Astronomical phenomena January 2014

Calendar with astronomical events of January. This month, as important events are on January 2 Quadrantids meteors, on January 5th when Jupiter will be at opposition and on January 23, when the Moon will be close to Spica in the night sky, and to Saturn, on January 25 .

Important celestial events.

01 january 2014 - The Moon at Perigee  at 23:01 GMT +2, Moon reaches perigee, the closest point from Earth: 356,922 km from Earth.

01 january 2014 - New Moon. Moon will be directly between the Earth and the Sun and will not be visible from Earth. This phase occurs at 13:14 GMT +2.

02, 03 january 2014 - Quadrantids. Quadrantid meteor shower, get to have up to 40 meteors per hour, usually on 3 and 4 January, but may be visible on 1-5 January. The highest rate of meteors per hour took place in 1932 (80/ hour). The best time for observations is a dark place after midnight. Meteors radiate from the constellation Bootes, close to the North Star.The source of this meteor shower was unknown until December 2003 when Peter Jenniskens of the Ames Research Center (NASA) found evidence that meteoroids come from 2003 EH1 , an "asteroid", which is probably a piece of a comet which collapsed 500 years ago.

03 january 2014- Mars at aphelion. The planet will be at its farthest point from the Sun at 02:00 GMT +2.

04 january 2014 - Earth reaches perihelion, the closest point to the Sun, 0.98333 AU at 7:59 GMT +2.

05 january 2014 - Jupiter at opposition.The planet will be closest to Earth and it's face will be fully illuminated by the Sun. This is the best time to view and photograph Jupiter and its moons.

12 january 2014 -Aldebaran 2.6 ° S of Moon at 10:36 GMT +2.

16 january 2014 - Full Moon. Earth is between the Sun and the Moon and so the Moon will be fully illuminated as seen from Earth. This phase occurs at 06:52 GMT +2.

16 january 2014 - Moon at apogee. Luna reaches the farthest point from Earth (406,537 km from Earth) at 03:54 GMT +2.

23 january 2014 - Spica 1.3 ° S of Moon at 11:22 GMT +2.


24 january 2014 - Venus at perihelion. The planet will be at its closest point to the Sun at 06:00 GMT +2.

25 january 2014 - Moon-Saturn occultation. Saturn 0.5 ° N of Moon at 4:18 GMT +2.

30 january 2014 - New Moon. Moon will be directly between the Earth and the Sun and will not be visible from Earth. This phase occurs at 23:38 GMT +2.

30 january 2014 - Moon reaches perigee, the closest point to Earth (357.080 km from Earth) at 11:59 GMT +2.

31 january 2014 -Mercury at its greatest elongation at: 18.4 ° E, at 12:00 GMT +2.


 Previous calendar:  Astronomical phenomena December 2013

Posted in: Astronomical calendar 2014