{"id":2953,"date":"2023-01-03T23:58:43","date_gmt":"2023-01-03T23:58:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.griffithmedia.org\/skyreport\/?p=2953"},"modified":"2023-01-03T23:58:43","modified_gmt":"2023-01-03T23:58:43","slug":"griffith-observatory-sky-report-through-january-2023","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.griffithmedia.org\/skyreport\/2023\/01\/03\/griffith-observatory-sky-report-through-january-2023\/","title":{"rendered":"Griffith Observatory Sky Report through January, 2023<\/strong>"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Click<\/strong><\/a>LISTEN to this week\u2019s Sky Report<\/p>\nhttps:\/\/www.griffithmedia.org\/skyreport\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/Jan_2023_Sky_Report.mp3<\/a><\/audio>\n

This is the Griffith Observatory Sky Report for the period between January 1 and January 31, 2023. Here are the events happening in the sky of southern California.<\/p>\n

Mercury<\/strong> starts January in the evening sky. Look for the planet low in the southwest just after sunset. On the 1st<\/sup>, the sun sets at 4:55 p.m., PST, and Mercury sets at 5:51 p.m., PST. From the 5th<\/sup> through the 14th<\/sup>, Mercury is close to the sun and not observable. On the 31st<\/sup>, Mercury rises at 5:51 a.m., PST, and the sun rises at 6:51 a.m., PST. Do not observe any planet when it comes close to the sun, for the danger to the eyes is great.<\/p>\n

Venus<\/strong> is in the evening sky, low in the southwest. On the 1st<\/sup>, Venus sets at 6:12 p.m., PST. By the 31st<\/sup>, the sun sets at 5:22 p.m., PST, and Venus sets at 7:17 p.m., PST. Venus is in a wide gibbous phase, only 11 arcseconds across.<\/p>\n

Mars<\/strong> is in Taurus the Bull and is visible all evening. It starts the night in the east and sets at 4:52 a.m., PST, on January 1 and at 3:00 a.m., PST, on the 31st<\/sup>. Mars is a disk 11 arcseconds wide and 92-percent illuminated.<\/p>\n

Jupiter<\/strong> is in Pisces the Fishes and is visible most of the evening. It begins the evening high in the south. On the 1st<\/sup>, Jupiter sets at 11:15 p.m., PST. On the 31st<\/sup>, Jupiter sets at 9:39 p.m., PST. Jupiter is 36 arcseconds wide. A telescope capable of magnification 50x will show the Red Spot, and the four bright Galilean moons may be seen moving back and forth, roughly in a line centered on Jupiter.<\/p>\n

Saturn<\/strong> is low in the southwest and ending its appearance in the evening sky. On the 1st<\/sup>, Saturn sets at 8:09 p.m., PST. By the 31st<\/sup>, Saturn sets at 6:27 p.m., PST, an hour after the sun sets.\u00a0 The rings and Saturn\u2019s largest moon Titan may be seen with a telescope capable of magnification 50x.<\/p>\n

Uranus<\/strong> is in the constellation of Aries the Ram and is observable most of the night. On the 1st<\/sup>, Uranus sets at 2:49 a.m., PST. On the 31st<\/sup>, the planet sets at 12:50 a.m., PST. On the 15th<\/sup>, Uranus is at Right Ascension 2h<\/sup> 50m<\/sup> 26s<\/sup> with a declination of +15\u00b0 59\u02b9 25\u02ba. Uranus is only 3.6 arcseconds wide, and so a telescope with a magnification of 150x is needed to show its diminutive disk.<\/p>\n

Neptune<\/strong> is in the constellation Aquarius the Water Bearer and is observable during early evening. On the 1st<\/sup>, Neptune sets at 10:35 p.m., PST. On the 31st<\/sup>, the planet sets at 8:40 p.m., PST. On the 15th<\/sup>, Neptune is at Right Ascension 23h<\/sup> 36m<\/sup> 41s<\/sup> with a declination of -3\u00b0 48\u02b9 19\u02ba. Neptune is only 2.3 arcseconds wide, and so a telescope with a magnification of 150x is needed to show the disk.<\/p>\n

Full moon occurs on the 6th<\/sup>, last quarter on the 14th<\/sup>, new moon on the 21st<\/sup>, and first quarter on the 28th<\/sup>.<\/p>\n

SPECIAL EVENTS<\/strong><\/p>\n

The moon begins an occultation of Mars<\/strong> at 8:36 p.m., PST, on January 30. Mars will take one minute to disappear behind the moon. The planet emerges from behind the moon at 9:30 p.m., PST, and will take a minute to reappear fully. Griffith Observatory will host a web broadcast, weather permitting, but no public viewing.<\/p>\n

Lunar-X<\/strong> is a feature caused by the raised rims of a few craters. It is visible for a few hours from 4:37 p.m., PST, on the 28th<\/sup>. It is visible along the lunar terminator, the line between the lighted portion of the moon and the dark portion. The feature is not visible with the unaided eye but requires binoculars or a small telescope. Lunar-X is just within the dark portion to the east of the terminator and halfway from the center of the terminator to its southernmost point.\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

The Quadrantid meteor shower<\/strong> will peak on the night of the 3rd<\/sup> and through the morning of the 4th<\/sup>. The moon will be 92-percent full and will interfere with observations. The peak usually only lasts six hours and may produce 100 meteors per hour.<\/p>\n

Follow\u00a0All Space Considered<\/a> and\u00a0Griffith Observatory<\/a> on Twitter for updates on astronomy and space-related events.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

LISTEN to this week\u2019s Sky Report https:\/\/www.griffithmedia.org\/skyreport\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/Jan_2023_Sky_Report.mp3 This is the Griffith Observatory Sky Report for the period between January 1 and January 31, 2023. Here are the events happening in the sky of southern California. Mercury starts January in the … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2953","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-skyreport"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.griffithmedia.org\/skyreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2953","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.griffithmedia.org\/skyreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.griffithmedia.org\/skyreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.griffithmedia.org\/skyreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.griffithmedia.org\/skyreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2953"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.griffithmedia.org\/skyreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2953\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2961,"href":"https:\/\/www.griffithmedia.org\/skyreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2953\/revisions\/2961"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.griffithmedia.org\/skyreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2953"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.griffithmedia.org\/skyreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2953"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.griffithmedia.org\/skyreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2953"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}