January 25
The Blue-White Supergiant
Sun Position
The Sun lies in Aquarius, about 19.3° 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
Rigel, Orion's brightest star, shines blue-white at the hunter's foot, a supergiant tens of thousands of times more luminous than the Sun. Visible worldwide.
Deep Sky Object
IC 2118, the Witch Head Nebula, a faint reflection cloud lit by Rigel about 900 light-years away. A challenging photographic target, both hemispheres.
Featured Star
Betelgeuse (α Ori), a red supergiant in Orion, about 700 light-years away. Betelgeuse, the shoulder of Orion, a red supergiant awaiting catastrophe.
Around This Date
- January 25, 2004NASA's Opportunity rover landed in Meridiani Planum, Mars, and within weeks found unmistakable evidence in the bedrock that liquid water once stood at this site.
- January 25, 1983The Infrared Astronomical Satellite (IRAS) launched, the first space-based observatory to survey the entire sky in infrared, discovering a disk of dust around Vega and the first evidence of protoplanetary systems around other stars.
One star lights a cloud of dust it will never touch.