<\/p>\n
\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Happy New Year!\u00a0 January kicks off the Lunar Cycle with a <\/span>New Moon<\/b> taking place on Sunday January 2.\u00a0 The <\/span>Young Crescent Moon<\/b> will greet 2022 in the early twilight of January 3.\u00a0 Look for it very close to the SW horizon and watch it rise a little higher each evening.\u00a0 You can track its progress by locating it just below and then slightly above and to the left <\/span>Jupiter <\/b>on Jan 5 and 6.\u00a0 The <\/span>First Quarter, Full, and Last Quarter Moons <\/b>are slated for Jan 9, 17, and 25, respectively.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0The <\/span>Quadrantid Meteor shower<\/b> will peak Jan 3 just after the New Moon so if the sky is clear, there will be optimal dark sky viewing for this event even though the peak will occur during daylight hours in North America.\u00a0 Like most meteor showers, an increased number of meteors may be observed in the day prior to and after the peak.\u00a0 The Quadrantids are named for the now defunct constellation <\/span>The Mural Quadrant <\/b>which was located between the handle of the <\/span>Big Dipper, <\/b>the head of <\/span>Bootes the Herdsman<\/b> and the tail of <\/span>Draco the Dragon.<\/b>\u00a0 If one traces the streak from a meteor and it leads to the area between the constellations listed, then it is more than likely one of the Quadrantids.<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0We have already mentioned that Jupiter will be low in the southwest at dusk.\u00a0 <\/span>Venus <\/b>will also be visible very close to the horizon at the same time as the young Moon, but after the first week of the month it will drop from view.\u00a0 With Venus approaching <\/span>inferior conjunction*<\/b> on Jan 8 (where it will be positioned just 4.8 degrees north of the Sun).\u00a0 As it approaches conjunction, Venus appears as only a 1 percent crescent of a full disk. \u00a0 <\/span>Mercury<\/b>, also near the SW horizon can be located just above the young crescent Moon on Jan 3 but it, too, will fade away by mid-month.\u00a0 Mercury will reach inferior conjunction* on Jan 23 and will emerge in the morning sky at the end of the month.\u00a0 (*When a planet is at inferior conjunction, it is located between the<\/span> Earth<\/b> and the Sun). <\/span>Saturn <\/b>can be located halfway between Jupiter and the young Moon shining at magnitude +0.7.\u00a0 The <\/span>Ringed Planet<\/b> will be lost in the <\/span>Sun\u2019s <\/b>glare the last week of January.<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0This month\u2019s morning planets begin with the singular appearance of <\/span>Mars<\/b> low in the southeast one hour before sunrise.\u00a0 If you spot the <\/span>Red Planet<\/b>, look to the right and see if you can see the red star <\/span>Antares <\/b>in <\/span>Scorpio the Scorpion.<\/b>\u00a0 When Mars is closer to the Earth, the pair are very similar in appearance although the planetary disk of Mars will not twinkle like the star Antares.<\/span><\/p>\n Venus will join Mars in the morning sky soon after its inferior conjunction on Jan 8.\u00a0 Mercury will also become a morning \u2018star\u2019 but it will be difficult to observe until early February.<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Earth reaches <\/span>perihelion <\/b>on January 4, 2022 where it will be <\/span>0.983 AU (Astronomical Units) or 91.4 million miles <\/b>from the Sun.\u00a0 One would not think of us being closer to the Sun during the advent of our coldest season in the northern hemisphere, but that is precisely where we are.\u00a0 The Earth\u2019s <\/span>23.5 degree tilt<\/b> accounts for the seasonal changes that occur across both hemispheres.\u00a0 We may be closer to the Sun now than in our summer, but the Earth is tilted away from the Sun.\u00a0 The Sun\u2019s lower angle gives the northern hemisphere less direct sunlight and shorter daylight hours.\u00a0 This combination accounts for the cold winter temperatures we will see over the next few months.<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/span>Compiled by Ken Raisanen of WOAS-FM – information provided by <\/span>Abrams Planetarium Sky Calendar<\/span><\/i>, Michigan State University.\u00a0 More information and subscription information can be found on\u00a0 their website at <\/span>http:\/\/abramsplanetarium.org\/<\/span><\/a>skycalendar\/ or on Twitter at <\/span>http:\/\/twitter.com\/AbramsSkyNotes<\/span><\/a>.\u00a0 Yearly<\/span> subscriptions cost $12 and can be started anytime.<\/span><\/p>\n Top Piece Video:\u00a0 Let the Bangles tell us all about the HAZY SHADE OF WINTER . . .<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Happy New Year!\u00a0 January kicks off the Lunar Cycle with a New Moon taking place on Sunday January 2.\u00a0 The Young Crescent Moon will greet 2022 in the early twilight of January 3.\u00a0 Look for it very close to the SW horizon and watch it rise a little higher each evening.\u00a0 You can track […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11,8,9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2402","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-education","category-from-the-vaults","category-woas"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.woas-fm.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2402","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.woas-fm.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.woas-fm.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.woas-fm.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.woas-fm.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2402"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.woas-fm.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2402\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2405,"href":"https:\/\/www.woas-fm.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2402\/revisions\/2405"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.woas-fm.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2402"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.woas-fm.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2402"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.woas-fm.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2402"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}