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Display 4 planets at once!
Enjoy sweeping views of four bright planets at once every night this month. Look for Venus and Saturn approaching, Mars covered by the moon, and meteors.
Skywatching highlights
January 3rd – Peak of the Quadriids Meteor Shower: This is a moderate meteor shower, typically producing 20 to 30 meteors per hour under clear, dark skies at its peak. This year’s peak is suitable for meteor watching because there is no interference from the moon.
January 13th – Lunar Occult Mars: For sky watchers in the continental United States and eastern Canada, the Moon will appear to pass in front of Mars tonight. Times vary by location, so check your favorite skywatching app for details.
January 17th and 18th – Venus-Saturn conjunction: For several weeks, the two planets will move closer together in the sky to within just a few finger-breadths apart (about 2 degrees). The closest approaches will be on the 17th and 18th.
Monthly – Four planets are visible: During the first few hours after dark, Venus and Saturn are visible in the southwest, Jupiter high overhead, and Mars in the east. (There are also Uranus and Neptune, but you’ll need a telescope to see them.) Planets always appear as long lines in the sky, but the “alignment” is nothing special. Although less common, seeing four or five bright planets at once doesn’t happen every year. Is it “Planet Parade”? This is not an astronomical term, so call it whatever you like.
During the month – Mars is at opposition: The red planet is directly opposite the sun as seen from Earth and shines brightly throughout the night. At night it is to the east and at dawn it is to the southwest.
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What’s in store for January?
Cue the planetary parade, with Saturn and Venus crossing paths and Mars voicing opposition, giving us the prospect of the Quadriids meteor shower.
In January, you’ll have the chance to see four bright planets at once.
A sky map showing the alignment of the planets visible after dark in January 2025. NASA/JPL-Caltech
Throughout the month, Venus and Saturn will be found in the southwest during the first few hours after dark, with Jupiter shining brightly high overhead and Mars rising in the east. Technically speaking, Uranus and Neptune are also there, but they are not visible as “bright planets”. The opportunity to see multiple planets like this is not all that rare, but it doesn’t happen every year, so it’s worth checking out.
Now, these events are sometimes referred to as planetary “alignments,” and while it’s true that they appear more or less along a line across the sky, that’s what planets do all the time. That line is called the ecliptic and represents the plane of the solar system in which the planets revolve around the sun. By the way, this is why the planets sometimes appear to be moving closer to each other in the sky when we observe them along a line as we orbit around a cosmic racetrack.
Sky map showing Venus and Saturn appearing very close together on January 17 and 18, 2025. NASA/JPL-Caltech
This is exactly what will be seen from Venus and Saturn as they approach each other in mid-January. With the beginning of the month, they rapidly approach each night, appearing on the 17th and 18th at their most comfortable hours, and then go their separate ways. Remember, they’re actually hundreds of millions of miles apart in space, so when you observe them, you’re staring clearly into the entire solar system.
Mars reaches opposition this month. This is when Mars is directly opposite Earth from the Sun, forming a straight line. This is when the planet is closest to Earth and appears to be its largest and brightest. For Mars, oppositions occur approximately every two years. While this isn’t the most spectacular one ever, it’s still closer than average and provides a great opportunity to observe the nearby planet, where NASA currently operates five missions.
And on the 13th, the full moon will nestle into Mars and appear very close to Mars that night. In the United States and eastern Canada, the Moon will appear to pass in front of Mars over several hours as Mars rises in the eastern sky. Mars will also be the only planet in the sky on January mornings. It can be spotted floating in the western sky at dusk in the morning.
The Sibungid meteors will reach their peak in the early morning of January 3rd. The moon is just a crescent and sets early in the night, so moonlight interference is not a problem. The best way to see the most meteors is after midnight, away from bright city lights, and from a clear, dark sky, allowing your eyes to adjust to the darkness. The incidence of meteors is highest near dawn, and more meteors are seen in rural locations than in suburban areas. Now, this is the shower best visible from the Northern Hemisphere, and observers in the Northwest and Pacific regions will see it best this year.
The phases of the moon in January are as follows:
Moon phases for January 2025. NASA/JPL-Caltech
Stay up to date on all of NASA’s missions exploring the solar system and beyond at science.nasa.gov. I’m Preston Dychess from NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory. That’s what’s new this month.
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