Saturn’s Rings Soon to Be Spectacle in Evening Sky: Winter Nights Also Offer Views of Some of the Brightest Stars
By Carlos Byars, Houston Chronicle
Jan. 2–The brilliant planet Venus returns to the evening sky this month, appearing low in the southwest shortly after sunset.
Venus climbs higher in the sky each week until the end of January when it is visible for nearly an hour after sunset.
Little Mercury also appears in the evening sky during the last week of January. Look for the planet with binoculars to the lower right of Venus.
Saturn also graces the evening sky, rising in the east and climbing higher throughout the night only to set at dawn.
The planet is approaching opposition, a point directly opposite the sun, in February, making this an excellent time to study Saturn’s rings and moons. Even small telescopes reveal many details of this beautiful planet.
Jupiter rises in the southeast around 4 a.m. On Jan. 15, the giant planet will form a tight group with the crescent moon and the bright star Antares.
Mars rises in the southeast just ahead of the sun.
The night sky of winter is graced by some of the brightest stars in the sky.
The brightest star of all is Sirius, which lies low in the southeast in the constellation Canis Major. Sirius is 20 times as bright as the sun and is relatively close. The star is only 8.6 light-years (50 trillion miles) away. Higher in the eastern sky is the star Procyon in the constellation Canis Minor. Procyon is a little brighter than the sun, but also rather close.
The biggest of all the big red stars is Betelgeuse, the star that marks the shoulder of Orion the hunter. Betelgeuse is high in the south and, with Sirius and Procyon, makes the Winter Triangle.
More distant, but brighter, is the double star Rigel. Rigel is the brightest star in Orion and marks the figure’s left foot. Rigel, 55,000 times brighter than the sun, is one of the brightest stars known. But, Rigel is a distant 900 light-years away. Both parts of Rigel are blue-white.
Between Betelgeuse and Rigel are the three stars of the Orions belt and the stars of his sword. The “fuzzy” spot in Orion’s sword is no star but the great Orion nebula, where new stars are being born.
North of Orion, in line with the three stars of the belt, is the distinct “V” of Taurus, with the reddish star Aldebaran marking the eye of the bull. Aldebaran is a bloated, red giant, a smaller version of Betelgeuse.
The V-shaped cluster of stars in Taurus has been known since antiquity as the Hyades. Aldebaran is not a member of the Hyades, however. This giant star is less than half as far away.
Just above and west of the Hyades are the Pleiades, or Seven Sisters, the brightest and most distinctive star cluster in the sky. While six or seven stars in the shape of a tiny dipper are visible on clear nights to the unaided eye, the cluster has at least 100 stars spread over an area of four full moons.
For questions or comments on the Environment, Science & Space page, contact matthew.schwartz@chron.com
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