Stars over Sisters

In the early evening hours of January Taurus the Bull rides high in the night sky. The constellation is especially easy to locate this year because brilliant Jupiter has temporarily taken up residence there.

The primary components that give the constellation its distinct shape are: the first-magnitude star Aldebaran that denotes the bull's eye, the Pleiades star cluster marking its shoulder, the Hyades star cluster depicting the face, and two relatively bright stars that represent the tip of each horn.

To some, the Pleiades star cluster - also known as the Seven Sisters - looks like a tiny dipper and is an easy naked-eye object.

The finest example of a supernova remnant, known as the Crab Nebula, is found near Taurus' southern horn. The supernova itself was independently recorded by Indian, Arabic, Chinese and Japanese astronomers in 1054 AD. Dark skies and a telescope are needed to view this object.

One story from Greek mythology relates that Zeus, god of the sky and thunder, assumed the form of a magnificent white bull (Taurus) to abduct Europa, a legendary Phoenician princess. Another account claims that Taurus is the Cretan Bull captured by Heracles (known as Hercules in Rome and the modern West.)

The Quadrantid meteor shower will peak in the early morning hours of January 4. The good news is that 60 or more meteors per hour are expected. The bad news is the peak activity for this shower only last a few hours, plus the light from a waning gibbous moon will interfere. These meteors will radiate from the northeast sky in the early morning hours. This meteor shower was named after the now-obsolete nineteenth-century constellation Quadrans

Muralis.

The planets of love and war become lost in the glare of the sun this month. Venus is rounding the back side of the sun now and will become an evening object in the coming months. Mars, on the other hand, is dropping out of the western sky and will emerge as a morning planet for the remainder of 2013. Saturn is currently in Libra and will remain a morning object until the end of April.

A waning moon reaches its last quarter phase on January 4, and then continues to dim until going dark by January 11. This should allow for a few days of excellent star gazing, weather permitting. Thereafter the moon begins to brighten, becoming fully illuminated on January 26. The moon will be nearest the earth, called perigee, at a distance of about 224,000 miles on January 10. By January 22 it will have moved to a point farthest from the earth, known as apogee, and lie some 252,000 miles away.