LISTEN to this week’s Sky Report
This is the Griffith Observatory Sky Report for the week ending Wednesday, January 16, 2013. Here is what’s happening in the skies of Southern California:
Jupiter, in Taurus the Bull, is ideally placed for viewing from the early evening until after midnight. The brilliant yellow planet is highest in the sky, crossing the meridian 76 degrees above the southern horizon, at about 8:30 p.m. Steadily held binoculars may reveal Jupiter’s four largest moons. A telescope will show details of the planet’s weather patterns and storms, including the Great Red Spot.
Planet Saturn, in Libra the Scales, is more than 30˚ above the southeast horizon at the start of dawn (5:30 a.m.). A telescope will show the north face of its rings tilted 19˚ in our direction.
The waning crescent moon can be seen before sunrise until Thursday the 10th, and appears that morning to the lower left of the brilliant planet Venus. The moon is new on the 11th. In waxing crescent phase, the moon emerges into evening twilight on Saturday, the 12th. On Tuesday the 15th, the rarely seen lunar feature known as Mare Australe–the Southern Sea– will be favorably tilted toward earth to the delight of telescopic observers. That night, Mare Australe will be located at the bottom edge of the illuminated crescent as seen from earth’s Northern Hemisphere. The moon will be one of the objects featured during the evening portion of the public star party at Griffith Observatory on Saturday, the 19th.
The International Space Station will make an early morning pass over Los Angeles on Friday, the 11th. The ISS is scheduled to cross the sky from southwest to northeast between 5:43 and 5:49 a.m., P.S.T., and–as seen from Griffith Observatory–will pass just 8 degrees to the northwest of the zenith at 5:46 a.m. Observers should check the Heavens-Above web site for updated positions and for viewing information for locations other than Los Angeles.
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’s telescopes Wednesday-Sunday before 9:30 p.m. Check our website for our schedule.
From Griffith Observatory, I’m Anthony Cook and I can be reached at griffithobserver@gmail.com.