Sky Calendar -- January 2011

1	Beginning of the second decade of the third millennium.
1	Moon near Antares (30° from Sun, morning sky) at 20h UT.
2	Moon near Mercury (21° from Sun, morning sky) at 16h UT.
3	Earth at Perihelion (closest to Sun) at 19h UT. The Sun-Earth distance is 0.983341 a.u. or 147.1 million kilometers. • Sun at Aphelion and Perihelion (Anthony Ayiomamitis)
4	Quadrantid Meteor Shower peaks at 1h UT. Active between 1-10 January. Produces up to 120 meteors per hour. Radiant is in northern Bootes. Low moonlight makes for very favorable viewing conditions this year. • The Quadrantids (Gary Kronk) • The Quadrantids (IMO)
4	New Moon at 9:03 UT. Start of lunation 1089. • Lunation Number (Wikipedia)
4	Partial Eclipse of the Sun at 8:51 UT. Visible from much of Europe, North Africa and central Asia. Eclipse begins at 06:40, ends at 11:01 UT. WARNING: NEVER LOOK AT THE SUN -- it will instantly damage your eyes! Instead, use a pinhole in a card to project the Sun's image onto a surface. • Partial Solar Eclipse of 2011 January 04 (NASA) • Observing Solar Eclipses Safely (Mr Eclipse)
8	Venus at greatest elongation, 47° west from Sun (morning sky) at 16h UT. Mag. -4.4.
9	Mercury at greatest elongation, 23° west of Sun (morning sky) at 14h UT. Mag -0.2.
10	Moon at apogee (farthest from Earth) at 6h UT (distance 404,977 km; angular size 29.5').
10	Moon near Jupiter at 11h UT. Mag. -2.3.
12	First Quarter Moon at 11:32 UT.
15	Moon near the Pleiades at 14h UT (evening sky).
16	Moon near Aldebaran (evening sky) at 8h UT.
19	Full Moon at 21:22 UT. • Full Moon Names (Wikipedia)
20	Moon near Beehive cluster M44 (midnight sky) at 9h UT.
21	Moon near Regulus (morning sky) at 23h UT.
22	Moon at perigee (closest to Earth) at 0h UT (362,792 km; 32.9').
25	Moon near Saturn (morning sky) at 4h UT. Mag. +0.7.
25	Moon near Spica (morning sky) at 18h UT.
26	Last Quarter Moon at 12:58 UT.
29	Moon near Antares (morning sky) at 0h UT.
30	Moon near Venus at 3h UT (morning sky).
All times Universal Time (UT). USA Eastern Standard Time = UT - 5 hours, Indian Standard Time = UT + 5:30 hours. For star chart - [Click here] Credit: Skymaps.com