Sky for the Month

Sky for January to March

The Moon

There are two blue moons this year, occurring in January and March. This happens 4 or 5 times every century. For more information on this topic consult the Astronomy 2010 Yearbook. These are available from the Ballarat Observatory. Members enjoy a 20% discount. The full Moon in January is when the moon will be closest over this period.

Moon phases and distances for January to March 2010.
The Moon times are AEST unless otherwise stated.

Planet rise and set times on 1st January at 20:00hrs AEST, add 1 hr for daylight saving.

Northward equinox

21 Mar at 3:33

Sun

The Sun remains relatively quiet sunspot wise, with a few small spots in the scale of sunspot activity.

Mercury

An early evening object in January and by Mid March becomes a morning object again. Mercury reaches west elongation on the 27th January.

Venus

Becomes an evening object by mid January, and remains so during this 3 month period. The diameter slowly increases as Venus comes inside the orbits of Earth and the Sun.

Mars

Hardy observers will catch Mars in the early hours of the morning and by the beginning of February Mars will become an evening object. Closest approach of Mars occurs on the 28th January when it will be 99.2 million km away from Earth, nearly 2 times further away than the close approach in 2003. The next very close approach will be on 27th July 2018 when Mars will be 57.5 million km away. Mark it in your forward diary, this is part of a roughly 15.8 year cycle of favourable oppositions.

Jupiter

Now an early evening object and by late February becomes a morning object. On the 7th January Jupiter will be a low object in the West and you are invited come along to the Observatory to celebrate with our special guest 'Galileo Galilei' as we share an evening meal at 6pm and then listen to Galileo speak about his experiences concerning his great observations of Jupiter on this date 400 years ago, at 7pm. Costs are on our website and on the events pages.It will be a fun evening to mark this great milestone in history and in the understanding of our solar system.

Saturn

Is a late evening object at the beginning of January and by late February is setting just after the Sun. On a good seeing night and viewing with a reasonably sized telescope, you may be able to see the rings separation from the body of Saturn as the planet slowly leans away from Earth revealing the detail of the rings again. Best viewing of Saturn will be on the 22nd March at opposition.

Major Meteor Showers

Alpha Centaurids - 28th Jan to 20th Feb
Peak: 8th Feb
No/hr: 6 -30

The attached map shows the central point ACE of the radiant of this shower, just below Agena, (beta centauri).