Astronomy Picture of the Day

Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation written by a professional astronomer.

2022 January 23

Saturn, Tethys, Rings, and Shadows

Image Credit: Cassini Imaging Team, SSI, JPL, ESA, NASA

Explanation: Seen from ice moon Tethys, rings and shadows would display fantastic views of the Saturnian system. Haven’t dropped in on Tethys lately? Then this gorgeous ringscape from the Cassini spacecraft will have to do for now. Caught in sunlight just below and left of picture center in 2005, Tethys itself is about 1,000 kilometers in diameter and orbits not quite five saturn-radii from the center of the gas giant planet. At that distance (around 300,000 kilometers) it is well outside Saturn’s main bright rings, but Tethys is still one of five major moons that find themselves within the boundaries of the faint and tenuous outer E ring. Discovered in the 1980s, two very small moons Telesto and Calypso are locked in stable along Tethys’ orbit. Telesto precedes and Calypso follows Tethys as the trio circles Saturn.

23 January 2022 Daily Correspondence Digest for the Southern Hemisphere’s Moon Phase and Planetary Positions

You can use this link to go forward or backward in time for Moon phase information. If you are curious you can even find out what phase the Moon was in when you or anyone else, you know was on the date the person was born.

From Moongiant.com

The Moon’s current phase for today and tonight is a Waning Gibbous Phase. This is the first phase after the Full Moon occurs. It lasts roughly 7 days with the Moon’s illumination growing smaller each day until the Moon becomes a Last Quarter Moon with an illumination of 50%. The average Moon rise for this phase is between 9pm and Midnight depending on the age of the phase. The moon rises later and later each night setting after sunrise in the morning. During this phase the Moon can also be seen in the early morning daylight hours on the western horizon.

Visit the January 2022 Moon Phases Calendar to see all the daily moon phase for this month.

Today’s Waning Gibbous Phase

The Waning Gibbous on January 23 has an illumination of 72%. This is the percentage of the Moon illuminated by the Sun. The illumination is constantly changing and can vary up to 10% a day. On January 23 the Moon is 20.02 days old. This refers to how many days it has been since the last New Moon. It takes 29.53 days for the Moon to orbit the Earth and go through the lunar cycle of all 8 Moon phases.

The 8 Lunar Phases

There are 8 lunar phases the Moon goes through in its 29.53 days lunar cycle. The 4 major Moon phases are Full Moon, New Moon, First Quarter and Last Quarter. Between these major phases, there are 4 minor ones: the Waxing Crescent, Waxing Gibbous, Waning Gibbous and Waning Crescent. For more info on the Moon Cycle and on each phase check out Wikipedia Lunar Phase page.

Phase Details

Phase: Waning Gibbous
Illumination: 72%
Moon Age: 20.02 days
Moon Angle: 0.53
Moon Distance: 377,512.99 km
Sun Angle: 0.54
Sun Distance: 147,256,687.72 km

Useful Moon Resources

Check the weather before a night of Moon gazing at weather.com

For a list of all the current meteor showers visit American Meteor Society

If you need to calculate the planetary positions for a specific use and time, click on this link

Currentplanetarypositions.com

To figure out GMT (Greenwich Mean Time) to your local time use this link

For Your Local Time and Date

Southeastern Hemisphere

The time for this Custom Planetary Positions is from the local time in Sao Paulo, Brazil, South America

23 January 2022
08:00 pm GMT 5:00 PM BRT
Zodiac: Tropical (Standard Western)

Sun:03 Aquarius 47
Moon:12 Libra 04
Mercury:02 Aquarius 52 Rx
Venus:11 Capricorn 43 Rx
Mars:29 Sagittarius 29
Jupiter:05 Pisces 21
Saturn:14 Aquarius 31
Uranus:10 Taurus 50
Neptune:21 Pisces 11
Pluto:26 Capricorn 41
True Lunar Node:29 Taurus 15 Rx
Mean Lunar Node:28 Taurus 19 Rx
Lilith (Black Moon):21 Gemini 00
Chiron:09 Aries 00
Ceres:28 Taurus 14
Pallas:22 Pisces 53
Juno:26 Capricorn 22
Vesta:06 Capricorn 41
Eris:23 Aries 42

