On the mornings of January 9, 10 and 11, 2021, you can watch as the waning crescent moon sweeps past a bright star – Antares in the constellation Scorpius – and an even brighter planet, Venus. Look east before the sun comes up. You can’t miss them if your sky is clear.
Antares is a red star and represents the Scorpion’s Heart. We in the Northern Hemisphere consider it a summer star, because it’s visible on summer evenings. But it’s up before the sun on cold northern winter mornings. Skywatchers in the Southern Hemisphere can see this star even better than we in the north. From there, it make a grand high arc across the sky. For a specific view of Antares, the moon and Venus on these January mornings, from your location on the globe, try Stellarium.
Posted by Eleanor Imster in Today s Image |
January 18, 2021
Venus has been the “morning star,” shining brightly near the horizon just before sunrise. Photographers are capturing pictures in January 2021 and sharing those images with EarthSky.
View at EarthSky Community Photos. | Catherine Evans caught Venus near daybreak on Sunday morning (January 17, 2021) from the Edna Valley in San Luis Obispo, California. She wrote: “Closer and closer to the sunrise, so it won’t be seen much longer.” So true, Catherine! Thank you. Venus will be traveling behind the sun for the coming months, only to emerge in the evening sky again in May. If you have a clear sky to the eastern horizon, you can still snag a last look at Venus, low in the east before sunup.