January 2025 – What’s Up!

Week of 27th January

• Astronomical twilight ends at 18:45 GMT at the start of the week and at 18:54 GMT by the end of the week.
• Enjoy the planetary parade with Saturn (+1.1), Venus (-4.6) and Neptune (+7.9) in the west at sunset, then in the south find Uranus (+5.7) and Jupiter (-2.6), and finally, Mars (-1.2) in the east.
• The Waxing Crescent Moon (-4.9) will join Saturn and Venus in the west on Saturday to make a beautiful conjunction.
• With the New Moon this week, the Deep Sky Challenge is all about nebulae: use a telescope to hunt down NGC 7662, the Blue Snowball Nebula (+8.3) in Andromeda, then to Perseus to search out M76, the Little Dumbbell Nebula (+10.1), ending with M1, the Crab Nebula (+8.4) in Taurus.
• The Moon is New on Wednesday.
• The Sun currently has 8 active regions and the sunspot number is 131.
• There are multiple visible evening ISS passes this week (click here for full ISS pass details).

Week of 20th January

• Astronomical twilight ends at 18:35 GMT at the start of the week and at 18:43 GMT by the end of the week.
• The planetary line up across our sky continues: find Saturn (+1.1) and Venus (-4.5) together in the west around sunset with Neptune (+7.9) a little further east, look south to find Uranus (+5.7) and Jupiter (-2.6) and finally, Mars (-1.3) in the east.
• Spend some time under dark Moon-free skies this week in Orion; start with M42, the Orion Nebula (+4.0) and increase the magnification to find the Trapezium, a tight open cluster of four or five stars that lies at the very heart of the nebula. Keeping at high mag, slew to Alnitak (+4.2) and try to split this tough double star at just 2 arcseconds separation.
• The Moon is Last Quarter on Tuesday.
• The Sun currently has 7 active regions and the sunspot number is 128.
• There are multiple visible evening ISS passes this week (click here for full ISS pass details).

Week of 13th January

• Astronomical twilight ends at 18:26 GMT at the start of the week and at 18:33 GMT by the end of the week.
• Mars (-1.4) reaches Opposition on Thursday, when the Sun, Earth and Mars will line up, with Mars opposite the Sun as we see it. This only happens every 26 months and is the best time to observe the Red Planet as it will be closest to the Earth, appearing largest and brightest in our sky.
• The planets are lining up across our sky: start in the west around sunset to see Venus (-4.5) with Saturn (+1.1) close by; use binoculars to spot Neptune (+7.9) in the southwest and Uranus (+5.7) in the south; then on to Jupiter (-2.6) and finally, Mars (-1.4) in the east.
• The Moon is Full on Monday – the Wolf Moon.
• The Sun currently has 7 active regions and the sunspot number is 99.
• There are multiple visible evening ISS passes this week (click here for full ISS pass details).

Week of 6th January

• Astronomical twilight ends at 18:17 GMT at the start of the week and at 18:24 GMT by the end of the week.
• Venus (-4.4) reaches Greatest Eastern Elongation on Friday, when it will be at its largest apparent separation from the Sun for us. Look to the southwest at around sunset to spot the ‘Evening Star’.
• Jupiter (-2.7) and Mars (-1.3) dominate our evening sky. Find the planets in Taurus and Cancer respectively.
• Three deep sky delights await you in Gemini this week: start with the open cluster M35 (+5.1), then move east to double star Castor (+1.6), an easy split at 5.2 arcseconds, and finish with the small and faint planetary nebula NGC 2392 (+9.2), known as the Eskimo Nebula, covering about 40 arcseconds.
• The Moon is First Quarter on Monday.
• The Sun currently has 8 active regions and the sunspot number is 193.
• There are multiple visible evening ISS passes this week (click here for full ISS pass details).