Tuesday, January 16, 2024

Today: While Orion’s Belt stands out as it rises higher into the southeast during the evenings, more impressive might be the stars themselves. Each of these stars is a stellar powerhouse, the two outer stars more than 100 thousand times brighter than our Sun,...

Monday, January 15, 2024

Today: The brilliant bluish-white star Vega, appearing one quarter of the way above the northwest horizon as darkness settled in by 5:30 PM, does an interesting thing for the next month or so. It will set tonight about 8:15 PM far to the north. But it will rise again...

Sunday, January 14, 2024

Today: Tomorrow or Tuesday morning offer your best, last views of Mercury, as it starts to lower back into the Sun’s glare, best viewed from 6:25 to 6:40 AM, low in the southeast. Mercury’s swifter orbit takes it around and behind the Sun, though it...

Saturday, January 13, 2024

Today: This evening hosts a thin, waxing Crescent Moon well below Saturn in the southwest, lowering toward the horizon as twilight yields to the dark, mid-winter skies. The Moon sets before 7 o’clock, and Saturn about an hour later. Look for a slightly larger...

Friday, January 12, 2024

Today: Near the top of the sky, slightly south in the evenings at 8:00 PM, a group of stars called the Seven Sisters can be found, though seeing them requires a little trick. Look slightly away from them and they will appear brighter – your eye is designed to be...

Thursday, January 11, 2024

Today: The Milky Way Galaxy is a fine sight, but it is not the only galaxy – or large group of stars and star systems – we can see. At 7:00 PM this evening, looking due west, about two-thirds of the way up from the horizon, another galaxy can be seen as a...