Exploring New Year's Skies

The night skies of this cold winter month would present numerous planets, constellations, stars, and other enticing enigmatic entities that can be observed all over the heavens. The elusive planet Mercury would stay low in the eastern sky and be lost in solar glare during daybreak for it to be glimpsed well. It would be high in constellation Sagittarius (the archer) during the daytime and be out of sight. Planet Venus could be visualised in the southwestern sky after sunset. It would be slowly sinking towards the horizon. It would reach its greatest eastern elongation from the Sun on 10 January. It would provide the best time to view Venus since it will soar to the highest place above the horizon in the evening sky. Venus would stand out fabulously fulgent in the western sky after nightfall. 

Venus would be venturing through the cosmic realm occupied by the confounding constellation Aquarius (water bearer) towards the charming constellation Pisces (fishes). The ruddy planet Mars could be marvelled at in the northeastern sky after dusk. It would climb high in the southern sky late at night and move towards the southwestern horizon by dawn. 

Being in opposition to the Sun, it would make its closest approach to Earth on 16 January. Mars would look more lambent than any other time of the year all night long. Powerful telescopes would enable Mars-lovers to peer at the dark details on the planet's orange topography. It is marching mysteriously through the startling, starry expanse of the cutely compact constellation Cancer (crab) towards the captivating constellation Gemini (twins). Stars Castor (Kasturi) and Pollux (Punarvasu) are gleaming gorgeously above Mars in Gemini. Bonnie Beehive star cluster (M44) could be cherished below Mars in the comely constellation Cancer. It could hold a total of one thousand stars. This bizarre body could be 610 light-years away. Baffling double star Asellus Australis (Pushya) is devoutly dwelling in Cancer. 

Planet Jupiter can be applauded in the eastern sky after sundown. It is aloft in the southern sky before midnight and slides towards the southern horizon thereafter evanescently. It is glistening with its mesmerising moons in congenial constellation Taurus (bull). Astonishingly strange, stupendous red giant star Aldebaran (Rohini) is sparkling below Jupiter. It would be basically 65 light-years away. The stupefying ringed planet Saturn is seen shortly for some time in the southwestern sky from the gloaming hours. 

It would be creeping towards the horizon and become inconspicuous. It is with the stars of the commanding constellation of Aquarius (water bearer). Venus and Saturn make a tight tryst on 18 January. They could be wowed in the southwestern horizon as dusk fades to darkness. Both planets are enjoying their sweet sojourn in constellation Aquarius. Planet Uranus could be perceived in the eastern sky during quiet and eerie eventide. 

It would ascend the southern sky. After midnight it is descending towards the western horizon. It is recognised in the southern sprawling barren backyard of charismatic constellation Aries (ram). The bluish, far-flung planet Neptune can be picked out tersely in the southwestern sky from twilight. It can be discerned below the iconic circlet-asterism of the conjuring constellation Pisces. Attractive asteroids 14 Irene and 887 Alinda, with delightful diameters of 152 and 04 kilometres, respectively, could be appreciated from golden crepuscule in the eastern sky to late at night in the southern sky and eventually hinging to the western horizon. They would sail serenely, star-like, through a shiny spot of luminous light through constellation Gemini. 

The full moon would betide on 13 January. Venerated Sri Swastani Puja would commence respectfully on this day. Its popular moniker of wolf full moon would vividly vignette the time of year when hungry wolf packs would be howling outside the settlers’ camps. 

The new moon would befall on 29 January. The alluringly average Quadrantid meteor shower would display dramatically up to 40 meteors per hour during its peak, which would transpire terrifically this year from the night of the 3rd till the morning of the 4th of January. The waxing crescent moon sets early in the evening, leaving tenebrous skies for offering an excellent show of scintillating shooting stars without any disturbance. Their wonderful watching would be from locations without light pollution during wee hours after midnight. Quadrantids are allegedly produced by dust grains left behind by the arcane asteroid (probably dormant or extinct comet) 2003 EH. 

