{"id":862,"date":"2014-01-08T23:00:03","date_gmt":"2014-01-08T23:00:03","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.griffithmedia.org\/skyreport\/?p=862"},"modified":"2014-01-09T00:07:34","modified_gmt":"2014-01-09T00:07:34","slug":"griffith-observatory-sky-report-for-the-week-ending-wednesday-january-15-2014","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.griffithmedia.org\/skyreport\/2014\/01\/08\/griffith-observatory-sky-report-for-the-week-ending-wednesday-january-15-2014\/","title":{"rendered":"Griffith Observatory Sky Report for the week ending Wednesday, January 15, 2014"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/strong>LISTEN to this week\u2019s Sky Report<\/a><\/p>\n

This is the Griffith Observatory Sky Report for the week ending Wednesday, January 15, 2014. Here is what\u2019s happening in the skies of Southern California:<\/p>\n

Venus, the brightest planet, passes inferior conjunction\u2013 crossing the line between the earth and the sun\u2013on the 11th<\/sup>. Because the orbit of Venus is titled, Venus will pass 6\u02da north of the sun. Due of to the sun\u2019s glare, Venus will be difficult to observe until the 15th<\/sup>, when it might be found through binoculars a few degrees above the east-southeast horizon just before sunrise. In the meantime, Venus can be seen in the wide-angle coronagraph images<\/a> taken by NASA\u2019s Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO).<\/a><\/p>\n

The moon\u2019s phase waxes gibbous until it reaches full on Wednesday the 15th<\/sup>, and lights the sky almost all night long this week. Sunrise on China\u2019s Chang\u2019e 3 lander<\/i> and Yutu<\/i> rover will occur on the 11th<\/sup>. The robotic probes should then resume their exploration of the moon\u2019s Mare Imbrium, the Sea of Rains.<\/p>\n

The planet Jupiter, in Gemini the Twins, gleams brilliantly all night. It becomes visible in the east-northeast shortly after sunset and passes nearly overhead at 11:30 p.m. After that, Jupiter gradually descends and sets in the west-northwest at dawn. A telescope can be used to see the planet\u2019s storms and clouds, including the Great Red Spot. The Great Red Spot will be visible at 9:00 p.m. on January 9th<\/sup>, 12th<\/sup>, and 14th<\/sup>. The moon comes within 5 degrees of Jupiter on the 14th<\/sup>.<\/p>\n

Orange planet Mars is best seen at dawn when it appears 51 degrees high in the south. Through a telescope at high power, the planet is just close enough to see dusky markings on its ochre-hued disk. Mars will appear more than twice as large as it does now when it is closest to earth in mid-April.<\/p>\n

Golden planet Saturn, in Libra the Scales, appears equal to Mars in brightness, and is 30\u02da to the left of Mars and in the southeast at dawn. A telescope will show the northern face of its magnificent ring system tilted 22 degrees from edge-on.<\/p>\n

Free views of the sun during the day and of the moon, planets, and other celestial objects at night, are available to the public in clear weather through Griffith Observatory\u2019s telescopes Tuesday-Sunday before 9:30 p.m. Check our website for our schedule. The next public star party on the grounds of\u00a0Griffith Observatory, hosted by the Los Angeles Astronomical Society, the Sidewalk Astronomers, and the Planetary Society, will take place on Saturday, January 11.<\/p>\n

From Griffith Observatory, I\u2019m Anthony Cook and I can be reached at griffithobserver@gmail.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

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 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

LISTEN to this week\u2019s Sky Report This is the Griffith Observatory Sky Report for the week ending Wednesday, January 15, 2014. Here is what\u2019s happening in the skies of Southern California: Venus, the brightest planet, passes inferior conjunction\u2013 crossing the … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-862","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\/862","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\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.griffithmedia.org\/skyreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=862"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.griffithmedia.org\/skyreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/862\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":868,"href":"https:\/\/www.griffithmedia.org\/skyreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/862\/revisions\/868"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.griffithmedia.org\/skyreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=862"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.griffithmedia.org\/skyreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=862"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.griffithmedia.org\/skyreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=862"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}