Society News and Night Sky Notes – January 2002 | Liverpool Astronomical Society

Happy New Year
Clear & Dark Skies For 2002

Society News Headlines

Jan 1st – Jupiter is at opposition.
Jan 2nd – Earth at Perihelion.
Jan 3rd – Quadrantids meteor shower max.
Jan 4th – Comet C/2001 T4(NEAT) perihelion (8.555AU).
Jan 5th – BAA Ordinary Meeting, Christmas Lecture & Lunch.
Jan 8th – Comet C/Macholz 1 at perihelion (0.124AU).
Jan 8th – Stephen Hawking’s 60th Birthday (1942).,br>
Jan 9th – Mercury passes 1.2° from Neptune.
Jan 11th – Eastern elongation of Mercury at 19°.
Jan 14th – Venus at superior conjunction.
Jan 17th – Galileo spacecraft’s 33rd flyby of Jupiter’s moon IO.
Jan 18th – Liverpool AS January 2002 monthly meeting.
Jan 18th – Comet Schwassmann-Wachmann 2 at perihelion (3.409AU).
Jan 22nd – Comet C/2000 WM1 (Linear) at perihelion (0.555AU).
Jan 24th – Moon occults Saturn (NOT SEEN FROM UK).
Jan 25th – LASSA Meeting at Leasowe Lighthouse – Wirral.
Jan 25th – Venus passes 1.3° from Neptune.
Jan 26th – Grazing lunar Occultation of Jupiter (link removed as URL is invalid) seen from Liverpool & NW UK.
Jan 26th – Graze track for NorthWest England.
Jan 26th – SPA Meeting, The Cockburn Theatre, St.Mary’s Hospital, Paddington. 14:30.
Jan 27th – Mercury at inferior conjunction.
Jan 27th – Comet P/2001 T3 (NEAT) at Perihelion (2.523 AU).
Jan 27th – 35th anniversary (1967) of Apollo 1 fire.
Jan 28th – Neptune is at solar conjunction.
Jan 28th – Comet Spacewatch at Perihelion (1.529 AU).

THE NIGHT SKY DURING THE MONTH OF JANUARY 2002

Will it be cloudy to-night?, ask the The U.K. Goverment Met Office Weather service.

The Night Sky as seen from Liverpool at any time, Click Here.

The Sun and Moon

All times are in Greenwich Mean Time (GMT) For Observer in Liverpool, Merseyside, England, U.K.

Latitude 53 degs 24 mins North.
Longitude +3.0 degs West.

            1st          6th        11th      16th      21st      26th        31st
SUNRISE    08:28        08:26      08:23     08:19     08:13     08:07       07:59
SUNSET     16:04        16:10      16:17     16:25     16:34     16:43       16:53

The Earth is at perihelion on the 2nd at a distance of 0.983289 Astronomical Units (1 Astronomical Unit is equivalent to 149.6 million Kilometres). Perihelion is the closest any body approaches the Sun. Its opposite is aphelion, when a body is furthest from the Sun in its orbit.

PHASES OF THE MOON DURING JANUARY 2002
NEW MOON on 13th at 13h:30m	FIRST QUARTER on 21st at 17h:48m	FULL MOON on 28th at 22h:52m	LAST QUARTER on 6th at 03h:56m

THE PLANETS THIS MONTH.

MERCURY.

Sky chart: Mercury in early January 2002

Mercury reaches inferior conjunction on the 27th but before then it is available for viewing in the evening sky between the 1st and the 26th, although it is more favourable between the 6th and 21st. There are no other planets around to guide you to Mercury but the Moon helps out a little by appearing at the scene on the 15th and 16th. On the 15th Mercury can be found just to the right of the crescent Moon. This table will also help you locate Mercury.

VENUS.

Venus is at superior conjunction on the 14th and is therefore not visible at this time.

MARS.

Mars sets at 22:22 at the end of the month and is therefore a purely evening object. During January Mars moves westward from Aquarius into Pisces. On the 18th the Moon is 6° South of Mars at 03:00

ASTEROIDS.

4 Vesta is still well placed in Taurus ay Mag 7.1 on the 1st Jan.
9 Metis is at opposition on the 13th Jan in Gemini near Castor & Pollux at mag 8.6.

For More information on Asteroids Click Here.

JUPITER.

Diagram: Jupiter-Lunar Grazing Occultation of January 26th, 2002
Computer simulated image by Guide 7.0 software.
With thanks to Dave Owen

Map of Graze Track. Graze at 18:00 UTC from Liverpool.

Jupiter is at opposition on the 1st and is visible all night which is fortunate for us as at approx 18:00UTC on the 26th a grazing occultation of Jupiter by the Moon is predicted. The diagram below shows this well whereby the Moon’s South pole just misses completely occulting the planet whilst lying in Gemini. Occultations used on this web site are calculated for the latitude and longitude of Liverpool, so if you live a great distance from this point you may see an actual occultation or no occultation at all. Grazes are interesting events as a high magnification view may show a planet or star “winking” on and off as it passes behind the Moon’s sharp contours. Planetary occultations are relatively rare, and grazing ones even rarer. Start observing before the time of the occultation to catch the approach.

Launched in October 1989, the Galileo Jupiter Probe entered orbit around the great planet on December 7th 1995. The Project Galileo Homepage will give you up-to-date information and the very latest images returned.

SATURN.

Saturn was at opposition late last year and is visible high up in the constellation of Taurus to the right of Jupiter. On the 14th Saturn passes 49′ north of epsilon Tauri whilst on the 24th the Moon passes a mere 56′ North of Saturn.

URANUS and NEPTUNE.

Both Uranus and Neptune are unfavourable with the latter at solar conjunction on the 28th when it lies directly behind the Sun as seen from the Earth. Both are unfavourable for observations until June.

PLUTO.

Pluto will be out of view until after April in morning skies.

METEORS.

January 3rd/4th Quadrantids ZHR is 80 per hour. (Unfavourable)

COMETS.

January 4th – Comet C/2001 T4 (NEAT) at Perihelion (8.555AU).
January 8th – Comet Machholz at Perihelion (0.124AU).
January 18th – Comet Schwassmann-Wachmann II at Perihelion (3.409AU).
January 22nd – Comet C/2000 WM1 at Perihelion (0.555AU).
January 28th – Comet Spacewatch at Perihelion (1.529AU).

Plus these pages will give daily and weekly reports of this and other Comets progress.

OCCULTATIONS.

Apart from the grazing event of Jupiter, detailed above, there are no really bright stars to be occulted in January apart from v (nu) Virginis which reappears from behind the Moon’s dark limb at 22:24 UTC on the 31st.