![]() 15 to a 50″-wide, 15-percent-lit disk on Jan. Through a telescope, Venus changes from a 1′-wide slender crescent that is 1 percent lit on Jan. Venus’ visibility improves in a darker sky throughout the rest of the month, and it stands 12° high an hour before sunrise on Jan. Venus drops out of view soon after - how long can you keep track of it in the evening sky? It will reappear in the morning sky around midmonth, rising in the east about an hour before the Sun and shining at magnitude –4.3. The four major planets span a total of nearly 40°. Higher still, in Aquarius, lies Jupiter, shining at magnitude –2.1. ![]() Look 12° above our satellite for the ringed planet Saturn (magnitude 0.7) in Capricornus. The pair of inner planets is joined by a 1-day-old, very slender (2 percent lit) crescent Moon Jan. Nearby, just 8° to the upper left, is Mercury, glowing a fainter magnitude –0.7. Look for it 5° high in the southwest 30 minutes after sunset, shining at magnitude –4.2. 1, Venus sets about 1 hour after the Sun. 1, because Venus will dip out of view after the first few days of the month. ![]() Only Mars is missing from the nightly lineup - it’s over in the morning sky, transiting the rich star clouds of the Milky Way.įour major planets crowd the evening twilight sky in early January, strung like jewels on a necklace along the line of the ecliptic. Uranus and Neptune can be spotted with binoculars, riding high in the southern sky after sunset. Mercury remains in view through midmonth, while Jupiter and Saturn are visible all month. The inner pair of planets, Mercury and Venus, swaps places in the first week of January. A crescent Moon skips along this line of planets over a few nights early in the month. Mercury, Venus, Jupiter, and Saturn offer nightly fascination. The new year opens with a spectacular array of planets lined up in the western sky soon after sunset.
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