January will be a great month to enjoy the sky if you bundle up against the cold. Even if you have trouble staying warm, there will be a lot going on that can be observed with just a quick look outside. Early in the month, brilliant Venus will be getting higher in the sky each evening while Saturn will be moving lower as it prepares to leave the night sky. Watch low in the southwestern sky about 30-45 minutes after sunset to see them getting closer together. Find Venus first and then Saturn to its upper left. Venus will pass Saturn on the evening of January 22nd.

Very bright Jupiter will be high in the southwestern sky all month. It will still be below the two eastern stars of Pegasus (the Winged Horse), but it has started its slow eastward motion when compared to the background stars. However, during January it still will be in the dim constellation of Pisces (the Fishes). If you look close to Jupiter’s right or upper right on a dark night, you should see a dim circlet of stars that represents one of the fish.

The next planet, very bright reddish Mars, will be high in the east all month to the upper left of bright Aldebaran that represents the eye of Taurus (the Bull). It will end its retrograde motion and be almost motionless when compared to the background stars. However, Mars and all the stars will drift slowly westward as a result of Earth’s eastern motion in its orbit.

The last planet, fleet Mercury, will have passed between the Earth and Sun and will be low in the southeastern morning sky during the last 10 days of January. It will reach its highest point on January 30 before its orbit again takes it lower in the sky. Start looking for Mercury about 45 minutes before sunrise.

On January 4, the Earth will be at its perihelion, or closest point to the Sun. Since this is during the coldest time of the year in the northern hemisphere, it demonstrates that the seasons are not caused by the Earth’s distance to the Sun. In addition, according to Kepler’s laws, when the Earth is at its closest to the Sun it will be moving at its fastest orbital speed. Anyone can prove this law by counting the days in each season. Since the Earth is moving at its fastest, winter is always the shortest season of the year. During summer, the Earth will be moving at its slowest, and this makes summer the longest season by a few days.

Also, the Quadrantid Meteor Shower will peak on the night of January 3-4, but most meteors will be lost in the glare of the bright Moon. Meteors will be seen all over the sky but will seem to come from the defunct constellation Quadrans Muralis (the Wall Quadrant) that was near the end of the Big Dipper’s handle. The relatively short peak should center on 10:00 CST.

David Voigts is a retired ecologist and the current Conservation Chair for the Prairie Rapids Audubon Society. He is a Tama County native, graduating from Dinsdale High School, and lives in rural Jesup on his wife’s family farm.