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This is the Griffith Observatory Sky Report for the week ending Wednesday, January 18, 2012. Here is what’s happening in the skies of Southern California:
Russia’s doomed planetary probe, Phobos Grunt, will re-enter our atmosphere sometime this week. As of Tuesday, January 10, the predicted time is 12:30 a.m., P.S.T. on Sunday, January 15, give or take 36 hours. Updated predictions, likely to be of increasing accuracy as the re-entry draws closer, can be seen on the satellite re-entry page of Aerospace Corporation– http://reentrynews.aero.org. What little survives the fiery passage through the atmosphere is most likely to fall harmlessly into the ocean.
The moon begins to clear out of the evening sky by a longer amount each successive night. Its rising time advances from 7:57 p.m. on Wednesday the 11th, to 2:32 a.m. on the following Wednesday. The moon’s phase wanes from gibbous to last quarter on Monday morning, the 16th, and appears crescent on following mornings.
Venus and Jupiter are the brilliant evening planets. The brightest, Venus, can be seen in the southwest from sunset until it slips below the horizon at about 8 p.m. Jupiter, in Aries the Ram, starts the evening high in the south, and sets in the west-northwest after midnight. It is still well placed for public viewing at Griffith Observatory.
Telescope owners might want to attempt seeing the most distant solar system planet, Neptune, when it appears close to Venus on Friday night, January 13. The best time to look is at the end of astronomical twilight, which happens at 6:33 p.m. Neptune will then be 1.2 degrees to the northwest of Venus. Both planets may fit into a single eyepiece field of view at 40 power or less. Sunbathed Venus appears 55,000 times brighter and 5 times wider than the pale blue outer world.
Rust-orange Mars is in the western part of Virgo the Maiden, and rises in the east-southeast before 10:00 p.m. It is best placed for viewing, 63 degrees above the southern horizon, at about 4 a.m. Through a telescope, the planet appears 10 arcseconds wide, with its north polar cap tilted towards us. This week, the bright Tharsis region of the planet faces Los Angeles observers before dawn. The moon passes below Mars on the mornings of the 13th and 14th.
The planet Saturn and the star of similar brightness, Spica, of Virgo the Maiden, make a notable pair in the southeast until dawn after they rise at 12:40 a.m. A telescope will reveal Saturn’s rings, now open 13 degrees in our direction. The crescent moon passes below Saturn on the 16th.
The International Space Station will make a dawn pass over Southern California on Sunday, January 15, between 5:54 a.m. and 6:00 a.m., moving from southwest to northeast. The brilliant satellite will appear 84 degrees high in the northwest at 5:57 a.m., P.S.T., as seen from Griffith Observatory. Satellite viewing information for anywhere on earth is available from www.heavens-above.com.
Free public viewing of the sun during the day and of the moon, planets and other celestial objects at night, is available in clear weather, Wednesday through Sunday, with Griffith Observatory’s telescopes before 9:45 p.m. Check our website for our schedule. The next public star party of the Los Angeles Astronomical Society and the Sidewalk Astronomers is scheduled for Saturday, January 28.
The Sky Report is updated every Wednesday. It can be read-and now heard-on our website by following the Sky Information links. From Griffith Observatory, I’m Anthony Cook, and I can be reached at griffithobserver@gmail.com.