The engineer explained that. Majed Abu Zahra, President of the Astronomical Society in Jeddah Governorate
Happy New Year my stargazer friends.
The year 2024 will be great for watching the sky, as at the beginning of the year the Earth will reach perihelion on January 3rd, which is its closest distance to the sun in its orbit, and this will not have an impact on those living in the northern hemisphere, because it tilts away from direct sunlight at this time. The time of year and the waning moon will light up the sky on the first evening of January 2024.
This is not ideal timing because the quadruped meteor shower peaks on the night of January 3, especially after midnight during the pre-dawn hours of January 4. It is considered one of the best meteor showers, but the moon in its last square phase will appear in the sky around midnight, so it will cause… In obliteration of meteors, except for bright meteors.
Jupiter and Saturn decorate the evening sky, but the Earth gradually moves away from them as we orbit the Sun, and this is especially the case for Saturn.
In early January, Saturn will appear as a moderately bright star low on the southwestern horizon after evening twilight and set before 9 p.m. By the end of the month, the planet will be very close to the horizon at dusk for all observers around the world.
Saturn is much farther away from us than it was late last summer, but when using a small telescope, the planet’s ring system and perhaps its brightest moon, “Titan,” can be seen. It is preferable to observe Saturn with a telescope in the first half of January because the planet is still far enough away from influences. Earth’s atmosphere near the horizon.
The new crescent Moon will appear below Saturn very early in the evening on January 13, and will conjunct Saturn on January 14.
Although Jupiter’s distance from Earth continues to increase, the largest planet in our solar system is still the brightest object observed early at night.
It is seen before the end of the evening twilight, appears high on the southwestern horizon, and remains in the sky for several hours after sunset. When you look at Jupiter, remember that more than a thousand Earths can be placed inside this giant planet in our solar system, and when using binoculars, four of the brightest moons of Jupiter can be seen.
Watching those four moons constantly change their positions relative to Jupiter from hour to hour and night to night is fun. When using a small telescope, Jupiter’s brightest cloud systems can be seen.
The moon is in the first quarter phase on January 18. It will be very close to the planet Jupiter, which is a celestial conjunction that should not be missed. After that, the moon will be full on the 25th of this month and will be seen very high in the sky at this time of the year. Despite its beauty, It will cause faint orbs to be obscured.
During the early morning hours and just before the onset of morning twilight, Venus shines very brightly from the southeastern horizon and throughout this month and through most of February Venus will serve as the “morning star.”
During the period from approximately January 1 to January 20, it will also be possible to see the fainter planet Mercury below Venus.
Mercury will be very low in the sky so you will need to have the eastern horizon exposed. On January 8th, the very slender waning crescent moon will join Venus and Mercury, and directly below the moon will be the moderately bright star Antares.
Returning to the evening sky, the magnificent winter constellations will adorn the month of January, and everyone certainly loves the magnificent constellation Gemini (Orion) and its magnificent companion constellations that dominate the eastern horizon early at night at this time of year.
The stars of Gemini are distinguished by three bright stars that represent Orion’s belt, and they are arranged in an almost straight row. This constellation includes very bright stars, namely the star “Man”, which symbolizes Orion’s knee, and the star Betelgeuse, which symbolizes his armpit.
The star Betelgeuse is under constant surveillance because at some point in the next million years it could explode as a massive supernova that can be seen even in broad daylight. There are also stars of the Auriga, which include the bright star Al Ayouq (Capella), as well as stars. Taurus, which includes the star Aldebaran.
Not far from it is the Pleiades, a star cluster resembling the Little Big Dipper. The Pleiades cluster contains more than a thousand young stars that are less than a hundred million years old.
Shortly after sunset, you will see a brilliantly bright star on the southeastern horizon: Sirius, the brightest star in the night sky at any time throughout the year.
If you drew a line through Orion’s belt and extended it to the lower left, it would point directly at Sirius, which is just over eight light-years away. One light-year is equivalent to about 9.5 trillion kilometers.
Sirius, Betelgeuse, and Sirius form a star formation known as the “winter circle” or “winter hexagram.”
Another bright star that can be admired to the lower right of Sirius is Suhail, the second brightest star in the night sky.
Although they look exactly alike, they are two different stars. Sirius is a main sequence star like the Sun, which burns hydrogen into helium to generate light, but because it is much larger, it burns much hotter and thus appears blue-white.
But Suhail is evolving and dying. The hydrogen fuel in its core has run out and it has swollen into a giant, bright star. Instead of burning hydrogen, it burns helium to generate light.
Suhail is on the border of whether it will go supernova or not, depending on its mass.
When observing the northern horizon at the beginning of the night, you will see the stars of the Big Dipper on the northeastern horizon, and in the upper right part of the Big Dipper is the Little Dipper, which includes “Polaris,” the North Star, shining at the end of the handle.
Ursa Minor is also known as Ursa Minor. Stars that resemble an upside-down “W” (or an upside-down “M” on the right side) can easily be spotted on the northern horizon, which is the constellation Cassiopeia.
Likewise, the Andromeda Galaxy, neighboring our Milky Way Galaxy, is not far from Cassiopeia on the northwestern horizon and can be seen with the naked eye from a dark location. This galaxy is more than two million light-years away.
