Here are a few skywatching tips for January:
- 11 pm, southwest sky – Orion constellation, with the bright supergiants Rigel and Betelgeuse, Orion’s Belt and the Orion Nebula (Messier 42)
- 11 pm, northwest sky – Auriga constellation with Capella, the 6th brightest star in the sky
- 11 pm, western sky – Taurus constellation with the giant Aldebaran, the 14th brightest star in the sky, the Hyades, the nearest open cluster to the Sun, the Pleiades (Messier 45), the nearest Messier object to Earth, and the Crab Nebula (Messier 1), the remnant of a historic supernova observed in 1054
- 11 pm – the Winter Triangle, formed by Betelgeuse in Orion, Sirius in Canis Major and Procyon in Canis Minor, and the Winter Hexagon (Winter Circle), formed by Aldebaran, Rigel, Sirius, Procyon and Capella with Pollux in Gemini
- 7 pm, southwest sky – Uranus in the same field of view as the Moon and Mars on January 20th
- 6 pm, western sky – Mercury making an appearance above the horizon after sunset in the second half of the month
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