January 7
The Night Galileo Looked Up
Sun Position
The Sun lies in Capricornus, about 22.4° south of the celestial equator. In the Northern Hemisphere the days are still short but lengthening; in the Southern Hemisphere this is high summer with long, warm evenings.
Sky Highlight
Jupiter, when present in the evening sky, rewards even small instruments with its banded disk and shifting moons, the same sight that rewrote astronomy four centuries ago. Visible from both hemispheres.
Deep Sky Object
Messier 35, a rich open cluster about 2,800 light-years away near the feet of Gemini, with a smaller, more distant cluster beside it. Well-placed worldwide.
Featured Star
Pollux (β Gem), a red giant in Gemini, 33.8 light-years away. Pollux, the immortal twin, orbited by a planet no ancient astronomer imagined.
Around This Date
- January 7, 1610Galileo first recorded three of Jupiter's moons, evidence that not everything orbits the Earth.
- January 7, 1968Surveyor 7 landed near the rim of Tycho crater, the last of NASA's Surveyor Moon landers, completing a series that proved the surface could support the weight of an Apollo spacecraft.
Four points of light undid the center of the world.