UK Astronomy January skies

Bucks based charity UK Astronomy are hoping to bring the night sky to more people.The organisation is hoping to educate and encourage people's love of what's above us.

Listen to Founder Ross Hockham here to find out what this months highlights are up in skies.

Ross is the one on the left !!

A January Comet Chase

C/2022 E3 ZTF is a long period comet which reaches its perihelion on January 12th and the closest approach to Earth will be on February 1st at a distance of 0.28 AU (1 AU is the distance between Earth and the Sun). It is being said that it has been brightening in our skies over the past month, rising around 11pm it will be moving past Hercules right up towards Ursa Minor.

Tonight the 10th it can be found just to the right of the great globular cluster in Hercules between the constellation and Bootes, there’s a string of stars that you can follow up from the glob that will point you to its location.

23rd and 24th the comet will be to the left of the galaxy M102 in Draco which makes a great photo opportunity, also known as the spindle galaxy it is faint but cameras should be able to pic it up nicely in the same shot as the comet fingers crossed.

Right at the end of the month it will be around the North star Polaris and is said to brighten enough that you can see it with binoculars, sitting around this area for the last few nights of the month if you get a clear sky why not pop out and see if you can spot it.