What's Up? January 2025

Happy New year to one and all! It’s 2025 and to kick things off, January is a fantastic time of year for observing our night skies. Remember to wrap up warm though, as well as being one of the darkest months, it’s also one of the coldest! Brrrrrrr.

Constellations

The magnificent constellation of Orion continues to dominate the south facing sky this month. Although only the 26^th largest constellation (there are 88 of them visible from around the world), it is certainly one of the most recognizable due to the 3 bright stars in a line forming “Orion’s belt”. It’s amazing when you realize that the middle star of the “belt” (Alnilam) is more than twice as far away from us as the star on the left (Alnitak)! This is a very good example of how stars may look the same brightness but one may be so much brighter but much further away than the other! The famous Orion Nebulae (M42) can be seen below the belt as the middle “star” in Orion’s sword and is the closest star forming region to us located some 1500 light-years away. It can be seen with the naked eye but looks great through binoculars or a small telescope.

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Image credit: Stellarium.org

Up to the top left of Orion is the zodiacal constellation of Gemini, which is the Latin word for twins. It looks like 2 “stick” people holding hands and represents the twins Castor and Pollux. In Greek mythology, the twins were the sons of Leda, but they had different fathers. Castor’s father was Tyndareus, king of Sparta. Pollux’s father was none other than Zeus. The legend goes Castor’s cousins killed him while Pollux was an immortal demigod. Zues offered Pollux the choice of becoming immortal like his brother, and the 2 were forever cast into the sky. The constellation is dominated by its 2 main stars, aptly named Castor and Pollux. Castor is the fainter of the 2 and is nearly twice as far away from us as Pollux.

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Image credit: Stellarium.org

Object of the month: Mars

This January is a great month for observing the “red” planet as Mars lies in the opposite direction to the Sun in the sky on the 16^th, making it closer, brighter and larger than at other times. It is also optimally positioned to be observable for much of the night. Look for the copper colored (not red!) bright object in the sky within the constellation of Gemini which is mentioned above in the Constellations section. Of course, Mars is the only planet we currently know of in the Universe that is entirely inhabited by robots!

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Image credit: in-the-sky.org

Meteor Shower

3/4 January: Quadrantid meteor shower peak

The only meteor shower in January is the Quadrantids which peaks on the 4^th in the very early hours. With no Moon in the sky at that time to spoil the view, there could be as many as 120 meteors per hour making it one of the best showers of the year. The meteors normally appear bluish or yellowish-white in colour with fine tails. Don’t forget to make a wish!