IF YOU want to learn your way around the night sky this is the best time of the year to start, with the brightest stars and most conspicuous constellations all in the sky.

Look north-west and the first group you will notice will be Ursa Major, or the Plough, with its tail pointing towards the Horizon. The ‘W’ shape of Cassiopeia is high up in the north-west. The North Star, of course, will be in its usual position due north. It cannot be anywhere else.

The southern part of the night sky is dominated by Orion, which cannot be overlooked. All of the winter constellations can now be seen. If you use the three stars of Orion’s belt and draw a line to the left it will point to Sirius the Dog Star, the brightest star in the sky.

What’s up in the solar system?

The planets in January

The king of the gods, Jupiter, largest of the planets, dominates the night sky this month. The planet rises at about 7.30pm. If you see a very bright white dot in the south during January this is Jupiter. During the first two weeks of the month the planets Mercury and Venus can be seen low in the sky just after sunset in the south-west. Venus is much the brighter.

Mars is difficult to find because it is not very bright, but it is visible just as the sun sets in the south-west. Saturn can be seen in the morning sky at about 6am before the sun rises.

Meteor showers

The first regular meteor shower of the year is the Quadrantids, which can be seen on the night of January 3/4. Unfortunately the glare from the moon will make it difficult to see the fainter meteors. The Quadrantids is the only meteor shower that takes its name from a defunct constellation. It is named after the Mural Quadrant, one of many which no longer exists because the star map has been redrawn.

Phases of the moon for January

Full Moon 5th, Last Quarter 13th, New Moon 20th, First Quarter 27th

The full moon this month is called the After Yule Moon. This is the first full moon following the feast of Yule.

Earth at Perihelion

On January 4 the earth is at Perihelion, which is its closest point to the sun during the yearly path around our local star. We will be experiencing winter in January although the earth is closest to the sun. The seasons are not caused by our proximity to the sun, but come round according to which hemisphere is tilted towards or away from the sun. In January, although earth is close to the sun, the northern hemisphere is tilted away from it.

The next meeting of Earby Astronomical Society will be on Friday, January 30, at All Saints’ Church, Earby from 7.30pm to 9pm. The speaker will be Martin Lunn MBE FRAS from the society, and the talk will be on ‘The Winter Sky’.