PLANETS IN JANUARY

Press, Volume XCVI, Issue 28473, 31 December 1957, Page 3

PLANETS IN JANUARY

[Written for "The Press" by K. W. KOTH]

By the end of January no planet will be left visible in the evening sky. Venus, the evening star, which shone in full splendour at Christmas time, will rapidly decline in brightness and elevation in the western evening sky. It is closest to the earth on January 28, only 25m miles away, but unfortunately just then it is turning its illuminated side away from us like a new moon. At the middle of the month it is still visible, because of its very great intrinsic brightness, at and shortly after sunset. In February Venus will be a brilliant morning star. Observers in the. Northern Hemisphere will be able to see Venus both as evening star and morning star on the same day, on and about January 28. Through a telescope Venus appears at present as a very slender crescent of large diameter. The angle subtended is one minute oi arc, which is large enough to show Venus as a crescent even in small field glasses. The earth as seen from Venus would be a glorious sight indeed. It would appear seven to eight times as bright as Venus to us, and moreover it would be in the midnight sky. All the other planets are now in the morning sky. Mercury can be glimpsed, from about the middle of the month, one hour before sunrise as a bright star low in the east. Mars rises first two and a quarter hours, and at the end of the month three and a half hours before the sun, about 25 degrees south of due east. Being now some 200 m miles away, it is quite inconspicuous. However, it is quite easily located as it passes “through the constellation Scorpio in the course of the following weeks. At the beginning of January it is four degrees below Antares, just in the position where Saturn used to be found last spring. Saturn is not far off, but lower down. On January 24 these two planets will be seen together. Mars being three full moon discs higher than Saturn. Jupiter is also in the morning sky. It rises 15 degrees south of due east at 1 a.m., midnight, and 11.10 p.m., on January 1, 16, and 31 respectively. It will be comparable in brightness with Sirius, the brightest of all fixed stars.