The Return of the Sun
We have passed the winter solstice and, although it may not seem so to residents of the northern hemisphere, the number of daylight hours is slowly increasing. If the Sun is looking a little big to you these days, it might be because we are closest to the Sun on January 4 this year. As many of you know, the tilt of Earth's rotation axis is more important in determining our seasons than the shape of our orbit.
The Full Moon of January is known as the Old Moon. or the Moon After Yule according to Guy Ottewell and the Astronomical Calendar. The Full Moon occurs near the end of the month as it did last month, so the darkest nights are in the middle of the month.
The great constellation of Orion dominates the southern sky at nine or ten o'clock this month.
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