What's up in the Sky This Month? Astronomical Events in January 2023 Feature 2 Conjunctions, Stars, Comet

The month of January marks the Earth's perihelion or the point of its orbit when it is closest to the Sun. Another fascinating Solar System object, comet C/2022 E3 (ZTF), will reach perihelion in eight days this year and might be visible to the naked eye by this time.

SciTech Daily reported that the opposition of Pallas (2 Pallas) is forecasted this month, which will be unfavorable for Ukrainian observers because the asteroid's declination at this time will be around -30° and it will not rise high enough above the horizon at Kyiv's latitude. In 2023, the Moon will approach the Earth at its closest point on January 21.

What's up in the Sky This Month? Astronomical Events in January 2023 Feature 2 Conjunctions, Stars, Comet Pixabay/astrometeo

Astronomical Calendar for January 2023

Comet C/2022 E3 (ZTF) will be observable with binoculars or a small telescope for the whole month for stargazers in the Northern Hemisphere. More so, the January sky will be filled with bright winter stars in the constellations Canis major, Canis minor, Gemini, Taurus, and Orion.

Other astronomical events this month are as follows, based on NASA's calendar:

January 2- The Moon and Mars will be high in the southeast grouped with the Pleiades and Aldebaran.
January 6- A night for the Full Moon.
January 12- C/2022 E3 (ZTF) is at its closest to the Sun and will pass Earth at a distance of 26.4 million miles (42.5 million km) on February 2.
January 18-24- Catch Venus in the night sky as it crosses paths with Saturn for several days after sunset. The pair can be seen in the southwest sky about 45 minutes after sunset. On January 22, the two will be super close and appear only a third of a degree apart. Then on January 23, they will be just a degree apart in the sky while the slim crescent Moon hangs above them.
January 21- New Moon.
January 25- The Moon will be a degree apart from Jupiter at the southwest about 30 to 45 minutes after sunset.

Catching the Meteor Shower

The yearly winter show of the Quadrantids meteor shower is a regular for stargazers, although this January 23's Full Moon might affect its view. According to an article on the website Astronomy, the meteor shower is active from Decemb er 28 to January 12 and peaked on January 3.

As the full Moon appears on January 6, bright members of the meteor shower will be visible and might produce up to 40 meteors per hour before dawn. Although experts warn observers to brace for the cold temperature outside as they watch the comet. The Quadrantids meteor shower is also associated with period comet 96P/Machholz and the minor planet 2003 EH_1.

Comet C/2022 E3 (ZTF) can also become visible to stargazers in the Southern Hemisphere. Also, the South of the equator is lucky to get 12 months of the stalwart C/2017 K2 (PanSTARRS) skirting their skies.