere and vice-versa 6 months later.
The first week of the year always starts out with a meteor shower. The Quadrantid Meteor Shower will peak in the morning of the 3rd. Your best chance to see them would be either Saturday or Sunday evening. Unfortunately, the Moon will be around 80% illuminated it may hinder the observation of these meteors. If you are lucky you may be able to catch one every 10-15 minutes. Unlike other meteor showers, the Quadrantid peak is very narrow and you'll likely only have one good night of trying to observe one.
For more details on the Quadrantid Meteor Shower follow the link below.
In the middle of the week the Moon will be at its last quarter phase rising just after midnight.
If you liked the conjunction from last month of Saturn and Jupiter you may like the one occurring at the end of this week!
Mercury, Jupiter and Saturn will all be within a 2.3° circle near the western horizon shortly after sunset. They will all fit into a widefield telescope or an ordinary pair of binoculars. If you are going to be using optical aid on this conjunction be sure the Sun has fully set; it is not worth damaging your eyes.
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| Mercury, Jupiter, Saturn Conjunction January 10-11 |
Coming later this month...
On January 21, 2021 at 7:30pm, Sarafina Nance from the University of California - Berkeley will be giving a free lecture on "Tracing the Lives, Deaths, and Explosions of Massive Stars".
Supernovae are cosmic events of gigantic power. Their explosions can shine as bright as a galaxy, a pinprick of extraordinarily bright light in the night sky. What is less well-understood, however, is which stars reach the point of explosion and how they evolve to their deaths. Interestingly, their explosions provide astronomers with key tools to uncover fundamental aspects of our Universe. While we know that the Universe is expanding at an accelerated rate due to dark energy, the rate of the expansion of the Universe is not well-constrained. Supernovae provide us with independent ways to measure this expansion and work to resolve one of the most pivotal questions in astronomy: How fast is the Universe really expanding?
I hope you can join us for this great event, for more details follow the link below.
Tracing the Lives, Deaths, and Explosions of Massive Stars
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