What’s Up This Second Week of January

Happy New Year!

The year is unfortunately greeting us with mostly cold and cloudy nights. There might be some gaps in the clouds later in the week with any luck. During the potentially partially clear nights, the temperature will be in the low 30s and upper 20s so be sure to dress very warm including gloves, a hat, and something to protect any exposed skin to prevent frostbite. Now that we have passed the winter solstice, the sunset will be getting later and later every day, but for now, sunset is still occurring around 5:10 PM so be ready for stargazing by 6:10 PM at the earliest.

This week be on the lookout for a razor-thin waning crescent moon, an early-morning planetary meetup, outer planets high in the night sky, and the famous Crab Nebula.

The first new moon of 2024 will occur on Thursday, January 11. So early this week if you are looking in the eastern sky before sunrise, you will likely catch a glimpse of a razor-thin waning crescent moon. The conditions are ideal for Earthshine during the early waxing phase and the late waning phase. Most modern smartphone cameras will be perfect for imaging the moon (perhaps with Earthshine) with the orange sky from the pending sunrise.

The sky as it was on Tuesday morning. The moon will slide into the evening sky by Thursday, but the planets will remain roughly in the same place.

Again, during the early morning hours, if you are out looking for the waning crescent, you may also notice some bright celestial neighbors to the moon. If you are outside around 7:15 AM, you will be able to see three planets: Mercury, Venus, and Mars. Venus will be the brightest of the bunch, followed by Mercury and then Mars (since it will be very low and difficult to spot, its brightness will also be attenuated by the Earth’s atmosphere). Unfortunately, a smartphone camera won’t do these objects justice, but a telescope certainly will!

The crescent moon as seen on Friday January 12.

After the sun has set, turn your head high in the southern and southwestern sky to spot Jupiter and Saturn respectively. These two planets are bright enough that they should stand out from the background of stars. Dobsonian or Newtonian telescopes with longer focal lengths are ideal for viewing planets. They are basically photon buckets and are great for making out the finer details of the planets. A Cassegrain telescope or even some longer focal-length refractors can work as well, but they might be a bit “slower” at gathering light (depending on the exact setup).

Lastly, look just above where Orion’s head is with a telescope and try looking for the Crab Nebula. It is a relatively small nebula (both in actual size and apparent size) that resembles a tangled spider web, in my opinion. At the heart of this bright nebula is something called a pulsar, a highly dense and collapsed core of an exploded star that is spinning rapidly. These pulsars channel energy through their incredibly strong magnetic fields and produce a “lighthouse” effect. The original star exploded in 1054 AD and was recorded by Chinese and Native American astronomers.

What's Up: January 9 - 16, 2024 -Jared May