Welcome to the University of Texas Skywatchers Report for Tuesday January 2 through Sunday January 7.
The moon is at third quarter late on the night of Wednesday the 3rd, so we’ll start 2024 with a waning gibbous moon and then have a waning crescent moon for the second half of the first week of the year.
Saturn is in the southwest as the sky darkens after sunset and is setting at 9:35 p.m. at midweek.
Jupiter is very high in the south after sunset and is setting at 2:25 a.m. at midweek.
Venus is very bright in the pre-dawn skies and is rising at 4:45 a.m. Mercury follows at 5:50 a.m. and Mars rises at 6:35 a.m., now about an hour before sunrise.
The Earth is at perihelion, its closest point to the sun in its orbit, late on January 2nd when it will be 147.1 million kilometers away from our parent star. Compare this to its farthest point, known as aphelion, at 152.1 million kilometers which occurs in early July.
The Quadrantid meteor shower peaks on the night of January 3rd into the morning of the 4th and this year it will have some interference from the third quarter moon that rises a bit after midnight. The meteors will appear to come from a point not far from the handle of the Big Dipper and are thought to be caused by the Earth passing through the orbital debris of an asteroid discovered in 2003 which itself may be an extinct comet. This shower can sometimes produce around 100 meteors an hour, but they are often faint, so the moonlight may wash out many this year.
In space anniversaries this week, Wednesday January 3rd marks 20 years since the Mars Rover Spirit landed on the Red Planet. The rover operated on the Martian surface for over six years when contact was lost after its battery failed in early 2010.
Spring 2024 semester public viewing on UT campus telescopes will resume soon. Please check back for details on starting dates and times.
Thank you for calling the University of Texas Skywatchers Report.
