Celebration of Space - January 17, 2025
The lunar occultation of Mars occurred on January 13, 2025. Image credit: Frosty Drew Astronomy Team member, Scott MacNeill, captured this image of the occultation.
This past Monday, January 13, 2025, we had a stunning view of the lunar occultation of Mars, which occurs when the Moon passes in between our view of Mars. At Frosty Drew we live streamed the entire event. There are links to specific points of interest in the description. We also were able to catch some images of the occultation. If you missed out on the occultation, take a moment to check out our images and live stream, as it was a fantastic night of astro geekery!
Over the past couple of weeks we have received call after call asking if we are opening for the great planetary alignment happening on January 21st, January 25th, February 25th, February 28th, and any other date that social media may have erroneously stated. For starters this is not happening, it is a good example of misinformation, and why social media is not a good source for anything aside from looking at pics of your friends kids and pets. We really don’t know what started all this, but this rumor goes around at least once per year, and used to go around via email before social media was available. So, what is really happening?
Every year as Earth makes its way around the Sun, every planet will be accessible for a view in the sky. By “accessible” we mean that it is visible using a telescope, binoculars, or naked eye. Note that Uranus and Neptune are just not visible to the naked eye. Venus, Jupiter, and Saturn can be viewed in daylight with a telescope or binoculars, Venus with just the naked eye. Aside from the dates that planets are on the opposite side of the Sun than Earth, called Superior Conjunction, most planets are visible about 80-90% of the year. For the sake of this article, we’ll restrict viewing sessions to the period after sunset and before sunrise.
Uranus and Neptune move very little in the night sky over the course of one year. Uranus will advance eastward about 4º per year, and Neptune will advance about 2.5º per year. So every year we pretty much see them during the same time of the year for a period of 10+ years. The next time Uranus and Neptune are on opposite sides of the Sun will be around the year 3000. This means that Uranus and Neptune will largely be in the nighttime sky together for a while. Jupiter and Saturn move much further in the sky every year, and over a 20 year period, Jupiter will catch back up to Saturn. For now, Jupiter and Saturn have been in the night sky together for about a decade. Mars is visible in the night sky for about 15 months due to its 685 day orbital period, but only remarkable for about two months. Venus is visible either in the morning or evening sky over a period of 10 months, and Mercury is visible in the morning or evening sky over a period of about 2 months. What this tells us is that over the entire daily nighttime period it is quite common to have all seven planets accessible for a view. But none of this is an alignment.
The planets of the Solar System orbit the Sun along the ecliptic, which is the path the Sun takes across the sky and represents the plane of the Solar System. So anytime a planet is visible in the sky it will be along the ecliptic, and consequently will appear in a line across the sky, well more of an arc from east to west. An alignment is when two or more planets form a straight line that involves the Sun. We see alignments during superior conjunctions – when a planet is on the opposite side of the Sun than Earth, inferior conjunctions – when a planet is in between the Sun and Earth, and oppositions – when a planet is on the opposite side of the Earth than the Sun. This also applies to other planets. But these are not seven planet alignments, they are just two planet alignments. Mathematically, all 8 planets will align once every 396 billion years, which pretty much means never because the Sun will transition into a white dwarf in about 5 billion years.
For the past month we have had Venus, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune in the night sky at the same time, and this will continue until about the start of March 2025, which is when we will lose Saturn to the horizon. Mercury will join in in late February, but Saturn and Mercury will be in the early dusk sky very low on the horizon, making both difficult to observe together without a clear view of the western horizon. Mercury will be at best viewing in the evening sky during the first week of March.
Realistically, getting out to catch a view of Venus, Jupiter, and Mars will be well worth it without all the pomp of a fictional alignment. All three of these objects are easily visible to the naked eye, are well above the horizon currently at night, and are stretched across the night sky. Venus will be in the western sky, Jupiter in the southern sky, and Mars in the eastern sky. This view will be available every night into mid-March, with the Moon frequently joining in.
Save the Date
Overnight, March 13-14, 2025 a total lunar eclipse is coming to the night sky over the US. The eclipse will largely occur in the morning hours after midnight, but if clouds stay out, it will be a remarkable view. Frosty Drew will host an event starting at 11:00 pm on Thursday, March 13th, which will go until 6:00 am on Friday, March 14th. Learn more about our event and the eclipse.
Even though China’s space station, Tiangong, has left the evening sky, the International Space Station continues to offer up stunning views for early evening sky watchers in the US. Here are some notable pass times for the coming week:
Fri, Jan 17 at 6:14 pm, starting in the WNW, rising to 24º, and into orbital sunset
Sat, Jan 18 at 5:25 pm, starting in the W, rising to 33º, heading towards the NE
Mon, Jan 20 at 5:25 pm, starting in the WNW, rising to 20º, heading towards the NNE
Orbital sunset occurs when the object in view orbits into Earth’s shadow. When this occurs the object will quickly fade from our view. Observing the ISS or other satellites passing over will require the satellite to be in direct sunlight while the observer is in darkness. Once the satellite is out of direct sunlight we will lose our view of it. Set your alarms and step outside on these nights to catch a view.
