~ St. Maarten’s Backyard Astronomy for January 28-29 ~
Sun rises at 6:45am
Sun sets at 6:05pm
Moon phase: New Moon, waxing thinnest crescent
Moonrises at 7:48am
Moonset: 6:45pm
New Moon
This weekend, look westward after sunset to view the two brightest luminaries of night-time, the moon and Venus. Be sure to catch the moon as soon as darkness falls. The slender waxing crescent moon will sit rather low in the sky, and will follow the sun beneath the horizon by 6:40pm.
As each day passes during the coming week, the sky will offer a larger slice of crescent moon and it will be up higher in the sky at sunset. The moon will also stay out longer after darkness falls each evening. That’s because the moon is presently moving away from the setting sun and toward the planet Venus on the sky’s dome. After sunset on Monday, look for the moon to be quite close to Venus in the evening twilight.
Jupiter and Saturn
If you, like this sky-watcher, are addicted to a nightly viewing of Saturn and Jupiter, you’ll have to likely stay up late as well as get up early, because Jupiter rises from the eastern horizon about 11:15pm and Saturn is rising up much later – about 3:45am.
Jupiter’s moons are visible with a telescope or good binoculars and this weekend you’ll see the dominant moons of Jupiter arranged vertically. Jupiter is currently joined by the bright star Spica just to its right, and Arcturus is about a hand’s width to Jupiter’s left. Spica is the brightest star in Virgo and Arcturus is the marker for the constellation Bootes.
Saturn’s lovely rings are also vertical, or nearly so, at this time of year, and its many moons are scattered about the gas giant – it’s not as random as it seems from the vantage point of earth, but catching any sight of this magical world never fails to bring great joy.
Lucky Rabbit?
The constellation of Lepus, the rabbit, can be found just below the feet of Orion, the hunter, and just to the west of Canis Major, one of Orion’s hunting dogs. Dangerous locale for a bunny, no? Look for Lepus in the southwest these evenings, to the lower right of Orion and his famous three-starred belt. The brightest star in Lepus is Arneb.
Thank you for keeping up with the Night Sky articles. If you are out later on in the week, each star rises about four minutes earlier each day than written here, and the moon rises 50 minutes later. Night Sky is researched and compiled by Lisa Davis-Burnett. Earthsky.org is a key resource for information and images. Questions or comments? Email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
