The first astronomical events of 2024 They are marked, above all, by a shower of stars: the quadrantids. It is above average, with about 40 meteors per hour, so it will be worth going out to see it, despite the cold it will surely be in the northern hemisphere.
Like every month, there will also be a full moon with a very special name, coming from the legends of the ancient Native Americans. And, of course, many conjunctions with which astrophotography lovers You will be able to capture beautiful dances of stars in the sky.
But, in reality, as we always say, you don’t need astronomical events to go out and look at the sky. Any day is good, because the sky always gives us wonderful shows. In January and any other month of the year.
The quadrantids: the main astronomical events of January
The quadrantid meteor shower is very short, since It is only visible from January 1 to 5. Its peak will take place during the night of January 3 to 4, with the Moon in the waning phase. Their brightness may obscure some of the meteors. But, since it is as intense as we mentioned above, surely some will be able to be seen.
These meteors come from the debris of the extinct comet 2003 EH1, in its annual encounter with Earth. They can be seen at any point in the sky, but the ideal is to look in the direction of the constellation of the Boyero, since this is their quadrant or, in other words, the point in the sky where they appear to be born.
Notably between January 15 and 25 we can see another meteor shower: the minorid ursae. However, this is a much weaker shower, with a rate of about 3 meteors per hour at its peak, which will be on the 19th.
The Full Wolf Moon
In the astronomical events of January, the full Moon arrives the day 25. It is, as always, a Moon baptized by the Native Americans, who called it the Wolf Moon, as it coincided with the time when hungry wolves howled towards their camps.
The conjunctions that cannot be missed
In the astronomical events of January, as in those of the rest of the year, conjunctions cannot be missing. Especially of the Moon with planets of the solar system.
On this occasion, the Moon will be seen next to Venus on January 8, with Mercury on the 9th, with Mars on the 10th, with Saturn on the 14th and with Jupiter on the 18th. But, in addition, other conjunctions will occur, such as that of Venus and Ceres on the 17th and that of Mercury and Mars on the night of January 27.
In short, although the astronomical events of January They are not the most prolific of the year, will help us start it with a good astronomical taste in our mouths. So now you know: don’t think about it, grab your brand new agenda and write down the dates we just mentioned.