Monday 9th to Sunday 15th January 2023
On Monday 9th, we will have just gone past a Full Moon and the Moon's "libration" or slight wobble as it orbits around the Earth means that its southern polar region will be tilted slightly towards us - an ideal opportunity to hunt for some of the many craters on that part of its surface with your telescope. If you venture outside around 9pm on 9th, the Moon will have risen above the horizon to the east.
The last month has been a great time to observe Mars while it has been at its brightest and closest to the Earth. Things are changing now and although the coming week is still good to go looking for those elusive Martians, by Sunday 15th the planet will have dimmed to a magnitude of around -0.7 and will look slightly smaller in your eyepiece.
Curiously, on Thursday 12th, Mars reaches a stationary point in the sky. What on Earth does that mean! Planets don't stop moving! Up until the 12th, its motion has been "retrograde" meaning that each night its position has been shifting west against the background of stars. From Thursday, its motion will be "prograde", or in other words, moving east which is what you would normally expect. At 9pm on 12th, Mars will be located towards the south, between the constellation of Orion and the Pleiades open cluster of stars, a little above the bright star Aldebaran.
Remember that anytime this month is a good opportunity to spot comet C/2022 E3 ZTF that was only first-discovered last year. I provided some diagrams to help locate it last week and they are available at starsoversomerset.com throughout January. By Sunday 15th, the comet will have increased its magnitude to about +6.3 so it will almost be visible to the naked eye.
Screenshots courtesy of Stellarium
Copyright Adrian Dening and Radio Ninesprings 2023
www.starsoversomerset.com
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