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This is the Griffith Observatory Sky Report through January 16, 2020. Here’s what’s happening in the skies of southern California.
Venus, the brightest planet, is the brilliant object blazing in the southwest sky after sunset. This week, Venus can be seen until it sets at about 8:00 p.m. Through a telescope, the planet shows a gibbous phase similar to that of the moon about four days away from full.
The moon is full on the 10th. On the following nights through the 16th, it is waning gibbous. Between the 9th and 16th, its visibility changes from being present nearly all night to rising at 10:51 p.m. on the 16th. The moon is in line with the bright stars Pollux and Castor in Gemini the Twins on the 10th, and it is north of Regulus, the brightest star of Leo the Lion, on the 12th.
Be sure to take a look at Orion the hunter, low in the east-southeast when darkness falls, and at its hightest in the south at 10:00 p.m. The bright orange-hued star Betelgeuse at upper left (northeast) edge of the big rectangle of stars that surround the Belt of Orion, is still unusually dim. Take note of what stars it matches in brightness, then compare them again in a few months. By then, using past observations a guide, Betelgeuse should resume a more normal level of brightness that is more than twice as bright as it now looks.
An attractive grouping of bright objects is currently visible low in the southeast sky at about 5:30 a.m. The brightest of them is orange Antares, the brightest star of Scorpius the Scorpion. The white stars above Antares mark the head of the mythological constellation, and the orange object closest to Antares is the planet Mars. The Roman god of war Mars was the equivalent to the Greek god Ares; the star Antares shares the same hue as Mars and its name means “Rival of Mars.”
Incidentally, the bright central star of the three marking the head of Scorpius (now located just above Mars), is designated as Delta Scorpii and named Dschubba. It closely matched the brightness of the two dimmer stars until June 2000, when it doubled in brightness and was revealed to be a variable star. Eventually, perhaps within decades, it will again fade to match the luminosity of its companions.
Orion and Scorpius, both contain bright orange stars, and the constellations are linked together in Greek and Roman mythology. According to legend, Scoripus stung and killed Orion, and the Olympian Gods commemorated both characters by placing them on opposite sides of the sky. As a result of this arrangement, the antagonists are never visible together.
The International Space Station will make a spectacular appearance over Los Angeles before dawn on the 12th. At 5:14 a.m. the space station will suddenly burst into view 64 degrees above the southeast horizon as it moves out of Earth’s shadow. It will move straight down to the horizon over the following three minutes.
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 from Tuesday through Sunday, before 9:30 p.m.
Check our website for the schedule. The next public star party on the grounds of Griffith Observatory, hosted by the Los Angeles Astronomical Society, the Sidewalk Astronomers, and the Planetary Society, will take place on Saturday, February 1st, between 2:00 p.m. and 9:30 p.m.
Follow The Sky Report, All Space Considered, and Griffith Observatory on Twitter for updates on astronomy and space-related events.
From Griffith Observatory, I’m Anthony Cook, and I can be reached at griffithobserver@gmail.com.