Fire:3
Earth:8
Air:5
Water:3

Cardinal:7
Fixed:7
Mutable:5

Southern Hemisphere

The time for this Custom Planetary Positions is from the local time in Cape Town, South Africa

23 January 2022
03:00 pm GMT 5:00 PM SAST
Zodiac: Tropical (Standard Western)

Sun:03 Aquarius 35
Moon:09 Libra 18
Mercury:03 Aquarius 08 Rx
Venus:11 Capricorn 46 Rx
Mars:29 Sagittarius 20
Jupiter:05 Pisces 19
Saturn:14 Aquarius 29
Uranus:10 Taurus 50
Neptune:21 Pisces 11

Pluto:26 Capricorn 41
True Lunar Node:29 Taurus 15 Rx
Mean Lunar Node:28 Taurus 20 Rx
Lilith (Black Moon):20 Gemini 58
Chiron:08 Aries 59
Ceres:28 Taurus 13
Pallas:22 Pisces 49
Juno:26 Capricorn 17
Vesta:06 Capricorn 35
Eris:23 Aries 42

Fire:3

Earth:8
Air:5
Water:3

Cardinal:7
Fixed:7
Mutable:5

Southwestern Hemisphere

The time for this Custom Planetary Positions is from the local time in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia

23 January 2022
06:00 am GMT 5:00 PM AEDT
Zodiac: Tropical (Standard Western)

Sun:03 Aquarius 12
Moon:04 Libra 21
Mercury:03 Aquarius 37 Rx
Venus:11 Capricorn 51 Rx
Mars:29 Sagittarius 04
Jupiter:05 Pisces 14
Saturn:14 Aquarius 26
Uranus:10 Taurus 50
Neptune:21 Pisces 10
Pluto:26 Capricorn 40

True Lunar Node:29 Taurus 17 Rx

Mean Lunar Node:28 Taurus 21 Rx
Lilith (Black Moon):20 Gemini 56
Chiron:08 Aries 58
Ceres:28 Taurus 12
Pallas:22 Pisces 42
Juno:26 Capricorn 08
Vesta:06 Capricorn 23
Eris:23 Aries 42

Fire:3
Earth:8
Air:5
Water:3

Cardinal:7
Fixed:7
Mutable:5

January 22 Today in History

Today’s Important Historical Events

1689 Prince William of Orange (future King William III of Britain), summons Convention Parliament to discuss ruling jointly with his wife Mary (daughter of exiled King James II)

1879 Battle of Rorke’s Drift: British garrison of 150 holds off 3,000-4,000 Zulu warriors. Eleven Victoria Crosses and a number of other decorations were awarded to the defenders.

1905 In St Petersburg, Russia, a large demonstration of workers led by Father Gapon, march to the Winter Palace with a petition to the Tsar; troops fire on protesters in what becomes known as ‘Bloody Sunday’

1973 Roe vs Wade: US Supreme Court legalizes most abortions

Today’s Historical Events

Today’s Historical Events in Film and TV

Today’s Historical Events in Music

Today’s Historical Events in Sports

Astronomy Picture of the Day

Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation written by a professional astronomer.

2022 January 22

The Full Moon and the Dancer

Image Credit & Copyright: Elena Pinna

Explanation: On Monday, January’s Full Moon rose as the Sun set. Spotted near the eastern horizon, its warm hues are seen in this photo taken near Cagliari, capital city of the Italian island of Sardinia. Of course the familiar patterns of light and dark across the Moon’s nearside are created by bright rugged highlands and dark smooth lunar maria. Traditionally the patterns are seen as pareidolia, giving the visual illusion of a human face like the Man in the Moon, or familiar animal like the Moon rabbit. But for a moment the swarming murmuration, also known as a flock of starlings, frozen in the snapshot’s field of view lends another pareidolic element to the scene. Some see the graceful figure of a dancer enchanted by moonlight.

For Your Listening Pleasure – Imbolc

Music for Imbolc – Brigid’s Day Songs (Celtic Festival)

For Your Listening Pleasure – Lammas

Lisa Thiel – Lammas Song