The Quadrantids meteor shower lights up the night sky, while Comet 144P Kushida passes by on the latest episode of our weekly stargazing podcast.
Chris: Hello and welcome to Star Diary, the podcast from the makers of BBC Sky at Night Magazine. You can subscribe to the print edition by visiting skyatnightmagazine.com or to our digital edition by visiting iTunes or Google Play.
Ezzy: Greetings listeners, and welcome to Star Diary, a weekly guide to the best things to see in the Northern Hemisphere's night sky, as we are based here in the UK all times are in GMT. In this episode, we'll be covering the coming week from 1 to 7 January. I'm Ezzy Pearson, and I'm joined this week by Paul Money.
Paul: Hello Ezzy. Hey everybody. Happy new year. Hey! Gosh. Another year.
Ezzy: Happy new year. And it certainly sounds like we've got some interesting things to look forward to in this year in stargazing. So what have we and everybody at home got to look forward to?
Paul: Well, I'm sorry, we've got to do it, but we've got to start with the early morning. And literally the early morning of January 1st, so we really are kicking off straight into the New Year.
Now, hopefully, listeners may be in a good enough condition after all the New Year parties, and don't see double stars, double planets, et cetera, and double constellations. We'll have to see how it goes.
Ezzy: If you're doing some stargazing on your way home from a New Year's Eve party, you might not be in the best condition to be getting out there and seeing some of these sights but always worth looking up
Paul: Exactly. So as I say, let's start with the early morning. And we're looking really from after midnight through till 7:00 AM in the morning. The gibbous Moon is in Leo, it's to the left of Regulus, which is the brightest star of Leo. And as we go through the night, you'll be able to see that get higher in the sky.
By the time we get to 7am, twilight is just starting. And what we find is we can see Venus. Now, Venus is rising over in the southeast. And it's right at the tip of Scorpius. In fact, it's right next to Beta Scorpii. So it's quite bright.
But there's a bit of a bonus, because to the lower left, just rising in the southeast is Mercury as well. So we've got both inner planets, Ezzy. Both of the inner planets at the same time. It doesn't always work like that. Quite often you end up with Venus on its own. But Mercury's popped its head up above the horizon for us as we start the new year.
Ezzy: It's just poking in, just in time for the new year to begin.
Paul: Exactly. Now the thing about this is that we're going to stay with 1st because on the evening we've got all the giant planets actually on display. So we've got Saturn, we've got Neptune, Jupiter and Uranus. Roughly in that order moving away from the twilight. So around about 5pm. You're looking at really twilight is just about beginning to fade, but Saturn is the first one. And I say it's the one that over the next few months will be getting closer and closer to the horizon and setting the first.
But at the moment I say we've got Saturn, now that's naked eye. Neptune, you will need large binoculars or a telescope. And then moving higher up, Jupiter, dominate. When Venus is not around, Jupiter is the brightest planet in the sky. It's above the head of Cetus at the moment. And then we've got Uranus. And Uranus sort of forms a very shallow triangle with Jupiter and Messier 45, the Pleiades, or the Seven Sisters star clusters in Taurus. Well, we mentioned Uranus.
Now, by around about five o'clock in the evening, Jupiter and Uranus are roughly in the southeast themselves. Well, the thing about Uranus is that we like to use, don't we? We like to use planets and bright stars as guides to things that are fainter.
And we've got a comet. Now, it is faint. This is Comet 144P Kushida. It's magnitude 8.9. So, yes, it's a bit faint. But Uranus allows you to guide to it, because it's a couple of degrees below Uranus. So, if you search with large binoculars or a telescope below that region, come across a fuzzy blob .
Oh, I do like fuzzy blobs. Now, there's not many fuzzy blobs that are like deep sky objects in that particular area that are that magnitude. So you're more likely to come across this comet, Kushida.
Ezzy: Yes, well, because it is quite often, there's lots of, as you said, there's lots of fuzzy objects in the night sky. And in fact, one of the most popular, sort of, catalogues of them, which is the Messier catalogue, was created because he was trying to discount all of the things that weren't comets.
So he made a list of all of the fuzzy blobs, so that he knew when he saw a new fuzzy blob, it was a comet. And that's where that came from. So, fuzzy blobs are usually something interesting in the night sky, definitely when it comes to astronomy.
Paul: And of course, he had no idea what those other fuzzy blobs were.
Ezzy: Oh, no, absolutely.
Paul: But, you know, that would come centuries later when we began to realize there were other galaxies out there. In fact, actually deciding that some of those fuzzy blobs are other galaxies is a fairly modern thing, really, isn't it? They'll last a hundred years.
Ezzy: Which, in terms of astronomy, is fairly modern.
Paul: Yes, yes, in terms of the age of the cosmos, 14 billion years, yes. 100 years is nothing, is it? But never mind.
Ezzy: When you're talking about space, your sort of perspective on time and distance does get a bit skewed.
