Venus and Jupiter to Trip the Light Fantastic in the New Year

Ring in the new year with planets fading, dazzling and dancing: Mars appears less bright in the evening, and Venus and Jupiter sashay across the morning sky.

Mars can be seen after sunset in the east-northeast, low and near the horizon. Currently, it is squeezed between the constellations Taurus and Gemini. At mid-evening, if you are facing south, Mars is above the raised arm of Orion, and it is positioned above the star Betelgeuse. Right now, the red-tinted planet is about negative 1.5 magnitude (bright) but fades to a zero-magnitude (less bright) appearance. Throughout January, our red neighboring planet moves closer to the constellation Taurus.

Saturn ascends the east-northeast heavens about 8 p.m., hanging out in the constellation Leo. Right now under Leo, Saturn is close to M105, an elliptical galaxy. In mid-January, the ringed planet crosses the meridian about 3 a.m. and then loiters in the western sky until the morning sun washes out all the stars and planets.

Like two high school students at a sock hop, Venus and Jupiter dance toward each other all month across winter's fresh, crisp, morning skies. Look to the southeast before sunrise and you will see the bubbly Venus and the large, gaseous Jupiter. Venus appears at nearly negative fourth magnitude (very bright), and Jupiter is negative first magnitude (bright), as both are easily seen from urban locations. They pass each other Feb. 1.

If you're looking for shooting stars in your mid-winter sky-gazing, scan the heavens after midnight Friday when the Quadrantid meteors sprinkle across the heavens, according to the American Meteor Society ( http://www.amsmeteors.org). When conditions are pristine, gazers can see 50 meteors an hour. Generally, expect to see a handful each hour.

Now that December's solstice has passed, we will see a little bit more sunshine as we march toward spring. By the end of January, the Washington area will gain about 41 minutes of daylight, according to the U.S. Naval Observatory.

Mercury Flybys

On Jan. 14, the spacecraft MESSENGER will make the first of its three flybys of the planet Mercury -- the first time in three decades that a spacecraft has visited this fast little planet close to the sun. The craft is examining the planet's environmental characteristics and will take images of its surface, measure the charged particles in the magnetosphere, plot topography and analyze surface minerals. The Applied Physics Laboratory at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore manages the mission for NASA. Mission details: http://messenger.jhuapl.edu/index.php.

Down-to-Earth Events

Jan. 5-26-- At 11 a.m. each Saturday in January, the book "The Zoo in Sky," by Jacqueline Mitton, will be read to children. Children can also participate in astronomy-related activities. Meet at the welcome desk at the Air and Space Museum on the Mall. http://www.nasm.si.edu.

Jan. 5-- David Ludwikoski of the Community College of Baltimore County explains "Teaching and the Amateur Astronomer" at an open house, University of Maryland observatory, College Park. 8 p.m. After the lecture, scan the sky through a large telescope, weather permitting. Information: 301-405-6555; http://wwwastro.umd.edu/openhouse.

Jan. 8-- Nino Panagia, astronomer emeritus at the Space Telescope Science Institute, lectures on "Supernovae: Lighthouses of the Cosmos" in the institute's auditorium, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore. 8 p.m. Information: http://hubblesite.org/about_us/public-talks.shtml.

Jan. 17-- Now that Pluto has been demoted, have astronomers finally finished messing up a perfectly good solar system? Maybe not. Michael Brown of the California Institute of Technology discusses "Pluto, Eris and the Dwarf Planets of the Outer Solar System" at the Carnegie Institution of Washington, 1530 P St. NW. 6:45 p.m. Information: http://www.ciw.edu.

Jan. 20-- Matthew Zagursky, a physics student who models Mercury's atmosphere, leads the open house at the University of Maryland observatory, College Park. 8 p.m. View the heavens through a large telescope afterward, weather permitting. Information: 301-405-6555; http://www.astro.umd.edu/openhouse.

Jan. 25-- Roy Spencer, principal research scientist at the University of Alabama at Huntsville, will lecture on "Measurement of Global Atmospheric Temperatures by Satellite" at the Philosophical Society of Washington. 8:15 p.m. The lecture will be at the John Wesley Powell Auditorium, adjacent to the Cosmos Club, 2170 Florida Ave. NW. Information: http://www.philsoc.org.

Jan. 26-- "How Are Stars Born?" at the Montgomery College planetarium, Takoma Park. 7 p.m. Information: http://www.montgomerycollege.edu/departments/planet.

Blaine Friedlander can be reached atpostskywatch@aol.com.