By STEVE JASIECKI
Four of five visible planets can be viewed in the early evening during the frigid nights of January. Venus, Saturn, Jupiter and Mars will shine brightly among the stars. Mercury, the fifth visible planet, is currently too close to the Sun to be seen at this time.
Here is a breakdown on what you can see.
Look to the southeast to see the bright planet Venus and the dimmer Saturn. Venus is the third brightest celestial object in the sky after the Sun and the Moon so it is very easy to spot. Saturn can be seen to the lower left of Venus. Earlier his month the two planets were moving towards each other. Venus and Saturn had their closest approach to each other Jan. 17-18. They are now moving away from one another. Each night Venus, whose orbit is faster, will appear to move a little farther from Saturn.
Turn to the left and look south and high in the sky to see Jupiter. Jupiter, the fourth brightest object in the sky after Venus and is quite bright and easy to spot.
Jupiter made its closet approach to Earth on Dec. 7, 2024, which is known as opposition. That is when the Sun, Earth and a planet are in line with each other creating the shortest distance between the two planets. Jupiter is now receding from Earth but still quite bright and can be seen all night. Currently, Jupiter is in the constellation Taurus.
Bright Jupiter is just to the left of the Hyades, the six stars that make up the face of Taurus the Bull. That’s the sideways V pattern in the photo. You may recognize the Pleiades, the small tight grouping of stars, which are above the Hyades.
Turn left again, towards the east and you will see Mars. Mars is exceptionally bright this month because Mars just passed opposition. From now until next year, Earth, being in the closer orbit, will start to pull away from the red planet. Mars will start to dim until it reaches opposition again in two years.
On Jan. 13, the moon passed in front of Mars, blocking our view of Mars; this is called an occult. Occults are very important in astrophysics because it gives astronomers an opportunity to measure angular distances between two celestial bodies and helps determine the distance between planets. Occults can be difficult to view because the moon is so bright and can outshine the planet as it nears it.
Two other planets, Uranus and Neptune are in the night sky but they are too far away to see with the naked eye.
If you have a telescope, now is the time to take it out and do some observing. A good pair of binoculars will also provide a nice view. Three of the planets, Venus, Jupiter and Mars are at a close proximity to Earth so they are very bright. Saturn is dim now because it’s quite far from Earth but still a wonder to behold with its majestic rings.
If you do go out dress warmly! It’s cold out there!