Paul: Now, we get into time and distance, you might start talking about Doctor Who, so we need to avoid that sort of thing, you know. I have seen all the specials but anyway! Moving quickly on.
The morning all week, just a reminder sort of, we've got Venus in the morning sky. it is moving, Venus, past Beta Scorpii. And so what we find is that it tracks down... it looks, Venus looks all, every morning all this week, it looks as if it's heading towards Mercury. And the strange thing is that, you know, it's not going to catch up with Mercury.
Well, he is the fleet footed one, and he's the messenger, so he quickly hops it out of the way. He, Mercury will start to move away. So, Venus never catches up with Mercury during the week, and in fact, at all, this particular apparition. But it is moving down, so, you know, we are gradually getting to the period, over the next couple of months again, of losing Venus in the morning sky.
But during the week, it actually then passes north. Of Antares, which is the brightest star of Scorpius. Having said that, we forget that Ophiuchus lies in this part of the...
That's not a zodiacal constellation! Well no, but it actually is in that region, and it crosses the ecliptics of Venus, on 5th, moves into Ophiuchus.
So that puts a spanner in the works for certain people, doesn't it?
Anyway, we, it looks like it's closing on Mercury, but it won't do so, and it tries to close the cap, and it looks as if it's succeeding this week, but it doesn't quite make it by the time it gets north of Antares at the very end of the week.
So it's worth keeping an eye on, so the gap will get a bit narrower, but as I say, Mercury will also start to drop away fairly soon. And we can discuss that next week.
Looking at 3 to 4 January, we have the Quadrantids meteor shower. It's the first meteor shower of the year.
Ironically, we have nothing after this until about April, so, so it's a bit sparse the first half of the year, isn't it?
The first quarter of the year, I should say.
Ezzy: Yeah, yeah, it's not a great time for meteor showers.
Paul: Which is a shame. But the one advantage with the Quadrantids is that it's circumpolar. It's actually from the Mural Quadrans which was an old defunct constellation.
It's in northern Boötes as far as we're concerned now. So, you know, it's sort of like one of those that you know, it's retained the name, instead of being renamed, which is fair enough.
But the Quadrantids are on the go. And they have a zenith rate of about 120, but we always have to remember that's absolutely perfect conditions. You won't get a fraction of that, and if it's low down, you've got the atmosphere... you're looking through more atmosphere as well.
And so, it's one of those things, the Moon rises after midnight on the 3rd and the 4th. So, the evenings, technically, if you want to be out of the way of the moon are best, but the radian is quite low in between north and northeast. So, it's just one of those things.
But it is circumpolar. So, in theory, through the night, you should see at least one or two quadrantids, if not a few more, and try to photograph them.
You know, it's one of those things that, you know, when the Moon's out of the way, that's the best time to photograph. But you're not even moonlight, you know, you can sometimes find, if it's a bright one. You can actually pick it up as well. So, you know, you may as well try. What do you gain if you don't try?
You gain nothing, do you? So you may as well have a go at it. And of course, if you do catch one, we're always interested in the magazine receiving the pictures, aren't we?
Ezzy: Yes. Magazine always loves to get pictures. And also there's lots of work out there of people who track meteor showers, make lots of notes about exactly when they're seeing them, what direction they're coming from, how bright they think they were, which is to contribute towards scientific research.
One of the main ways that meteor showers get tracked is actually by people in the back garden just making notes with a notebook in their naked eyes. If you want more information about how to take part in that, then please do go to our website. We have a guide all about how to do that. That's skyatnightmagazine.com and I'll put a link in the show notes as well, so people can find it if they would like to.
Paul: See, we amateurs can still do science. I think that's amazing, really. There's quite a few areas we can actually contribute to, but this is one of them in particular. Now, 3 to 6 January, if we're looking in the morning sky, the Moon does dominate.
I mean, there are weeks when the Moon is the prominent thing, and we follow that. So it lies to the upper right of Porrima and the star Zaniah on the morning 3rd. We're looking about 5AM at the moment, so they've got well above the horizon. So you're not messing about with all the very low down, you've probably got clutter from buildings, etc.
These are fairly high up in the sky. It's in the constellation of Virgo. So that's on 3rd, then it lies below and to the left of Porrima on 4th itself. And then it'll be at last quarter phase, so the Moon will be half full. So it'll look quite interesting, I always find it fascinating because the morning phases do tend to get missed.
My people, unless they have to get up in the morning for their work, so we're all usually tucked up in bed, aren't we, sort of thing. Unless you're dedicated. That's the last quarter phase, sort of thing.
And it always looks interesting to see the moon literally looking as if it's cut in half, which of course it isn't, it's because we're looking at half the night as well, as well as half the day.
Now the next morning, the Moon will accompany Spica, or Spee-ka, depending on how you want to pronounce it. And so it lies to the left of the star but quite close actually, so you'll probably get it in a view of binoculars, so use binoculars on this.
And 4th is a good time to look for several clair obscur effects on the Moon.
