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The Night Sky in January! 31 Dec 2024 (Eynsham Observatory) What to look out for in the night sky from Eynsham

Happy New Year!

This is not intended to be comprehensive - it is a quick guide to help you find a few things in the night sky without any equipment - just your eyes.

All of these are very bright and easy to find when walking around the village.

The planets - lots to see this month!

  • Mercury is very low in the SE rising at sunrise at 7am from the 1st to the 7th and very low and hard to see. After the 7th it is too close to the Sun to see.
  • Venus - The brightest object in the sky, (after the Sun and the Moon) - in beginning of the month at Sunset in the south and setting in the SW about 7pm. Then towards the end of the month at Sunset it is in the SW and sets around 8:30pm in the west.
  • Saturn at Sunset in is in the South and sets around 7:30pm in the SW and at 8:30pm towards the end of the month.
  • Mars glowing red all night! Rises in the NE at the beginning of the month and east at the end. It is seen setting in the west at sunrise all month.
  • Jupiter is very bright. At sunset in the east at the beginning of the month and SE at the end of the month - sets at 3am in the west and 5am towards the end of the month.

The full Moon is on the 13th and rises about 4pm in the NE.

There is a very bright International Space Station passes (ISS) on the 4th at 7:20pm.

Look out for the Quadrantids meteor shower on the 3th / 4th. You can see up to 120 an hour. The setting Moon around 10pm will make it nice and dark. Give you eyes 30 minutes to adjust to the dark and look up with your back to north.

I have made or found the following charts to help you find: -

  • 1st Mercury
  • 3rd Moon and Venus
  • 3rd Quadrantids meteor Shower
  • 4th Lunar Occultation of Saturn
  • 4th ISS pass 7:20pm
  • 8th the visible planets
  • 10th Constellations in the south
  • 10th Moon and Jupiter in Taurus
  • 13th Moon and Mars
  • 18th Venus and Saturn
  • 31st Moon, Saturn and Venus
  • Phases oh the Moon

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