Hello ...
Happy New Year! Here's your Cosmic Pursuits newsletter for January 2025!
1. The year 2024 winds down with all seven major planets making appearances in the evening and early morning skies this month. Jupiter reaches opposition in Taurus, and Mars also brightens considerably further east on its way to opposition next month. The Geminid meteor shower arrives at mid-month, although the nearly full Moon gets in the way this year. And the Sun reaches
the December solstice on the 21st marking the beginning of winter and summer in the northern and southern hemispheres, respectively. Here's what to see in the Night Sky This Month...
2. As Mars reaches opposition, our
detailed Mars Observing Guide helps you find what to see on and around this arid and frigid world with a telescope.
3. From the archives - the always insightful Joe Bergeron meditates on his many years of observing the Red Planet.
4. I spent a fair bit of time under the stars this year. Here's a brief look at some of my favorite image captures from
2024.
5. And finally, in this video Ed Ting reviews his take on 10 telescopes that changed amateur astronomy forever.
And the
astronomy quote of the month:
“If there was an observer on Mars, they would probably be amazed that we have survived this long.”
- Noam Chomsky
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Wishing you clear skies!
Brian Ventrudo
Publisher
CosmicPursuits.com
