Astronomical phenomena January 2014

Calendar with astronomical events of January. This month, as important events are on January 2 Quadrantids meteors, on January 5th when Jupiter will be at opposition and on January 23, when the Moon will be close to Spica in the night sky, and to Saturn, on January 25 .

01 january 2014 - New Moon. Moon will be directly between the Earth and the Sun and will not be visible from Earth. This phase occurs at 13:14 GMT +2.

02, 03 january 2014 - Quadrantids. Quadrantid meteor shower, get to have up to 40 meteors per hour, usually on 3 and 4 January, but may be visible on 1-5 January. The highest rate of meteors per hour took place in 1932 (80/ hour). The best time for observations is a dark place after midnight. Meteors radiate from the constellation Bootes, close to the North Star.The source of this meteor shower was unknown until December 2003 when Peter Jenniskens of the Ames Research Center (NASA) found evidence that meteoroids come from 2003 EH1 , an “asteroid”, which is probably a piece of a comet which collapsed 500 years ago.

03 january 2014- Mars at aphelion. The planet will be at its farthest point from the Sun at 02:00 GMT +2.

12 january 2014 -Aldebaran 2.6 ° S of Moon at 10:36 GMT +2.

23 january 2014 - Spica 1.3 ° S of Moon at 11:22 GMT +2.

24 january 2014 - Venus at perihelion. The planet will be at its closest point to the Sun at 06:00 GMT +2.

25 january 2014 - Moon-Saturn occultation. Saturn 0.5 ° N of Moon at 4:18 GMT +2.

30 january 2014 - New Moon. Moon will be directly between the Earth and the Sun and will not be visible from Earth. This phase occurs at 23:38 GMT +2.

31 january 2014 -Mercury at it’s greatest elongation at: 18.4 ° E, at 12:00 GMT +2.

 Previous calendar:  Astronomical phenomena December 2013