Sky & Telescope - January 2025 - 46

JANUARY 2025 OBSERVING
Sun, Moon & Planets by Gary Seronik
To find out what's
visible in the sky from
your location, go to
skyandtelescope.org.
Venus and Saturn Meet at Dusk
The month features several eye-catching conjunctions and a full Moon occultation.
FRIDAY, JANUARY 3
The new year kicks off with a lovely
conjunction between the Moon and
Venus. These pairings occur once a
month (sometimes twice), whenever
Venus is visible - which is most of the
time. It's always a highlight when the
night sky's two brightest objects meet,
as they do at dusk today high above the
southwestern horizon. The reigning
Evening Star gleams brilliantly at magnitude
-4.5, a bit more than 3° lower
right of the four-day-old lunar crescent.
That's close enough that you can view
them together in binoculars.
Indeed, this proximity presents a
good opportunity to spot Venus in
broad daylight. At around 3:30 p.m.
local time, the Moon is due south and
on the meridian (the imaginary line
that connects north to south and passes
Moon
Jan 4
Saturn
Jan 2 - 4
Around 7 pm
directly overhead). Once you've spotted
the Moon, train your binoculars on it to
get a sharp focus. Now, move the pale
crescent to the left side of your field of
view - Venus should pop into view near
the right edge. If you have very transparent
skies, you might even be able to
sight Venus without optical aid. Give it
a try - the planet is surprisingly easy to
see once your eyes lock onto it.
Venus is in the latter stages of its
current evening apparition. As such,
after today's meeting, it greets the
Moon just two more times before disappearing
into the sunset glare on its way
to a late-March solar conjunction.
SATURDAY, JANUARY 4
One day after its meet-up with Venus,
the Moon has shifted 14° eastward
along the ecliptic and now sits 3° above
left of Saturn. As it does with Venus,
the Moon gets close to the Ringed
Jan 9 -11
Around 6 pm
Moon
Jan 9
Pleiades
10°
Moon
Jan 3
Venus
Moon
Jan 10
AURIGA
Fomalhaut
Moon
Jan 2
CAPRICORNUS
Procyon
Looking Southwest
46
JANUARY 2025 * SKY & TELESCOPE
Looking East,
halfway up
Looking East-Northeast
Moon
Jan 11
TAURUS
Jupiter
Aldebaran
Mars
Moon
Jan 13
CANIS
MINOR
Pollux
Castor
GEMINI
Moon
Jan 12
Planet usually once a month. However,
this evening's event is the first of two
meetings in January - they pair up
again on the 31st, when they're only
marginally farther apart than tonight,
and with the Moon positioned below
right of Saturn. That second encounter
will be their final evening one this
apparition as Saturn drifts towards its
mid-March conjunction with the Sun.
FRIDAY, JANUARY 17
Without doubt, the highlight of
highlights for this month is the Moon
occulting Mars on the 13th - an event
discussed in detail on page 49. But when
it comes to naked-eye appeal, this evening's
conjunction featuring Venus and
Saturn is a close second. As twilight
fades, both planets are high above the
southwestern horizon with just 2¼°
separating them (they're similarly close
on the 18th). However, they're worlds
Dusk, Jan 12 -13
1 hour after sunset
http://www.skyandtelescope.org
Sky & Telescope - January 2025

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Sky & Telescope - January 2025
