The long run of Venus as the evening star, from late summer until today, is over. Venus is at inferior conjunction today, about 5 hours ago, and between Earth and the sun. It's about 5 degrees above the sun at conjunction but less than that at sunset today for North America so serious telescope skills will be needed to spot its ultra thin crescent. Waiting a few days will allow our planetary neighbor to pull away from Earth and make it increasingly easy to spot in the morning sky. By month's end, Venus will be the Morning Star and will continue to star in that role for the winter and spring. It will have a lovely pairing with a thin, waning crescent moon this month on the mornings of the 28th and 29th.
The dominant player in the night sky is now Jupiter, truly the king of the planets these days. Jupiter was at opposition on the 5th and directly behind the Earth so that as we turn away from the winter sun we turn toward Jupiter, low in the east but rising rapidly and now up all night long. The nearly full moon will be just right of Jupiter on the 14th and the actual full moon (@ 11:52 EST) below the giant planet on the next night. As the moon begins to wane beyond that point and the sky return to darker times, check out Jupiter in binoculars or a small scope and see if you can spot any of the Galilean moons; they are the little dots beside Jupiter. The two bright stars to the east of Jupiter are the heads of Gemini, the twins, Castor and Pollux. See if you can notice their color difference.
The bright stars of winter are now in prime viewing position as the sky darkens. Orion dominates the southeastern sky at dark with it's 3 belt stars making it easy to spot. Once you spot the belt, notice it points up toward a reddish orange star, Aldebaran, the eye of Taurus, the bull. In the opposite direction, the belt stars point down toward, Sirius, the dog star and brightest star we can see from Earth - it's close, only 8+ light years from us. Sirius is hotter and brighter than our sun and noticeably blue-white compared to Aldebaran's rusty hue. Other colorful stars of winter are in Orion: Betelgeuse, the hunter's right shoulder is a red super giant and quite red while the hunter's left knee, Rigel is a sparkly blue-white, much like Sirius. Connecting Sirius, Rigel and Aldebaran puts 1/3 of the Winter Hexagon into place; moving above Aldebaran and up to bright Capella then east to the two twins of Gemini and then down to Procyon, the little dog, links the hexagon and encloses Orion. As a bonus, Jupiter is in the hexagon right now and obviously brighter than any of the stars.
Mercury makes a brief appearance in the evening sky for late January, and is just left of a very thin waxing crescent moon on the 31st. The fast moving messenger planet will catch Earth in February and come out as a morning star by the end of that short month. Never terribly bright or far from the sun, Mercury is always a tough spot whether in the evening or morning sky.
Saturn is not up until well after midnight but it's golden color and lack of twinkle make it a dominant "star" for early risers and easy to spot in Libra. The amazing rings are tipped nicely toward Earth and always a delight to see in even a small scope. Might be worth getting up early to see but we will catch up with the ringed world as the year goes on and it will return to the evening sky.
Mars, hanging with Spica in Virgo, is also a middle of the night "star" for the winter. Earth will continue to close in on our next neighbor out in the planet line-up and the rust surface will be easier to view as we tilt our way towards spring. Mars will dance closely with Spica, the dominant or Alpha star in Virgo, throughout the winter and spring and even into the summer. Mars is redder and slightly brighter than Spica.
The rain and clouds will move on and the clear, cold sky of winter will once again reveal the bright, sparkling stars of the cold season. If not tonight, sometime soon, bundle up and check out the universe around you. I hope your seeing is fine, today on Earth.
