2022 is finally here! The new year, unfortunately, is greeting us with mostly cloudy skies over the next week. The forecast does look promising for the night of January 3rd and some nights near the weekend. The nighttime temperatures will be dropping into the low 20s and mid-teens – dress very warm for comfort and to avoid frostbite. Since the winter solstice was roughly a week ago, the nights will only become shorter (and the days will get longer) leading up to the summer solstice on June 21. Sunset is right around 5:20 PM so be ready to stargaze by 6:00 PM.

This week be on the lookout for a string of planets, a very young crescent moon, Comet Leonard, and a meteor shower. I will also include a brief section on the recently-launched James Webb Space Telescope.

Just 25 minutes after sunset, look towards the western skies. You will not only see a beautiful palette of colors transitioning from the orange of the sun to the black of night, but you will see a string of four planets. Going from west to east, the four dots you see in the sky are Venus, Mercury, Saturn, and Jupiter. A set of binoculars will be plenty to do these objects justice. You will be able to make out the apparent phase of Venus, the massive rings of Saturn, and the gaseous stripes in Jupiter’s atmosphere along with four of its moons.

A “String of Planets” in the evening twilight all this week.

Speaking of Jupiter’s moons, here is a fun history fact: the speed of light was first measured by timing when Jupiter’s innermost moon, Io, transited the planet and cast its shadow. Logically, it makes sense that the moon will orbit with a fixed period (which turns out to be about 42 hours). Astronomer Ole Roemer in 1676 noticed Io was late to start its transit when Jupiter was further away from the earth and early when Jupiter was near the earth. He hypothesized that light had a finite speed and by knowing Io’s orbital period, the distance to Jupiter and some other information, he (and mostly Huygens) calculated the speed of light to be 131,000 miles per second (the real speed is 186,000 miles per second – pretty good for the pre-electronic age!).

The new moon occurs officially on Sunday, January 2nd at 1:33 PM. This is great news for stargazers and astrophotographers since the moon will not be very bright in its crescent phase and it sets below the horizon relatively shortly after sunset. In the coming nights, try tracking the moon and watch it progress through its waxing crescent phase all the way to its first-quarter phase sometime early next week. Binoculars or a telescope are perfect for observing the moon in its early phases since the details of the lunar surface are very contrasty and dramatic.

The thin crescent moon as seen at sunset on January 4.

There has been lots of talk about Comet C/2021 A1 (a.k.a. Comet Leonard) in the astronomy community. It is a bright comet that is visible for viewers in both the northern and southern hemispheres. Currently, this comet shines at magnitude 6.2 which puts it just below the naked-eye visibility limit. A pair of binoculars or a telescope are required to see the object. Just a few minutes after sunset, find Mercury and Venus then look 30° to the left and scan the sky in the region. The comet will look like a fuzzy star. This is due to the dust tail that is extending from the core of C/2021 A1. Using a DSLR with long exposures and a tripod may be able to reveal some color and more details of the tail.

Comet Leonard is a challenging object, close to the southwestern horizon and seen against twilight. A good pair of binoculars and very clear skies will be needed to spot its “fuzzy star” appearance.

Monday, January 3rd, marks the peak of the Quadrantid meteor shower. Under dark skies, a person should be able to count about 120 meteors every hour! The meteors will appear to originate from a region near the Big Dipper constellation, although, these meteors can be seen across the entire sky.

If the weather is favorable, the Quadrantids are amongst the most reliable meteor showers.

An event making headlines around the world and greatly affecting the astronomy community was the launch of the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST). Over the next few weeks, the space telescope will be making its way towards its parking spot (Lagrange point 2) where it will image the cosmos for over 10 years. Most of our telescopes and cameras here on earth are optimized for viewing things in the visible part of the spectrum. JWST, on the other hand, is optimized for viewing things in the infrared (IR) part of the spectrum, which lies just below the visible spectrum.

IR is important in astronomy and cosmology because it will let us see the earliest galaxies formed in the universe. Their light has been physically stretched by the expansion of the universe from visible light down into the IR part of the spectrum. The JWST will also be able to see through thick clouds of gas and dust (like nebulae that are so beautiful to us astrophotographers) to see the star formation occurring inside this region. This telescope will produce some incredible images, on par with the Hubble Space Telescope over the next decade (IMAGE FROM https://asd.gsfc.nasa.gov/blueshift/index.php/2013/08/16/maggies-blog-why-infrared/).

IR allows astronomers to see through gas and dust to spot newborn stars.

While it is exciting to make it to a new year, its weather is not as exciting. Grab a chair, your warmest winter clothes, and your favorite pair of binoculars or that new telescope you just got for Christmas and start 2022 off strong by exploring the vastness of space from your backyard or from the John Glenn Astronomy Park. This week look out for the several planets in the west, a faint crescent moon, Comet Leonard, and some meteors.

Clear Skies!