Portal:Astronomy/Events/January 2012

All times UT unless otherwise specified.

January 2012
Date	Time	Celestial Object	Category	Event	Mathematical Values	Notes
01 January	06:15	Moon	Lunar Phases	First quarter moon	Diameter = 29.7 '	Twice in the same month
02 January	20:20	Moon	Apsis	Moon at apogee	Diameter = 29.5 ' Moon-Earth Distance = 404 589 kms	Twice in the same month
02 January	23:54	Moon	Conjunction of Planets with the Moon	Jupiter 4.8º south of Moon
04 January		Meteoroid	Meteor shower	Quadrantids peak
	22:00	Earth	Apsis	Earth at perihelion		Its closest to the Sun for the year (just 1 part in 30 closer than at aphelion in July)
		Mercury	Constellation	Mercury enters into the constellation Sagittarius
06 January	21:00	Moon	Lunar node	Moon at descending node	Diameter = 30.1 ' Furthest North (22.5)
09 January	07:32	Moon	Lunar Phases	Full moon	Diameter = 30.9 '
09 January		Venus	Constellation	Venus enters into the constellation Aquarius
13 January	08:46	Mercury	Conjunction of Planets	Mercury 4.6º south of Pluto
13 January	07:07	Venus	Conjunction of Planets	Venus 1.1º south of Neptune
14 January	00:47	Moon	Conjunction of Planets with the Moon	Mars 8.4º north of Moon
14 January		Sun	Constellation	Sun enters into the constellation Capricorn
16 January	09:08	Moon	Lunar Phases	Last Quarter Moon	Diameter = 32.3 '
17 January	21:00	Meteoroid	Meteor shower	Delta Cancrids peak
	21:29	Moon	Apsis	Moon at perigee	Diameter = 32.3 ' Moon-Earth Distance = 369 899 kms
	15:41	Moon	Conjunction of Planets with the Moon	Saturn 6.0º north of Moon
18 January		Mercury	Apsis	Mercury at aphelion	Diameter = 4.9 "
20 January	02:00	Moon	Lunar node	Moon at ascending node	Diameter = 32.2 ' Furthest South (- 22.4)
20 January		Saturn	Quadrature	Saturn at western quadrature	Diameter = 17.1 "
21 January	12:00	Moon	Conjunction of Planets with the Moon	Pluto 1.7º north of Moon
22 January	11:15	Moon	Conjunction of Planets with the Moon	Mercury 4.6º south of Moon
22 January		Jupiter	Quadrature	Jupiter at eastern quadrature	Diameter = 40.4 "
23 January	07:39	Moon	Lunar Phases	New moon	Diameter = 31.4 '
24 January		Mercury	Constellation	Mercury enters into the constellation Capricorn
24 January	23:00	Mars	Stationary	Mars at western stationary point	Diameter = 11.0 "
25 January	08:22	Moon	Conjunction of Planets with the Moon	Neptune 5.5º south of Moon
26 January	13:19	Moon	Conjunction of Planets with the Moon	Venus 6.2º south of Moon
27 January	21:59	Moon	Conjunction of Planets with the Moon	Uranus 5.5º south of Moon
30 January	12:07	Moon	Conjunction of Planets with the Moon	Jupiter 4.3º south of Moon
30 January	17:43	Moon	Apsis	Moon at apogee	Diameter = 29.6 ' Moon-Earth Distance = 404 326 kms	Twice in the same month
31 January	04:00	Moon	Lunar Phases	First quarter moon	Diameter = 29.6 '	Twice in the same month
31 January		433 Eros		433 Eros will pass the Earth	Visual Magnitude = + 8.1 Eros-Earth Distance = 0.17867 AU (26,729,000 km; 16,608,000 mi)	About 70 times the distance to the Moon