Derekscope

The Lunar X and V are not lasting lunar features which are visible on the lunar surface for about 4 hours.

o

Name of craters Ukert (marked V) and Blanchinus (marked X) stood out, reflecting sunlight in a pattern asterism resembling letters of the alphabet.
o

This photo of the First Quarter Moon shows the positions of the Lunar V (top), and the Lunar X (bottom) ~ the best time to observe these two claire-obscure effects is when the Moon is seven days old.

BSL Version

O
(Next event : Wednesday 5th February 2025 – 7:30am)

oooo

Neptune will be visible in the night sky, but spotting it will require binoculars or a telescope ~ Neptune is quite faint and not visible to the naked eye.

BSL Version

oooo

As evening twilight darkened on Friday 3rd January, Venus and the moon were visible to the naked eye in the south-west night sky.

oooo

Great opportunity, capturing Io’s shadow on Jupiter can be remarkable photography.

oooo

Occultation of Saturn

The Moon will pass in front of Saturn, creating a lunar occultation visible from the United Kingdom.

The occultation will be visible from Milton Keynes ~ it will begin with the disappearance of Saturn behind the Moon at 17:16 / 5.16pm, and its reappearance will be visible at 18:14 / 6.14pm.

BSL Version

oooo

On Friday 3rd, the pair will be too widely separated to fit within the field of view of a telescope, but will be visible to the naked eye or through a pair of binoculars.

BSL Version

oooo

Stay up-to-date with all of our
most interesting observational highlights
for this month by following us on social media.

oooo

oooo

NGC2244 know as the Rosette Nebula Cluster, is an open cluster located in the constellation Monoceros, near the celestial equator ~ embedded within the large Rosette Nebula, a stunning region of star formation.

Best viewing time – December through February (magnitude +4.8, making it visible through binoculars and small telescopes in dark skies.)