Sky and Telescope - January 2018 - 46

JANUARY 2018 OBSERVING
Sun, Moon & Planets by Fred Schaaf

Planetary Pairings
Be prepared to get up early this month to see the dance of the planets.

T

he ﬁrst month of 2018 offers us no
bright planets until well after midnight - and normally brilliant Venus is
completely lost in solar glare on the far
side of the Sun. On the other hand, the
ﬁnal hours of the nights and the cold
dawns are very exciting this January.
These chilly hours offer us two very
close and long-lasting conjunctions of
planets (Jupiter-Mars and Mercury-Saturn); the second half of a ﬁne Mercury
apparition; and, at month's end, a total
eclipse of the Moon for observers across
much of North America.

EVENING
The only planets visible in the evening
sky all month are dim Uranus and even
dimmer Neptune. Look toward the
south-southwest after the end of evening twilight to best observe them. See
https://is.gd/urnep/ for ﬁnder charts for
Uranus and Neptune.

A LL N I G H T LO N G
Asteroid 1 Ceres arrives at opposition
on January 31st - in fact, within the
same hour as the total lunar eclipse,
when it will shine brighter than it has
in over ﬁve years. Keep an eye on Vesta
and Juno during 2018, for they will
undergo even more rare peaks in brightness as they reach opposition in June
and November, respectively.

PR E- DAW N
January kicks off with Jupiter and
Mars, initially only just over 2° apart,
rising together around 3 a.m. to
brighten the heavens. As the month
progresses, Jupiter's magnitude
increases from -1.8 to a very respect-

able -2.0, greatly outshining Mars,
which brightens from 1.5 to 1.2 during
that same period. For observers around
latitude 40° north, the pair are more
than 30° high in the south-southeast
by 45 minutes before sunrise. That may
be just high enough to get crisp images
of the planets' globes in telescopes,
but whereas Jupiter is 33″ wide in early
January and fattens to 36″ by the end
of the month, Mars is only about 5″
across. These two planets will be less
than 1° apart from January 5th to 8th
and make for a fascinating contrasting
pair in a telescopic ﬁeld of view. This is
especially true at dawn on January 6th
in the Americas when only 1/3° separates
Jupiter from Mars!

Dawn, Jan 6

Dawn, Jan 10 -12

45 minutes before sunrise

1 hour before sunrise

` Lib

` Lib
Moon
Jan 11

_ Lib

Jan 5- 6

Jupiter

Around 1 am

Only :3°
apart!
1

_ Lib
Jupiter

Mars

10°

Moon
Jan 10

Mars

Moon
Jan 12

SCORPIUS
a
LEO

SCORPIUS
Moon
Jan 5

Antares

Antares

Regulus very close!
(occulted for parts
of Canada)

Denebola

Moon
Jan 6

Looking Southeast, high in the sky

46

JA N UA RY 2 018 * SK Y & TELESCOPE

Looking South-Southeast

Looking Southeast

https://www.is.gd/urnep/

Sky and Telescope - January 2018

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Sky and Telescope - January 2018

Contents
Sky and Telescope - January 2018 - Cover1
Sky and Telescope - January 2018 - Cover2
Sky and Telescope - January 2018 - 1
Sky and Telescope - January 2018 - Contents
Sky and Telescope - January 2018 - 3
Sky and Telescope - January 2018 - 4
Sky and Telescope - January 2018 - 5
Sky and Telescope - January 2018 - 6
Sky and Telescope - January 2018 - 7
Sky and Telescope - January 2018 - 8
Sky and Telescope - January 2018 - 9
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Sky and Telescope - January 2018 - Cover3
Sky and Telescope - January 2018 - Cover4
Sky and Telescope - January 2018 - SGA18SAL
Sky and Telescope - January 2018 - 90
Sky and Telescope - January 2018 - SGA18S
Sky and Telescope - January 2018 - SGA18SA
Sky and Telescope - January 2018 - SGA18EAL
Sky and Telescope - January 2018 - 94
Sky and Telescope - January 2018 - SGA18E
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Sky and Telescope - January 2018 - SGA18RAL
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Sky and Telescope - January 2018 - SGA18R
Sky and Telescope - January 2018 - SGA18RA
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