Night Sky Calendar for January 2011

[rodsky]

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Checked the SSEC for weather forecasts the next few days and it looks promising. So sharing the January Sky Cal here (taken from Skymaps.com), starting January 10 :

Sky Calendar -- January 2011

10 Moon at apogee (farthest from Earth) at 6h UT (distance 404,977 km; angular size 29.5').

10 Moon near Jupiter at 11h UT. Mag. -2.3.

12 First Quarter Moon at 11:32 UT.

15 Moon near the Pleiades at 14h UT (evening sky).

16 Moon near Aldebaran (evening sky) at 8h UT.

19 Full Moon at 21:22 UT.

20 Moon near Beehive cluster M44 (midnight sky) at 9h UT.

21 Moon near Regulus (morning sky) at 23h UT.

22 Moon at perigee (closest to Earth) at 0h UT (362,792 km; 32.9').

25 Moon near Saturn (morning sky) at 4h UT. Mag. +0.7.

25 Moon near Spica (morning sky) at 18h UT.

26 Last Quarter Moon at 12:58 UT.

29 Moon near Antares (morning sky) at 0h UT.

30 Moon near Venus at 3h UT (morning sky).

All times Universal Time (UT) equiv. to GMT (Phil time is UT + 8 hours).

Just a quick note--the moon will be in waxing gibbous phase during the Sinulog nights...

...so if the sky is clear, the moon will be out and pouring its silvery light over Cebu City parties.

-RODION

[mariaClara]

i forgot.. does the moon tuyok on it's own axis??

diba mu-circle man siya sa earth.. kung dili siya mu-tuyok on it's axis ba, same ra ang face sa moon nga atong makita noh?

[rodsky]

i forgot.. does the moon tuyok on it's own axis??

Correct.

diba mu-circle man siya sa earth.. kung dili siya mu-tuyok on it's axis ba, same ra ang face sa moon nga atong makita noh?

Na-bali imong analysis. If dili siya spin on its axis and it goes around the earth, naturally makit-an hinoon nato tanang sides the moon. Just try it now, take an orange or apple, and let it go around your fist--if the apple kay steady ra, then whoever is on your fist will see ALL THE SIDES of the apple as it goes around your fist. However...this is the nice part...if the apple ROTATES 360 degrees, in a time period that matches the time it takes for it to circle your fist, then you will ALWAYS see ONLY one side of the apple if you were looking at it from your fist...try it with the apple and your hands...that's the same thing happening with the moon...

...why? Because one "day" on the moon is equal to one month (i.e. the time it takes for the moon to encircle the earth)

-RODION