This year will be the “Year of the Planets”. As for the month of January, Venus flaunts itself during sunset at the southwestern sky. Mercury will start to show itself under Venus on the last week of this month. Moreover, still on the same period of time, Jupiter will be seen before sunrise in the southeastern sky. Three hours earlier than Jupiter, Mars will be seen with the Anatares star on the 18th.
Below we provide a guide for the best time to watch the Planets in the sky along with directions on how to see them.
Planet Guide
Mercury- On the 24th the planet will set after the sun approximately ¾ hours, you can easily see it in the southwestern sky. Use your binoculars on the 25th while the planet sets one half hour after sunset.
Venus- at the beginning of January, the “goddess of love” only sets 21/2 hours after sunset, increasing to 3 hours on the end of the month. On Jan 28th, you will see two of the brightest objects of the night sky situated at the west-southwest sky: a beautiful crescent moon and the beaming Venus.
Earth- Our world will be closest to the burning star this year at 2:48 A. M. EST with a gap of 147,091,143 km. The Earth is anticipated to be 3.28 % nearer to the sun on July 4th.
Mars- On the 18th of this month, Mars will be appearing with the Antares star, which is brighter than the planet before dawn. The gap between Mars and Earth is 189 million miles and it looks small with the use of telescopes. This year yet will be great for Mars as the disk of the planet will become wider five times this coming early October, making it shine 40 times brighter than present.
Jupiter- the planet will hide for three weeks, but we will have a view of this giant planet on Jan 22 beneath the twilight sky. Try to search for the planet using your binoculars 40 minutes earlier than sunrise for a crescent moon, and look 8 degrees below on the left side to see Jupiter.