The Lowell Observatory Near-Earth-Object Search (LONEOS), based near Flagstaff, Arizona, found it in March 2003. The asteroid requires 5.5 years to tumble around the Sun. The shower would run generally from mid-November through mid-January. The shower is traced from the Northern Hemisphere, as the radiant elevates over the horizon. 

It draws an approximate imaginary right angle with the circumpolar constellation Ursa Major (great bear or big dipper) and the resplendent red giant star Arcturus (Swati) nestling in the kite-mimicking constellation Bootes (herdsman). Arcturus is ardently 36.5 light-years away. The Quadrantids were named after the constellation Quadrans Muralis (mural quadrant), which French astronomer Jerome Lalande created in 1795. The International Astronomical Union (IAU) compiled a queer list of 88 modern constellations without including Quadrans Muralis in 1922. Now hardly anyone would remember this old constellation. 

However, the defunct Quadrans Muralis still carries the sobriquet for the Quadrantids. Earth's span from the Sun varies by a scant three percent over the year because its trajectory has been slightly oval and ellipse-like during its path around the Sun. As Earth completes one revolution around this virtually circular track, it makes its immediate rendezvous (perihelion) at exiguously 147.099 million kilometres from the Sun on roughly the same day every year.

 In 2025, this day falls on 04 January. Technically it would mark the moment when the Sun would appear relatively bigger. Earth receives the most radiation from it. But in reality this petite three percent difference in Earth's distance from the Sun is barely noticeable. Furthermore, annual alteration in our weather between the summer and winter has resulted entirely from the tantalising tilt of the earth's axis of rotation (amounting to a paltry 23.5 degrees) rather than from any change in the earth’s length from the Sun. 

At perihelion, the Sun would reside restfully in the constellation Sagittarius.

 NASA’s Parker Solar Probe made history on last Christmas Eve after becoming the human-made object scooting very near the Sun. It was hailed as a fascinating feat as compared to the outstanding Apollo moon landing. It zoomed boldly within just 6.116 million kilometres of the Sun's surface. Sprinting at stunning speeds of up to 692 kilometres per hour and enduring temperatures of scorching 982.22 degrees Celsius, the car-sized probe figuratively touched the Sun to help scientists better understand and survey our home star. During that brief flyby, it aviated through the Sun's super-hot outer atmosphere called the corona, deemed as triggering solar storms that have caused chaos on Earth. 

Although the probe faced boiling temperatures, it's almost indestructible heat shield allowed it to survive the extreme conditions. The flight is the first of three record-setting close passes, with the next two missions to be undertaken on 22 March 2025 and 19 June 2025. The Parker Solar Probe was launched from Cape Canaveral in August 2018 before embarking on the utterly 150 million kilometres journey to the Sun. 

Its goal was to accumulate diverse data about the solar corona by flying through the region of stellar atmosphere from which the perplexing plasma and magnetic fields that release solar flares and coronal mass ejections originate. Because the gravitational pull is so strong, the probe needed to hurtle incredibly swiftly to avoid slipping and crashing into the heart of the Sun. To do this, the probe has repeatedly performed slingshots around the Sun and planet Venus, getting progressively faster with each pass. 

The probe will collect particles from the Sun in the Solar Probe Cup, which is concocted from a titanium-zirconium-molybdenum metal alloy with a melting point of a staggering 2349 degrees Celsius. As the Sun enters its solar maximum this year, experts have warned that Earth could be impacted by a superflare, actuating widespread blackouts and damage and disruption to satellite networks. By gathering and transmitting invaluable data, the Parker Solar Probe will assist scientists in making precise predictions about space weather. Although the craft will be torn apart by Sun's gravity, the heat shield could perhaps continue to zip around Sun for some long time.

(Dr. Shah is an academician at NAST and patron of NASO)