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Ephemeris: 01/20/2025 – The planets augment the Winter Hexagon

January 20, 2025

This is Ephemeris for Martin Luther King Jr. Day, Monday, January 20th. Today the Sun will be up for 9 hours and 22 minutes, setting at 5:35, and it will rise tomorrow at 8:12. The Moon, 1 day before last quarter, will rise at 12:56 tomorrow morning.

The winter circle or more properly hexagon, seen in the winter sky this evening, has the addition of two planets, and they’re in the proper location so that they don’t spoil the hexagon. We start at the top with the star Capella high in the east. We move clockwise downward to Jupiter and below it the star Aldebaran. We drop lower to Orion’s knee and the star Rigel, then down to Sirius, low in the southeast, the brightest nighttime star, but doesn’t hold a candle to Jupiter. Then we go above left to Procyon and upwards and left to Mars, which is near Pollux, and finally back up to Capella. That’s that is our winter hexagon right now, so take it in while you can, before Jupiter and Mars move off and mess it up.

The astronomical event times given are for the Traverse City/Interlochen area of Michigan (EST, UT – 5 hours). Times will be different for other locations.

Addendum

The Winter Hexagon, right now, with Jupiter replacing Aldebaran and Mars replacing Pollux
The Winter Hexagon, for tonight at 8 PM, January 20, 2025, with Jupiter replacing Aldebaran and Mars replacing Pollux, but still keeping the basic shape of the hexagon. This will soon change as Jupiter and especially Mars eventually begin to move eastward. Created using Stellarium, LibreOffice Draw, and GIMP.

As for events happening on Earth: Resist!

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