SEMass Astro Podcast Jan 12-19, 2007

Welcome to the Southeast Massachusetts Astronomy Almanac for the week beginning Friday, January 12, 2007. The Sun rises just after 7 am and sets just after 4:30 pm making slightly more than 9 and a half hours of sunlight. The noon Sun lingers at about 26 degrees above the southern horizon. At the end of the week, the Sun appears to move from the constellation of Sagittarius into Capricornus as the Earth keeps up its continuous motion around the Sun.

The Waning Crescent Moon moves away from the star Spica in Virgo, both seen in the predawn sky. On the morning of Monday January 15^th a thin crescent Moon is near the star Antares in Scorpius with bright Jupiter slightly above them. Thursday January 18^th will have no nighttime moon because of the Moon is between the Earth and Sun. Because this New Moon occurs close to midnight, you might see a VERY thin Waning Crescent Moon just before sunrise on the 18^th and a VERY thin Waxing Crescent Moon just after sunset on the 19^th (depending on weather and your observing location). As the Moon moves into the evening sky, it will be close to Venus, very bright, just after sunset on Saturday January 20^th.

The evening is showing the brightest nighttime star, Sirius, in the southeast. Above to the right are the three stars of Orion’s belt, his right shoulder (Betelgeuse) and left foot (Rigel). Farther up to the right is the star Aldebaran, in the “V”-shaped face of Taurus the bull. Overhead is Capella in Auriga, the charioteer. Above Orion are the stars in the heads of Gemini the twins, Pollux and Castor. Heading back to Sirius, you pass the star Procyon in the lesser dog. Saturn and the star Regulus, both in Leo, are low in the east by 8 pm.

The International Space Station appears in the morning sky later this week. The brightest will be Tuesday, it moves through overhead at about 6:15 am moving from the SW to the NE. On Wednesday, it moves left to right through the north highest at 6:37 am. The ISS appears to move out of the Earth’s shadow and disappear in the northeast, starting at 5:24 am on Thursday the 18^th in the northeast and 5:45 am on Friday the 19^th in north-northwest.

If you have been hearing about the new bright comet, it has been very close to the Sun and hard to see in the dawn and sunset sky. Check information and photographs of Comet McNaught at the spaceweather.com website.

Special thanks to the support of South Shore Astronomical Society of Norwell and the Plymouth Public Schools. The Blake Planetarium is running its “ ‘tis the Season “ program at 7 pm on Tuesdays and Thursdays for January. Have a good week and keep watching the sky.