Tanzania Night Skies this January 2011
Tanzanian Night Skies this January
The New Year started with a few remarkable astronomical events. The 4th of January was an eclipse day, though we in Tanzania just missed it. The partial solar eclipse was viewed in North Africa and Europe, the zone of visibility just missing Kenya also. We will have to wait until the 3rd of November 2013 to see the next solar eclipse, when we expect 70 percent of the Sun will be covered by the Moon.
However, the absence of a significant eclipse experience for some time now will end on 15 June this year with a major total Lunar eclipse that will be centred directly over us, so we will be in the middle to witness its glory. Another lunar eclipse will be seen on 10th December with us being able to watch its ending from sunset onwards, as the partially covered full Moon rises in the east. Of the six eclipses this year around the world we will be able to witness only these two.
Another interesting thing happening currently is the presence of a normally hard-to-detect planet Uranus, which can be seen very close to Jupiter. Because Uranus is just within the visibility range of the naked eye, it is hard to detect from places that have light pollution, such as in cities and near bright lights. If you are in the rural areas, you may be able to see Uranus with your naked eyes that have adjusted to darkness. But if you are in a light polluted area, though it cannot be seen, you can aim your telescope at Jupiter and Uranus will be in the field of view nearby.
Jupiter will continue to remain our bright companion, now moving from overhead skies to western skies making it easier to look through a telescope without twisting your neck! Jupiter will be lost in the western horizon after the fist few days of March, so use these couple of months to enjoy the rapid movement of its moons and witness changes taking place millions of kilometres from earth.
Mark the month of May for a rare clustering of planets in the morning sky before sunrise. Jupiter, Venus, Mars, Mercury, and the Moon jostle for position shifting relative to each other in a spectacle worth waking up early for.
While Jupiter leaves the evening skies in early March, another prominent planet will start to rise from the eastern horizon during the early night. This is none other than the beautiful ringed planet Saturn. It will be our main companion for the rest of the year, shifting slowly westwards until the end of September when it will also disappear from view in the western horizon at sunset. If you have a telescope you will be able to see its beautiful rings. Currently it is visible in the morning skies and you can see a huge cloud formation due to a major storm in its atmosphere.
Venus is an extremely bright beacon in the dawn skies shining as the morning star. It can be easily mistaken for a spotlight!! Through a telescope it is in half phase at the moment dipping down until it joins the cluster of planets in May and will disappear from the dawn sky in early July, reappearing as the evening star a couple of months later in early September.
The January night sky has two of brightest stars in the sky, Sirius and Canopus, marked B and A respectively on the map. The other brightest stars are: C - Procyon, D and E are Rigel and Beltelgeuse in the Orion constellation, while F is Aldebaran in the Taurus constellation. Beltelgeuse and Aldebaran are red giants: stars that are in the final stages of their lives. G is Capella and I is Achernar. Canopus is a star well removed from other bright stars so it is often used by spacecraft on voyages to the outer planets. Six of these stars (A, B, C, D, G and I) are among the top ten brightest stars in the sky, so go out and know your stars. The Milky Way containing a dense collection of stars and interstellar dust and nebulae stretching across the sky from southeast to the north, grazing Sirius, Orion, Taurus, and finally enclosing Perseus and Cassiopeia in the north.
Three visible galaxies can be seen in the early night sky for the next few months. Two of these, the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC) and the Small Magellanic Cloud (SMC) are members of our local group, which form a trio together with our Milky Way galaxy. The two Magellanic Cloud galaxies can be seen only in the southern skies since they are so close to the south point. They both have irregular shapes and cover a wide area of the sky more than 4 to 5 degrees angular width. LMC lies between Canopus and the South point and can best be viewed after 9 p.m, while the SMC (3 ½ deg across) lies similarly between Achernar and the South. These two galaxies are about 50,000 light years away from us. The Andromeda galaxy can be seen in the north above Cassiopeia. It is more than 2 million light years away from us and can be seen as a fuzzy patch of light making it the farthest object visible with the naked eyes.
This month the International Space Station (ISS) will be seen most easily on 15, 16, 17, and 19 January. All passes this time are close to the horizon climbing highest on 15 and 16 January to around 30 degrees. On all days it will rise in the north-west horizon and will disappear in the south-east horizon. It will be seen in the western skies, except on 16th when it will make its way in the eastern skies.
On 15th January it will rise in the north-west horizon around 8:15pm, climbing to a height to 30 degrees in the west and will disappear abruptly near the south skies at 8:20pm. On 16th, it rises at 7:05pm in the north-west horizon, rises to 35 degrees in the east and disappears in the south east around 7:15pm.
On 17th it rises in the north-west around 7:30 pm flies along the western horizon and sets around 7:40pm in the south-east. On 19th January it will rise in the north-west around 6:50pm, but only to a height of 21 degrees in the west. So you will have to be careful not to miss it. It will set in the south east around 6:55 pm.
You can confirm and update the times by logging on to the Heavens-Above website www.heavens-above.com and entering your location.
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