These are tricks of the light, and making us see things, and because we're very good at sort of joining lines, joining dots, seeing shapes when they're not there for things.
So, in this case, look for Gruithuisen's City and Curtis's Cross on the Moon at this particular phase. Now, Gruithuisen's City is actually a little bit harder to see. And so is Curtis's Cross, but it's worth having a look at to see if you can actually spot them on the Moon.
So, there's not just craters on the Moon and the terminator crossing it, there are also strange effects, these clair obscur effects as well.
So, to finish the week, let's have a look at Jupiter. Because Jupiter really does dominate the evening sky. On the late evening of 6th, use a telescope to view first of all, Ganymede, then Europa, move across the southern half of Jupiter. So they're transiting.
But what's interesting is late on that night, both their shadows begin to cross the disc as well. So you're talking about into the early morning of 7th. Now, Europa's shadow will be the most prominent, but ironically, just as Ganymede's shadow begins to creep onto the disc, Jupiter sets.
But you might just get that moment, you might just get that time where you might get both of them at the same time, just before it sets, if you have a clear uncluttered horizon. So it's always worth looking out for these Jovian events. And we again we often highlight these in the actual magazine sort of thing in the centre of the magazine when we cover some of the major events.
So well worth having a look at these because they're fascinating to watch because again you're seeing the Solar System in clockwork motion . These are predictable and we can predict these well in advance sort of thing to see them.
Ezzy: Yeah, we always have a planet guide in our Sky Guide section in the middle of the magazine, which you can always pick up. And there's almost always something there tracking the motion of the four Galilean moons around Jupiter, so you can find out exactly where they're going to be.
It always stuns me when I remember that you can see not just the moons in orbit around another planet that is incredibly far away. But you can also see the shadows. For some reason, it's the fact that you can see the shadows that boggles my mind more than the moons themselves. How big all of these things must be that you can see them that far away. So it's definitely worth getting out there and trying to see both the planets and the shadows if you can.
Paul: And can you imagine that in the future people who travel to Jupiter might get into the right position. If you're in that shadow, say, if there was a Jovian life form and the shadow passed over the upper atmosphere you'd see a total eclipse of the Sun. Because that's what happens on the Earth, isn't it? Sort of, the shadow of the, Moon falls on the Earth. And as long as you're on the center line in the darkest part of the shadow, you see a total eclipse of the Sun.
So, these are total eclipses from the point of view on the upper atmosphere surface of Jupiter. You know, so, I just find that fascinating. And it's not just Jupiter. We know it happens, actually, with Saturn as well. And, guess what? I think it's next week, or the week after, we get one. I think it's next week, so, something to look forward to. Yeah.
Ezzy: We'll find out more about that in a future week's episode. And if you want to be sure to catch that, then be sure to subscribe to the Star Diary podcast to keep up to date with all of the latest stargazing tips.
And thank you very much for taking us through all of this week's, Paul.
Paul: Thank you.
Ezzy: But to summarise that week again, we start on 1 January in the morning when the gibbous Moon is going to be next to Leo. And Venus is going to rise in the south east with Mercury just beginning to emerge into the morning sky.
On the evening of 1st, we will see all of the major planets. Jupiter will be the brightest of those and also point the way towards Comet 144P Koshida. That's going to be a very faint comet, but it will be visible at that time.
Throughout the week, you'll be able to see Venus heading towards Mercury in the sky. The two will never meet, but they will start to get closer.
On 3 to 4 January, we have the Quadrantids meteor shower is going to be peaking. The Moon's going to be rising at midnight, so you want to try and catch that in the evening to try and get as many meteors as you can.
On 3 to 6 January, the Moon is going to be passing by the stars Porrima and Zaniah, moving onward towards Spica.
4 January is a great opportunity to see a couple of clair obscur effects on the Moon, when the shadows across the Moon appear to form various shapes. In this case, Gruithien's City and Curtis Cross.
Then on the night of 6, moving into th 7th, Ganymede and Europa are going to pass across Jupiter's face. And you'll see not just the moons transit, but you'll also get to see their shadows as well.
So lots of things to be getting on with this week. We hope to see you back here next week. From all of us here at Sky at Night Magazine, goodbye. If you want to find out even more spectacular sights that will be gracing the night sky this month, be sure to pick up a copy of BBC Sky at Night Magazine, where we have a 16 page pullout sky guide with a full overview of everything worth looking up for throughout the whole month. Whether you like to look at the Moon, the planets, or the deep sky. Whether you use binoculars, telescopes, or neither, our Sky Guide has got you covered. With detailed star charts to help you track your way across the night sky. From all of us here at BBC Sky at Night Magazine, goodbye.
Chris: Thank you for listening to this episode of the Star Diary podcast from the makers of BBC Sky at Night magazine. For more of our podcasts, visit our website at skyatnightmagazine.com or head to Acast, iTunes or Spotify.
Listen to the next episode of the Star Diary podcast 8 to 14 January 2024.
