There are lots to be seen in Irish skies for those interested in astronomy throughout the month of January.
David Moore of Astronomy Ireland highlighted some stargazing events that are well worth pencilling into your diary to catch a glimpse of this month.
And you won’t have to wait too long for the first one, as the largest planet in the solar system, Jupiter, can be seen next to the moon on both Wednesday and Thursday night.
Mr Moore told the Irish Mirror: “I’m just looking at the moon here, waiting for it to get dark because just above it, we should have the planet Jupiter and Jupiter looks like the brightest star in the sky once it gets dark.
He added: “It will actually be close to it tomorrow night as well. So, if you look to the right of the moon tomorrow night with the naked eye, no telescopes, you'll see the planet Jupiter, the biggest planet in the solar system.”
The wonderful space sightings don’t end there, as, from January 18th, people across Ireland will be able to see the International Space Station crossing through the sky.
Mr Moore said: “Starting on January the 18th, the International Space Station will literally blaze across the sky. I mean, it's about as bright as the moon, far brighter than any of the stars.
“It takes about two or three minutes to cross the sky and what makes it interesting is, first of all, it's actually worth about 100 billion dollars, so not bad, and secondly, it's got six astronauts on board.
“So you actually get to see a man spaceship crossing the sky every night for two weeks starting January 18th, and people can get free predictions for that on astronomy Ireland social media. We post them every afternoon to tell people what time to look that night.”
Next Monday night Astronomy Ireland will also be holding its New Year public lecture, which will be about the James Webb Space Telescope, which was launched on Christmas Day.
Mr Moore said: “The James Webb space telescope launched on Christmas day. It’s the biggest telescope ever built. It cost about 10 billion dollars, and it's part Irish built, so even the Americans couldn’t afford to build a telescope that big, so they got the European Space Agency and the Canadians to help.
“It’s taken about twenty years to build it, and it launched, thank goodness successfully, on Christmas day, and it's going out a million miles away from the earth, so it doesn’t have the glare off the earth like the Hubble Space Telescope does.
“And it will be able to see the first star ever to shine in the universe. Basically, it can see back in time it's that good. So our public lecture is by one of the Irish team who helped to build it.”
The lecture will take place on Monday night at 7pm, and you can get a ticket online at astronomy.ie.
Astronomy Ireland will also be running beginners evening classes online In February. More information can be found here.
