Happy New Year from Beckington Astronomical Society to our fellow enthusiasts of the night sky. Let us hope that 2021 brings us a lot more pleasure than 2020 and that the skies will be clear to allow us to enjoy our hobby to the full.

The new year starts with a chance to see the Quadrantid meteor shower. The radiant, or apparent source, is a little to the East of the star Alkaid in the constellation of Ursa Major. This star is also the end of the handle of the Plough, the asterism that forms part of Ursa Major. The expected peak of the shower will actually fall during the day on 3rd January but, weather permitting, there should be good sightings on both the nights of 2nd/3rd and 3rd/4th. The waning gibbous moon will hinder observations of the fainter meteors but hopefully the brighter elements will still be visible.

By the way, a "gibbous" moon is when more than half but less than all of the moon's surface is illuminated. "Waning" means that the moon appears to be getting smaller whilst a "Waxing" moon seems to be getting larger.

By the 10th January Mercury, Jupiter and Saturn will all be close to each other in the southwestern sky. Look low over the horizon, 30 minutes after sunset to try and see all three planets. Hopefully skies will be clearer than they were for the Great Conjunction of Jupiter and Saturn in December. Saturn has now moved to appear west of Jupiter (it was east prior to the Great Conjunction) and Mercury will be lower in the sky and brighter than Saturn, almost directly below Jupiter.

The Moon is always interesting and on the 20th, just after 7pm you should be able to see the clair-obscur effects known as the Lunar X and V. As previously described these effects are created by the angle at which sunlight falls on the moons surface. Looking along the terminator, the dividing line between the lunar day and night, the X will appear about one quarter of the way up from the southern point with the V at approximately half way along the terminator.

January provides a good opportunity to look at Capella, the brightest star in the constellation of Auriga. Those with a more powerful telescope may be able to "split" Capella, that is to be able to see that it is in fact a quadruple star system. It is actually two binary pairs that are in mutual orbit around each other. Auriga is high in the southern sky, above Orion, the most recognisable of the winter constellations. Within Auriga, Capella is easily identifiable as it is the sixth brightest star in the night sky.

For those of you with binoculars it is worth looking for some of the beautiful star clusters that can be seen at this time of year. We mentioned the Hyades last month. This cluster sits close to Alderbaran, in Taurus and is only 153 light years from Earth.

Also look at the "head" of Orion and identify the Meissa cluster, with the brilliant white Meissa dominating the cluster.

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Finally I make no apologies for referring again to the Orion Nebula. This is a chance to include a fabulous image taken by our Society member, Roger Hyman. I also include a guide to finding the nebula in the constellation of Orion.

Enjoy your viewing, stay warm, safe and healthy!