January 2000

by Steve Stefanik

The coincidental occurance of the moon reaching perigee (closest approach of the moon in its orbit around the Earth) and the Earth reaching perihelion (closest aproach of the Earth in its orbit around the sun) provided us with an unusually brilliant and unnaturally large full moon last month.

The full moon which will occur on the night of January 20, 2000 in the first month of the NOT "new millenium" (because everyone should know that there was no year "0" therefore Y2K is the last year of the first millenium) will be totally eclipsed by the Earth’s shadow. So therefore, this will be the last total lunar eclipse of the century and first millenium.

Totality will begin at about 10:00 p.m. EST when the "first bite" will be taken out of the full moon’s left leading edge. Over the course of the following hour or so, the brightly illuminated surface of the moon will become enshrouded by a deep red-orange mask until finally reaching totality at 11:05 p.m. Mid-eclipse will occur at 11:44 and then the process will reverse itself slowly unmasking the face of the moon so that by 12:22 a.m. totality will be over.

The first total lunar eclipse of the "new millenium" won’t occur until January 9, 2001 in Europe!

The first month of the new year will host four visible planets to the naked eye. First of all is the planet Mars low in the southwest as night falls. Look for the red-orange +1.1 magnitude sphere among the sparse region of stars in the constellation Aquarius before it sets by 9:00 p.m. A slim crescent moon passes by it on the evening of the 10th.

The easiest planet to spot is of course Jupiter. At -2.5 magnitude its the brilliant star-like object high in the western sky each evening. It sets around mid-night.

The third evening planet to see is Saturn. It trails to the left of Jupiter. Although it is considerably dimmer than Jupiter at +0.3 magnitude it is big enough to see easily. It sets an hour later than Jupiter.

The fourth and final planet visible rises about 5:00 a.m. You can’t miss the brilliant -4.1 magnitude planet Venus low in the southeastern sky before sunrise.

The winter constellations of Orion, Taurus, Canis Major and Minor are setting in the west by then while the spring and summer constellations of Gemini, Cancer, and Leo Major are rising in the east. Sure signs that spring is not that far away.