SKYWATCH

January 1996

By Steve Stefanik

Even though the Summer Triangle formed by the three bright stars Deneb (in Cygnus the Swan), Altair (in Aquilla the eagle), and Vega (in Lyra) can still be seen above the southwestern horizon at nightfall, winter has arrived both astronomically and meteorologically. The dome on the roof of my observarory looks like an igloo. I've had to unbury it twice already by climbing up there with a shovel. Although the number of daylight hours is now getting longer the snow depths are getting deeper. I wonder if we will have a Spring this year? That will be O.K. though, I hate mud!

During the first couple of weeks of the month Mercury has a great apparation above the southwestern horizon 45 minutes after sundown. It moves behind the sun on the 18th.

However, Venus and Saturn dominate the southwestern sky in the latter half of the month. Look for the pair of planets inching closer and closer to one another as the evenings pass until they are in conjunction (within one degree) on February 2nd. Venus is the brilliant -4.0 magnitude "star" you see in the west as the sun sets. Saturn is the somewhat dimmer +1.2 butterscotch "star" above and to the left of it. A slim waxing crescent moon joins the pair on the evenings of the 21st through the 23rd.

The stalwart winter constellation Orion the hunter stands prominently above the southern horizon this time of year. Betelgeuse the red Supergiant is at the upper left, Bellatrix is at the upper right, Rigel is to the lower right, and Saiph is to the lower left. The three bright blue evenly spaced stars in a row are his belt with three somewhat dimmer stars hanging from it is his scabbard. Lower and to the left of Orion is the most brilliant star in the northern sky, Sirius (magnitude -1.5) the "dog star" in the constellation Canis Major (the large dog). Canis Minor (the little dog) is lower and to the left.

The constellation Taurus the bull rises early in the eastern sky these nights marked by the brilliant red "eye" of the star Aldebaran among a cluster of small dim blue-white stars (the Hyades) which make up the head of the bull. Protruding diagonally from the cluster are two lines of stars which form a huge "V" which depict the horns of the bull. A waxing bibbous moon passes right through this cluster of stars on the evening of the 29th. Through a pair of binoculars you'll be able to see the moon's leading edge cover up or occult many of these stars.