JANUARY 2015:
4 – The Quadrantids (QUA) meteor shower peaks at ~02:00 UT, with ZHR around 120.
5 – Full Moon at 04:55 UT.
8 – Occultation of bright star π Leo (magnitude +4.7) by Moon at ~20:50 UT, depending on the location of the observer – detailed info.
12 – Conjunction of planets Venus and Mercury. At the time they are separated less than one degrees. Hard to observe as planets are less than 20 degrees away from Sun.
12 – Comet C/2014 Q2 Lovejoy at brightest. By this time its brightness may reach magnitude 4 or brighter (easily seen by naked eye).
14 – Planet Mercury reaches greatest evening elongation 18.9 degrees east of the Sun at around 16:00 UT. Visible just after sunset.
17 – The Jupiter moons Io and Europa cast a double shadow on planet Jupiter from 03:53 to 04:58 UT.
20 – Conjunction of planets Mars and Neptune. At 20:00 UT they are separated by 0.2 degrees.
21 – New Moon at 13:15 UT.
24 – A triple shadow transit of Jupiter’s moons (Io, Europa and Calisto) occurs from 06:26 to 06:54 UT.
25 – Alpha Com eclipse. It has a 26-year period and will last between 28 and 45 hours. The accuracy of the eclipse prediction is +/- 3 days – detailed info.
30 – Comet C/2014 Q2 Lovejoy crosses perihelion at a distance of 1.3 AU from the Sun.
RECENT STELLAR EVENTS::
ASASSN-14lp Type Ia Supernova in galaxy NGC4666 (constellation Virgo).