Celestial events have been one thing that has been intriguing us since time immemorial. Since ancient times, humans have made structures to understand our universe better. The trend has followed us to the present times as well. Since Galileo invented the Telescope, we have come a long way with the James Webb Space Telescope. Continuing the tradition, here are some of the important celestial events of 2022.
We have already missed one event i.e. the Moon passed Saturn and Jupiter on the night of 4 January. We could have observed the crescent moon five degrees from Saturn. Mercury was seen below while Jupiter was above.
Mercury would reach its highest elongation on 7 January. Around sunset, we can find Mercury just above the horizon. It will be seen better in the northern hemisphere in the west-southwest sky.
The Moon will cross the Winter Hexagon and Milky Way from 13-16 January. The Winter Hexagon is a collection of the brightest stars in the Northern Hemisphere during winters. Stargazers would be able to see the movement of the sky across nights. The Milky Way cuts through the winter hexagon too that can be observed in exceptionally dark skies.
This year's Wolf moon (full moon of January) is on 17 January.
The Moon and Mars get closer to Venus on 29-30 January. The crescent moon and Venus would be significantly closer to each other in the pre-dawn sky. Apart from this, Venus would be closer to Earth than any planet in a century on 8-9 January.
These were some celestial events that we would be able to see in January. We will be back next month with some more celestial events to observe.
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