04/01/2024
In the Sky: January
Jupiter will be the standout observing opportunity throughout January. Shining high in the South in the early to mid evenings, it will be very easy to spot as it's by far the brightest object in that part of the sky. Definitely worth a look with a telescope or binoculars. Its four brightest moons will be easily visible as a line of bright points around the planet. They move very quickly so if you sketch them one night, they will be in a totally different pattern the next. Through a telescope, the movement is even noticeable from hour to hour. If you're using binoculars, try putting them on a tripod or leaning them against a window frame to keep them steady. It will make spotting the moons much easier.
The distinctive constellation of Orion will also be prominent in the South and this will serve as a good signpost for our observing recommendation for January, the open cluster M37. Also called the January Salt and Pepper Cluster, M37 is a bright and very pretty collection of about 500 stars 4500 light years away in the constellation of Auriga. The brightest star in Auriga, Capella is very easy to spot, but the rest of the constellation is quite dim and unremarkable so it's not a constellation most people recognise. Around 9pm, Capella will be almost directly above the constellation of Orion in the south and should be easy to find. Once you have Capella, see if you can spot the oval of stars below it that make up the rest of Auriga. M37 is just outside the main oval to the lower left and should look like a sparking patch of stars in binoculars.
As it happens, there are quite a few star clusters within the oval of stars making up Auriga. See if you can spot M36 and M38 too. They're not quite as bright as M37 but should still be easy to find. See if you think they look anything like a pinwheel or a starfish, as that what they've been nicknamed!
Looking further into 2024, there will be both a solar and a lunar eclipse later in the year, but unfortunately neither will amount to much. It will come as no surprise to UK observers that the solar eclipse won't be visible here โ they seldom are โ but this one has managed to completely avoid almost every land mass on Earth, so unless you're on a ship mid Pacific, you're out of luck. The lunar eclipse will be visible from the UK but it's only a partial eclipse and only the very edge of the Earth's shadow will graze the moon, so it will be exceedingly underwhelming!
Tim Wetherell