Today's Image

The Mars-Uranus conjunction of January 2021

Posted by
Theresa Wiegert
and
January 23, 2021
Red glowing dot to the right and white dot top left, both labeled, on star field.
View at EarthSky Community Photos. | Mohd Nazam Anuar in Johor Baharu, Malaysia, beautifully captured ice giant Uranus and our neighbor Mars on January 20, 2021, despite a nearby moon. Thank you, Mohd!

Mars and Uranus came as close as 1.75 degrees from each other during their January 21 conjunction. Despite the bright moon passing so near at the same time (January 20-21), our readers managed to capture a number of really great photographs on January 20, when the waxing moon was a bit fainter than the following day!

The 2021 lunar calendars are here. Order yours before they’re gone!

An overexposed first quarter moon, with tiny labeled dots for Uranus and Mars nearby.
View at EarthSky Community Photos. | Nice catch from Helio C. Vital in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil! Very faint Uranus and brighter Mars are now in a single binocular field, but Uranus would have been difficult to see on the night of January 20, 2021, so near the moon’s glare. Helio said he reduced glare and enhanced contrast using PhotoScape. Thank you, Helio!
Bright waxing moon in below, Mars and Uranus labeled center top, with branches in the foreground.
View at EarthSky Community Photos. | Alexander Krivenyshev in Guttenberg, New Jersey, captured Uranus and Mars with the moon through the trees on January 20, 2021. Thank you, Alexander!
Bright reddish planet with spikes in center, Uranus to the left as a small dot, labeled with names and date.
View at EarthSky Community Photos. | Victor C. Rogus in Sedona, Arizona, captured this image of Uranus and Mars through his telescope on January 20, 2021. He wrote: “The sky this evening was fair at best, but I was able to capture this image of an overexposed Mars and the planet Uranus through thin clouds. Light takes 2 hours, 43 minutes and 27 seconds to travel from Uranus and arrive to us.” Thank you, Victor!

Bottom line: Mars and Uranus passed close to each other in a conjunction on January 21, 2021. Photos from the event captured by EarthSky readers available here.

Posted 
January 23, 2021
 in 
Today's Image

Theresa Wiegert

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About the Author:
Theresa Wiegert is a Swedish-Canadian astronomer with a Ph.D. in astrophysics and a master's in physics. She has loved the sky and everything in it and beyond ever since she was four years old and asked her father about the very bright star she saw one early Christmas morning. Learning it wasn’t a star but the planet Venus, she started reading anything astronomy-related she could find. Eventually she ended up as a radio astronomer, researching gas in spiral galaxies. She loves science outreach and teaching, especially showing the night sky to groups of kids (and adults!).

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