Bob Moler's Ephemeris Blog

Ephemeris for Tuesday, January 8th.  The sun will rise at 8:18.  It’ll be up for 9 hours and 1 minute, setting at 5:20.   The moon, 3 days before new, will rise at 5:56 tomorrow morning.

The closest star firming region to us is the Great Orion Nebula. It’s 1,344 light years  away give or take 20 light years.  A light year is about 6 trillion miles, if you’re counting. It’s located in the constellation Orion’s sword that hangs below his belt.  It shines by emission and reflection of the light of a clutch of four stars at its heart, astronomers have called the Trapezium.  Binoculars can be used to spot the nebula surrounding what looks like the middle star of the sword.  The sword stars aren’t single stars like the belt but groups of stars.  Anyway a telescope, using its lowest power will see a glow around those Trapezium stars.  The glow will have a dark notch out of it, which is a dark cloud in front if it.  Wisps of gas may also be seen.

Times are for the Traverse City/Interlochen area of Michigan.  They may be different for your location.

Addendum

The Great Orion Nebula is also number 42 on Charles Messier’s list of objects to avoid when searching for comets.  Amateur astronomers know it as M42, the show piece of the winter sky.

Orion via Stellarium.org

Inner part of the Great Orion Nebula (M42). Image by Scott Anttila.

The Great Orion Nebula (M42) long exposure photograph by Scott Anttila. Includes all the sword stars.