Kingston Skies in January 2021 - compiled by Rick Wagner

Date Time (EDT) Event In the Sky

02 Jan - Earth at perihelion - closest to the Sun 147,093,162km 

03 Jan - Quadrantid meteor shower peaks at 10:30EST today; this is a very strong and sharply peaked shower so best viewing will be before dawn, though the waning gibbous Moon will prevent seeing the fainter meteors. Watch for bright fireballs in spite of the Moon!

06 Jan - Last quarter Moon

08 Jan - asteroid 137 Meliboea occults star TYC 0172-02312-1 at 01:29EST.

10 Jan - Mercury joins Jupiter and Saturn very low in the southwestern sky just after sunset.

13 Jan - New Moon

13 Jan - very young extremely thin crescent Moon - only ~16 hours old, very very low in the SW very shortly after sunset. This one will be hard to see but easy to find the right location just 5º, about one binocular field, below bright Jupiter; Saturn and Mercury are just up and to the left of Jupiter.

18 Jan 18:41:21 ± 5 seconds Eastern - Asteroid 519 Sylvania occults 11.7 Mag star TYC 2416-733-1 in Auriga for up to 5 seconds across the Kingston Area. For more details see here.

20 Jan - First quarter Moon

21 Jan - Uranus is just 1.7º south of Mars in the evening. The Moon is also nearby so you'll need binoculars to see Uranus at mag 5.8.

21 Jan - asteroid 55 Eunomia at opposition, mag 8.4

23 Jan - Mercury at greatest elongation east (19º), mag 0.7. This is Mercury’s best evening apparition this year.

24 Jan - asteroid 14 Irene at opposition, mag 9.2.

24 Jan - Saturn in conjunction with the Sun - apparition 2021 begins!

28 Jan - asteroid 10 Hygiea at opposition, mag 9.8.

28 Jan - Full Moon

29 Jan - Jupiter in conjunction with the Sun - apparition 2021 begins!