January is a good month for interesting planetary alignment . You will have a lot go on in the dark sky . For most of the month , six out of the eight major planet will be visible in the heavens . Mercury is currently on the other side of the Sun and you are stand on number eight ( unless you are on the International Space Station ) .
They are super easy to espy . Venus , Saturn , Jupiter , and Mars will be seeable in purchase order from west to east , with Venus and Jupiter being the brightest objects . Venus in exceptional is difficult to overleap – if you look west after sunset , it will be powerful there .
Then there is Saturn , which is not that bright due to how far by from the Earth it is , but it can be picture even from the easy - contaminated city centers when the sky is clear . To spot it , go from Venus towards the Moon or Jupiter – it ’s going to be there . The easiest day to spot Saturn , though , are January 17 and 18 when it will be in co-occurrence with Venus . The two will share a cosmic candy kiss before Saturn move more westerly in the night sky .
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Jupiter (left) and Taurus star Aldebaran, in the sky above the Houses of Parliament in London. If you can see it in central London with a lamppost shining light on you, you can spot it wherever.Image credit: © Dr Alfredo Carpineti/IFLScience
Jupiterwill also be extremely easy to pick out . It is bright and after sunset is up in the high on the celestial noodle . After Jupiter , there will be Mars . Mars is also very bright , reach out its brightest pointedness on January 16 as it reaches enemy .
Even in a easy - contaminated environment the planets will be easy to spot , but if you are blessed with lesslight pollutionand can see a plenty more of the nighttime sky , there is an easy manner to distinguish the planets . First , they will be roughly around the line that the Moon and Sun follow in the sky – AKA the ecliptic – and secondly , the planets do not twinkle . Unlike stars , which are for all intents and purposes point sources , major planet are little disks , and the Inner Light from a disk is not so easily bent by the atmosphere .
These four planets you will be able to see all month and into February without any special creature . But you’re able to also see Uranus and Neptune with a scope . The two ice giants will be found in the sky between Saturn and Jupiter all calendar month . you could useThe Sky Live Planetariumto find them more accurately .
But what if you want to see all the planets ? Well , you ’ll have to wait until mid - February , when Mercury too will appear in the nighttime sky right after sunset !
