January Highlights

by Jim Spigelmire

It’s sort of an inside joke amongst amateur astronomers that some of the best nights for viewing planetary and deepsky wonders are also the most bitter cold.  This January is sure to not disappoint.   This month we can enjoy some of the most easily recognized constellations (Orion, Sirius, Gemini and some of the brightest stars in the urban skies (Betelgeuse, Rigel, Sirius) – all high in the sky well before midnight.  January is also the month for the Quadrantid meteor shower which will appear to radiate from the constellation Bootes.

As the sun is setting – we still get to enjoy the showing of the two brightest planets as seen from Earth with Jupiter high in the sky near zenith, as it day by day speeds toward Venus in the West.  Venus sets soon after full dark, but look for it to pass just 1.2-deg south of Neptune on the 13^th.  Mars begins its rise late in the evening an on the 25^th, will stand still from Earth’s perspective as it begins its retrograde motion.  Uranus is our other evening planet.  Look for it in the western sky in the constellation Pisces in the early evening.  Well after midnight Saturn begins its rise in the constellation Virgo and Mercury is in the southwestern sky just before dawn.

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