Looking Up! What’s in the Wombourne Night Sky in January 2023

These astronomy notes for Wombourne are published courtesy of Wombourne Scientific & Natural History Society and are written by John Smith.

The Moon 
On the 1 st of the month from 10.15p.m. onwards
The moon will occult the planet Uranus. On the 3 rd the brilliant
Red star above the moon is Mars. On the 4 th the Earth is at it’s closest point to the sun (perihelion) at 147 million Km. It moves on and by the 8 th is near Praesepe (M44 The beehive cluster) and on the 9th &10th it is near the
star Regulus (alpha Leonis).

On the 14 th it is near the star Spica (alpha Virginis ) The 21 st brings in the new moon and it is near the planets Venus and Saturn on the 22 nd and 23 rd . On the 25 th it can be found near Jupiter and at 3.19 p.m.
on the 28 th it is a first quarter moon. It moves near to the Pleiades
star cluster on the 29 th while on the 30 th it is near Mars, the Pleiades and Aldebaran (alpha Taurus)

Planets
Venus at magnitude -3.9 in the south west shines brighter than
any star or planet and will be in the dusk sky until July moving up toward Saturn which is at magnitude 0.8 in Capricornus (The Goat) Saturn iss at magnitude 0.8 in the constellation of Capricornus ( The Goat), and on the 22 nd it passes under Saturn, both planets setting around 6.30 p.m.

Jupiter
Is higher up in the south in Pisces (The Fish) and it is bright
At magnitude -2.3, it sets at around 10.30p.m. The moon is close to it on the 25th 

Mars
Lies among the stars of Taurus near to it’s alpha star Aldebaran
And the Pleiades star cluster. It is fainter than Jupiter fading from
magnitude -1.2 at the start of January to -0.3 by the month’s end.

Uranus
Is in Aries (The Ram) it sets around 2.30 a.m. It is more easily
found on the 1 st when it is next to the moon.

Neptune
At magnitude 7.9 is not visible to the naked eye, it is between
Aquarius and Pisces , setting around 9.30 p.m.

Mercury
Can be found in the morning sky during the second half of the
month very low in the south east before sunrise, it is at it’s largest
separation from the sun on the 30 th .

Other Events
On the 1st optical aid will show the moon move in front of
Uranus, unfortunately though I think we may be a bit to far north to see it.

On the night of the 3 rd and 4 th it is the peak of the Quadrantid meteor
shower but on this occasion it will be spoilt by the bright moon.
On the 22 nd Venus lies only 22 arc minutes below Saturn.
On the 23 rd after sunsat low in the south is the thinnest crescent moon which forms an interesting group with Venus and Saturn
On the 30 th Mars lies above the moon with Aldebaran to the left and The Pleiades to the lower right.