1 Jan     Magnitude -4.3 Venus is 2 finger-widths to the waxing crescent moon’s upper left at dusk.

2 Jan     Tonight the moon lies between magnitude -4.3 Venus, less than 4 finger-widths to the lower right, and magnitude 0.9 Mars, less than 2 finger-widths to the upper left.

3 Jan     The moon slides past Mars this evening and forms a straight line with Venus low in the southwest at dusk. Mars is 4 finger-widths to the moon’s lower right, and Venus lies 1 fist-width beyond Mars.

4 Jan     At perihelion, Earth is 0.98331 AU from the sun, its closest approach for the year.

8 Jan     At dusk magnitude 0.85 Aldebaran is 4 finger-widths to the moon’s lower left. The Pleiades Cluster is the same distance above or to the upper left. Magnitude 0.24 Capella is more than 3 fist-widths to the left.

9 Jan    The moon is to Aldebaran’s lower left tonight, and magnitude 0.5 Betelgeuse is 1½ fist-widths below the moon near the horizon.

10 Jan    The moon rises about 1½ hours before sunset, and Betelgeuse rises a few minutes after the moon 1 fist-with to the lower right. Later, they are high in the south with the Gemini Twins, Pollux and Castor, 2 fist-widths to the moon’s left. The moon is at perigee, 363,000 kilometers away.

12 Jan    By late evening, magnitude 0.46 Procyon is 1½ fist-widths to the right of the full moon, with the Gemini Twins the same distance to the upper left.

14 Jan    High in the east by midnight, Regulus is less than 1 finger-width above the moon.

18 Jan    Low in the south before dawn, magnitude -2.0 Jupiter is less than 1 fist-width to the waning gibbous moon’s left or lower left. Magnitude 0.98 Spica is less than 2 finger-widths to Jupiter’s lower left.

19 Jan    Jupiter is less than 2 finger-widths to the lower right of the last-quarter moon, while Spica is below Jupiter. Mercury is at its greatest elongation, 24.1 degrees west of the sun, rising more than 1½ hours before the sun.

22 Jan    The moon is at apogee, 405,000 kilometers away.

23 Jan    Magnitude 0.96 Antares, the heart of the Scorpion, is less than 1 fist-width to the moon’s lower right, low in the southwest before dawn. Magnitude 0.6 Saturn is 1 fist-width to the moon’s lower left. Magnitude -0.2 Mercury lies 1½ fist-widths beyond Saturn.

24 Jan    Low in the east before dawn Saturn is 1½ finger-widths to the moon’s lower right.

25 Jan    Magnitude 0.2 Mercury is less than 3 finger-widths to the moon’s lower left before dawn.

31 Jan    The moon, Venus and Mars form a tight triangle low in the west at dusk. Magnitude -4.6 Venus is less than 3 finger-widths to the moon’s right or lower right, and magnitude 1.1 Mars is 1 finger-width to the moon’s upper right.