Monday 22nd to Sunday 28th January 2024
On the evening of Thursday 25th we have our first Full Moon of 2024. If you venture outside around 8pm, the Moon will be located towards the east, with the constellation of Orion to the south east. Below Orion will be the brightest star in the night sky, Sirius, that I talked about the other week.
This first Full Moon of the year is also known as a Wolf Moon, the name dating back to medieval times when it was thought that wolves howl at the full Moon. Funnily enough, there is some truth to the myth as when wolves howl to mark their territory, they look towards the night sky so that their heads are tilted upwards and the sound travels further!
Remember I am always warning about catching an accidental glimpse of the Sun in a telescope because it is very bright with a magnitude of around -26.0 and this would cause instant blindness. Well the Full Moon is a pretty bright target too - it has a magnitude of about -13.0 which is not enough to cause permanent damage, but it can be uncomfortable. Most astronomers will use something called a Neutral Density Filter in front of their eyepiece to make everything dimmer, but this only works for the Moon - a Neutral Density Filter is definitely NOT good enough to observe the Sun!
Planet Mars hasn't received much of a mention recently. Well if you are up at daybreak on Sunday 28th and look towards the south east around 7am, a magnitude -0.2 Mercury will have just risen above the horizon, with a magnitude +1.3 Mars just to the right of it. Venus will be further to the right and higher up. Please don't risk using that telescope, because the Sun will be rising directly behind them!
www.starsoversomerset.com
Screenshots courtesy of Stellarium
Copyright Adrian Dening and Radio Ninesprings 2024
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