{"id":513,"date":"2018-12-22T01:52:32","date_gmt":"2018-12-22T01:52:32","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.lunar.org\/wp\/?p=513"},"modified":"2018-12-22T01:59:19","modified_gmt":"2018-12-22T01:59:19","slug":"januarys-evening-eclipse-and-morning-conjunctions","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.lunar.org\/wp\/?p=513","title":{"rendered":"January\u2019s Evening Eclipse and Morning Conjunctions"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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By David Prosper <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Observers in the Americas are treated to an evening total\nlunar eclipse<\/strong> this month. Early risers can spot some striking morning\nconjunctions between Venus<\/strong>, Jupiter<\/strong>, and the Moon<\/strong> late in\nJanuary.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

A total lunar eclipse<\/strong> will occur on January\n20th<\/strong> and be visible from start to finish for observers located in North and\nSouth America. This eclipse might be a treat for folks with early bedtimes;\nwestern observers can even watch the whole event before midnight. Lunar\neclipses takes several hours to complete and are at their most impressive\nduring total eclipse, or totality, when the Moon is completely enveloped by the\numbra, the darkest part of Earth\u2019s shadow. During totality the color of the\nMoon can change to a bright orange or red thanks to the sunlight bending through\nthe Earth\u2019s atmosphere – the same reason we see pink sunsets. The eclipse\nbegins at 10:34 pm Eastern Standard Time, with totality beginning at 11:41 pm.\nThe total eclipse lasts for slightly over an hour, ending at 12:43 am. The\neclipse finishes when the Moon fully emerges from Earth\u2019s shadow by 1:51 am.\nConvert these times to your own time zone to plan your own eclipse watching;\nfor example, observers under Pacific Standard Time will see the eclipse start\nat 7:34 pm and end by 10:51 pm.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Lunar eclipses offer observers a unique opportunity\nto judge how much the Moon\u2019s glare can interfere with stargazing. On eclipse\nnight the Moon will be in Cancer<\/strong>, a constellation made up of dim stars.\nHow many stars you can see near the full Moon before or after the eclipse? How\nmany stars can you see during the total eclipse? The difference may surprise\nyou. During these observations, you may spot a fuzzy cloud of stars relatively\nclose to the Moon; this is known as the \u201cBeehive Cluster<\/strong>,\u201d M44<\/strong>,\nor Praesepe<\/strong>. It\u2019s an open cluster of stars thought to be about 600\nmillion year old and a little under 600 light years distant. Praesepe looks\nfantastic through binoculars. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mars<\/strong> is\nvisible in the evening and sets before midnight. It is still bright but has\nfaded considerably since its closest approach to Earth last summer. Watch the\nred planet travel through the constellation Pisces throughout January.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Venus<\/strong> makes\nnotable early morning appearances beside both Jupiter<\/strong> and the Moon<\/strong>\nlater this month; make sure to get up about an hour before sunrise for the best\nviews of these events. First, Venus and Jupiter approach each other during the\nthird full week of January. Watch their conjunction on the 22nd, when the\nplanets appear to pass just under 2 \u00bd degrees of each other. The next week,\nobserve Venus in a close conjunction with a crescent Moon the morning of the\n31st. For many observers their closest pass – just over half a degree apart, or\nless than a thumb\u2019s width held at arm\u2019s length – will occur after sunrise.\nSince Venus and the Moon are so bright you may st1ill be able to spot them,\neven after sunrise. Have you ever seen Venus in the daytime? <\/p>\n\n\n\n

If you have missed Saturn<\/strong> this winter, watch\nfor the ringed planet\u2019s return by the end of the month, when it rises right\nbefore sunrise in Sagittarius. See if you can spot it after observing Venus\u2019 conjunctions!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

You can catch up on all of NASA\u2019s current and future\nmissions at nasa.gov<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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 Have you ever wondered how eclipses occur? You can model the Earth-Moon system using just a couple of small balls and a measuring stick to find out! The \u201cyardstick eclipse<\/strong>\u201d model shown here is set up to demonstrate a lunar eclipse. The \u201cEarth\u201d ball (front, right) casts its shadow on the smaller \u201cMoon\u201d ball (rear, left). You can also simulate a solar eclipse just by flipping this model around. You can even use the Sun as your light source! Find more details on this simple eclipse model at <\/em>bit.ly\/yardstickeclipse<\/a><\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

This\narticle is distributed by NASA Night Sky Network <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Night Sky Network program supports astronomy\nclubs across the USA dedicated to astronomy outreach. Visit nightsky.jpl.nasa.org<\/a>\nto find local clubs, events, and more! <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By David Prosper Observers in the Americas are treated to an evening total lunar eclipse this month. Early risers can spot some striking morning conjunctions between Venus, Jupiter, and the Moon late in January.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-513","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-nasa-space-place"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.lunar.org\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/513","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.lunar.org\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.lunar.org\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.lunar.org\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.lunar.org\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=513"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"http:\/\/www.lunar.org\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/513\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":520,"href":"http:\/\/www.lunar.org\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/513\/revisions\/520"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.lunar.org\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=513"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.lunar.org\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=513"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.lunar.org\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=513"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}