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♪

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What's Up for January?

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Meteors from a demoted
constellation,

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Venus high,

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comet 45P low

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and the best of Vesta.

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Hello and welcome.

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I'm Jane Houston Jones from
NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory

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in Pasadena, California.

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The new year starts with
a beautiful view of

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the moon, Venus and Mars

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on January 1st, 2nd and 3rd.

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Venus shines at its
brightest in many years.

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Through a telescope you'll see
the disk 56% lit on January 1st,

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half lit on the 14th,

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decreasing to 40% 
by month's end.

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Whoosh.

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Most meteor showers radiate from

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recognizable constellations

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like Leo's Leonids,

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Gemini's Geminids

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and Orion's Orionids.

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But the Quadrantids
are meteors that

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appear to radiate from the
location of the former

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Quadrans Muralis constellation.

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In the early 1920s the
International Astronomical Union

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divided up the sky into
official constellations.

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88 constellations remained,

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but over 30 historical
constellations

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didn't make the cut.

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The Quadrans Muralis area
of the sky is within

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the boundaries of the official
constellation Boötes.

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The Quadrantids peak lasts
for just a few hours.

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Meteor showers are usually
the residue that collects

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in the orbits of comets.

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The Quadrantids are
associated with an asteroid --

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2003 EH1.

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It is thought to be
the nucleus fragment

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from a comet break-up
in the 1490s.

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It was classified as an asteroid

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when it was discovered by

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a near-Earth asteroid
telescopic survey in 2003.

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Whoosh.

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Two other notable objects
are visible this month

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through telescopes
and binoculars.

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Comet 45P is visible
just after sunset

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at the beginning of the month

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very low in the
southwestern sky,

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and will be visible just
before sunrise by month's end.

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Vesta, the brightest of
all the asteroids,

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is visible all month long,

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reaching opposition and
its peak of brightness

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on January 17th.

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Use Gemini's twin stars Castor
and Pollux to find Vesta.

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You can catch up on
solar system missions

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and all of NASA's missions
at www.nasa.gov.

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That's all for this month,