Planet Scenes January 2023

		January 28 This is one of the last days that we can see Saturn at the end of evening twilight, but the main focus is now on the daily closening of Venus toward Jupiter, a process that will play out for another month until their conjunction on March 1.  Although not seen on the images, near Jupiter there are three faint solar system bodies:  Neptune, Vesta, and Juno.
	January 27 Now passing by the end stars of the bowl in Ursa Minor, Comet ZTF E3 is probably close to peak brightness since although it will still get closer to Earth, it is past perihelion.  From here, the comet will continue through Ursa Minor, into Camelopardalis, and on into Auriga and Taurus.
	January 24 Comet ZTF E3 is getting brighter each day, this morning even being easily visible in binoculars through high clouds.  It formed a nice pair with the star ι Draconis.
		January 23 Our weather turned very clear just in the nick of time to see Venus one day past her conjunction with Saturn, and one day after the Moon passed both of them.
	January 21 Venus and Saturn are one day away from their close conjunction tomorrow, which will be joined for two days by the crescent Moon, but our weather is projected to be poor, so this is probably my best opportunity to see the two planets close.  They are a little more than 1° apart this evening.
	January 20 Comet ZTF (Zwicky Transient Facility) C/2022 E3, now in far northeastern Boötes, was captured on Friday morning, January 20, at 5:45 EST, from my driveway outside of Fredericksburg, VA.
	January 18 The Sun has been especially active so far this year, with one sunspot in particular being prominent enough to see with the unaided eye (although not by me!).  Here we have an enlarged view of the Sun taken with a 300 mm lens; click on the large image to see the original image.
				January 15 Venus has finally climbed out of the twilight glow enough to be seen in an almost completely dark sky before it sets, and is now about a week away from its conjunction with Saturn.  Jupiter is prograding in Pisces again, moving away from Neptune which is still in Aquarius, while Mars and Uranus are close to their stationary points in Taurus and Aries, respectively.
			January 5 This January is starting off incredibly mild, with temperatures in the 60's for several days ~ the complete opposite of last year LOL!  Here we see Venus and Saturn in the evening, heading toward a nice conjunction later in January, and Mars over near an almost full Moon in the east.

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