Night sky for January

By SPP Reporter

Published: 15:26, 06 January 2012

| Updated: 15:32, 06 January 2012

VENUS, Jupiter, Mars and Saturn grace January’s night sky.

The night sky constellation view is for 10pm on 1st, 9pm on 15th,and 8pm on 31st January

For those learning the night sky it can help if you orientate yourself with respect to the cardinal points.

This is particularly true if you are using a sky chart such as the one reproduced above. If you know

which way north is you can then sort out the remaining cardinals. You can use a compass to find

north and if you’re in a known location, say at home, use it to set a north marker like a house or

prominent tree. If using the star method, look for Ursa Major (the Great Bear) and follow the 2 righthand

stars (that form the Plough or saucepan) called the pointers up to Polaris. The other red arrows on the sky chart are used to work from one constellation to another and these are explained in the text below.

From the Plough, following a line through the pointers and Polaris we come to the distinctive ‘W’ of Cassiopeia. The star at the centre of the W is Cas with the star at the bottom of the left-hand V, Cas forming a line pointing to Perseus. Below Perseus you’ll find the distinctive V of the face of

Taurus (the Bull), the bottom tip of the V marked by Aldebaran, a distinctive red/ orange giant representing the bloodshot eye of the bull. The V is a genuine open cluster of stars called the

Hyades, the second closest cluster to us at some 150 light years distance. Above and to the right of the Hyades is the more-famous cluster of the Pleiades or Seven Sisters, though there are actually some 500 stars in the group.

Below Taurus the familiar shape of Orion is now well up in the sky soon after sunset and is probably the most recognised constellation. Betelgeuse ( Ori), a red super giant reportedly close in astronomical terms to going supernova, marks Orion’s right shoulder. Rigel ( Ori), marking the left foot, is a complete contrast to Betelgeuse as it’s a blue extreme super giant some 50,000 times as bright as our Sun, but Orion’s jewel is Messier 42 the great Orion Nebula.

You can use Orion to find a number of constellations. A line from Rigel through Betelgeuse points towards Gemini. A line up from the belt stars points to Taurus, and through Aldebaran to the

Pleiades. A line down through Orion’s belt points to Canis Major and Sirius.

But there are other ways to find constellations. By returning to Perseus you’ll find to the south and east the distinctive pentagon of stars of Auriga (the Charioteer); its main star, Capella, is one of the brightest in the northern hemisphere. Below Auriga lies Gemini (the Twins) with its matched star pair of Castor and Pollux easy to spot. If you can’t remember which is which, C comes before P in the alphabet so Castor is above Pollux.

To the east of Orion, and often overlooked is the faint constellation of Monoceros, the Unicorn. To the north is Gemini and Canis Minor with Cmi – Procyon, and to its south is Canis Major with Cma - Sirius. Cancer, the Crab, and the faintest of the zodiacal constellations can be found by looking between Castor and Pollux in Gemini and Regulus (the bottom star of the sickle) in Leo.

Going back to Cassiopeia, the right-hand V points like an arrowhead and the tip of the V is Cas (Schedar). If we follow the V we come to Andromeda and below is the small constellation Triangulum, which is not particularly inspiring. To the right of Andromeda is Pegasus the mythical winged horse of Bellerophon. Pegasus and Andromeda are linked at And (Alpheratz or Sirrah).

Below Pegasus is the faint constellation of Pisces (the Fish) and to the right of this Aquarius. You can also use the Square of Pegasus to find Cetus (the Sea Monster), by following the left-hand stars down through Pisces to Ceti (Deneb Kaitos), the brightest star in the constellation.

Returning to Pegasus, the legs of and head of Pegasus point towards Cygnus and Lyra. The principle stars of Deneb and Vega respectively marking the top of the Summer Triangle, with Aquila now down below the horizon soon after sunset.

A line from Deneb through Vega will take you to Hercules, and its distinctive keystone of stars.

The Moon

First Quarter

Full Moon

Last Quarter

New Moon

1 Jan