The sky is not a painting, it’s a movie. Stars pulse, flare, some explode as supernova, asteroids whiz by the earth, new comets appear in the sky, Aurora sets the northern skies ablaze and meteors streak through Earth’s atmosphere.
Total Lunar Eclipse for some
The full Moon on the 31st for the York, Pa. area enters penumbra at 5:49 am and begins to darken the Moons eastern limb, the Moon then enters the umbra at 06:48 just before the Moon sets at 7:17 as viewed from a flat clear horizon as it is very low on the western horizon. The farther west you are the more of the eclipse you will see, residents along the Pacific coast will see all of the total phase.
February will not have a full Moon.
This Full Moon of January 31st at 8:27 am Eastern Standard Time. This will be the second Full Moon for the month of January, which sets up an interesting scenario for the next two months. Since February only has 28 days in 2018, there will be no Full Moon during that month. Instead, March will also have two Full Moons. This last occurred in 1999, and will next happen in 2037.
The Full Moon for January
Full Wolf Moon-The January Amid the cold and deep snows of midwinter, the wolf packs howled hungrily outside Indian villages. Thus, the name for January’s full Moon. Sometimes it was also referred to as the Old Moon, or the Moon After Yule. Some called it the Full Snow Moon, but most tribes applied that name to the next Moon.. Courtesy Farmers Almanac.
Lunar Phase
The Planets Visibility for January
Mercury
Morning Sky ESE
Lost in the glare of the Sun
Venus
Morning Sky ESE
Lost in the glare of the Sun
Mars
Morning Sky ESE
Mars on January 28th rises at 2:41 am in the constellation Libra at +1.1 magnitude with a diameter 00’00’05”. Look ESE . The best time to observe Mars will be a couple of hours before dawn in the SSE. Above and to the right of Mars ( about 10 degrees) the bright planet Jupiter is easily visible. See below for location of Mars and Jupiter on January 27 at 6:00 am.
To see which part of Mars surface is visible at any time, check out the Mars Profiler at Sky & Telescope Magazine’s web page.
JUPITER
Morning Sky ESE
Jupiter January 28th is at -2.0 magnitude with a diameter 00’00’35” located in the constellation Libra rising at 1:48 am. Below image shows Jupiter’s moons Callisto, Io Europa and Ganymede for 6 am on January 28th.
A small telescope will easily reveal four of Jupiter’s largest and brightest moons. Check out Sky & Telescope’s Jupiter Moons Utility for other configurations. Sky and Telescope Red Spot Calculator
SATURN
Morning Sky ESE
Saturn January 28th is at +0.6 magnitude with a diameter 00’00’15” rises at 5:15 am in the constellation Sagittarius. Look to the SE. See image below for location at 6:30 am. on 28th.
See: Saturn’s moons locations
URANUS
Evening – Morning Sky S-SW
Uranus January 28th is at 5.8 magnitude with a diameter 00’00’03” visible after sunset in the constellation Pisces in the southwestern evening sky. Uranus sets at 12:40 am .. A moderate-sized telescope will show it as a faint green-gray disk.
See: Sky and Telescope location PDF. Courtesy: Sky and Telescope
NEPTUNE
Evening Sky SW
Neptune January 28th is at magnitude 8.0 with a diameter 00’00’.2″ located in Aquarius. Neptune sets at 10:09 pm. Neptune is best observed just after sunset when highest in the sky.
See: Sky and Telescope location PDF. Courtesy: Sky and Telescope
Dwarf Planets
Pluto
Evening – SW Sky
Pluto midmonth is at magnitude +14.3 and diameter 00:00′.00″ setting at 6:30 pm located in the constellation Sagittarius.
COMETS BRIGHTER THAN 8TH MAGNITUDE
No Comets Brighter than 8 magnitude.
For more on current Comets and locations see: Sky & Telescope also Seiichi Yoshida web site here.
METEOR SHOWERS
No current major rmeteor showers.
METEOR SHOWERS
No current major rmeteor showers.
See: Listen to Meteors , American Meteor Society, Meteors Online also NASA All Sky Network
Some local links below to Heavens Above satellite information website.
Satellites visible from Hanover
Satellites visible from Gettysburg
Satellites visible from Lancaster
Satellites visible from Baltimore
Satellites visible from Harrisburg
Also see: Spaceflight NASA
The Sun
Real time solar wind dials are linked live to the ACE Spacecraft.
If the dial on the left (Magnetic Field) has dipped below zero, the speed is high and the dial dynamic pressure is in the yellow/red, be alert for Aurora. Anytime the gauges are in the Red and the dial on the left, the Magnetic Field BZ has dipped to the yellow-red… Aurora will be occurring in our area. See link to solar wind gauge here: REAL TIME SOLAR WIND
See explanation of solar wind dials below by clicking on photo of dials
