Monday 8th to Sunday 14th January 2024
At daybreak on the morning of Tuesday 9th there is the chance to see Mercury and Venus forming a triangle with a dimly-lit 6% Crescent Moon. Look towards the south east around 7am.
Mercury will be shining at a magnitude of around -0.1 while above and to right of it, Venus will be easy to find with a magnitude of -3.9
To the right and lower than Mercury, a hard-to-spot Moon will have just risen above the horizon. Further again to the right will be one of the brighter stars in the night sky - the red supergiant Antares.
The star is about twelve times the mass of our own Sun and is so large that if it was placed at the centre of our Solar System, the star would swallow up everything out to as far as Jupiter!
I'll repeat my usual warning about using a telescope or binoculars for this observing opportunity. The Sun will be rising in the same direction and you must never risk catching even the briefest glimpse of it in any optical instrument because it would cause instant and permanent blindness!
If you would like to learn more about the night sky, I'm holding the next of my talks at the Ham Hill Visitor Centre on the evening of Friday 26th January. Booking is via the Visit South Somerset website and I have provided a direct link to the booking page below:
https://www.visitsouthsomerset.com/events/nature-and-wildlife/astronomy-evening-at-ham-hill-country----january.htm
www.starsoversomerset.com
Screenshots courtesy of Stellarium
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