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[Preston] What's Up for January?

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 The planets have some
 close encounters,

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 the bright stars of winter

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and a chance to catch a comet.

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 All month after sunset,
 you can see four planets

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 without the aid of binoculars
 or a telescope.

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 You'll find Mars in the east,
 Jupiter high overhead

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 and Saturn in the southwest
 with Venus.

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 January 2nd finds the Moon
and Mars high in the southeast

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 after sunset,

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 in a lovely grouping
with the Pleiades and Aldebaran.

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 Then from about January
 18th to the 24th, watch Venus

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00:00:35,602 --> 00:00:38,939
 cross paths with Saturn
 as the glow of sunset fades.

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 Look for the pair low
 in the southwest,

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about 45 minutes after the sun
 dips below the horizon.

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 The two planets appear
their closest on January 22nd,

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 when they'll be only a third
 of a degree apart on the sky.

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 You'll be able to capture
 both of them

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 in the same field of view

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 through binoculars
 or a small telescope.

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 On the 23rd, the two planets
 are still only a degree apart

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 and will be joined
 by a slim crescent Moon.

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 And on January 25th,
 looking to the southwest

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 30 to 45 minutes after sunset,
look high above Venus and Saturn

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 to find the Moon
 only a degree apart

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 from Jupiter,
 about halfway up the sky.

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 January nights
 are filled with bright stars.

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 Looking toward the south
 or southeast

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 in the first few hours after
 dark, you'll spy the bright

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 constellations of winter
 in the Northern Hemisphere.

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 Of course, there's Orion
 the hunter,

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 the big dog constellation
 Canis Major, and the lesser

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known little dog, Canis Minor,
 with its bright star Procyon.

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 And Y-shaped Taurus,
 the bull, includes

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the bright Hyades and Pleiades
 star clusters.

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 And just east of Orion,

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 you'll find the bright stars
 Castor and Pollux,

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 which form the heads
 of the twins in Gemini.

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 Make sure you take a moment
 to appreciate the beauty

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 of the January sky,
 which more than meets the

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 definition of “star studded,”
 with so much to marvel at.

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 A recently discovered comet

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 is now passing through
 the inner solar system

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 and should be visible
 with a telescope

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 and likely with binoculars.

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The comet, which has a mouthful
 of a name C/2022 E3 (ZTF) 

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 was first sighted
 in March last year

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00:02:16,803 --> 00:02:18,872
 when it was already
 inside the orbit of Jupiter.

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00:02:19,606 --> 00:02:22,609
 It makes its closest approach
 to the sun on January 12th

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 and then passes its closest
 to Earth on February 2nd.

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 Comets are notoriously
 unpredictable,

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 but if this one continues
its current trend in brightness,

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 it'll be easy to spot
 with binoculars,

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 and it's just possible
 it could become visible

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 to the unaided eye
 under dark skies.

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 Observers in the
 Northern Hemisphere

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 will find the comet

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in the morning sky as it moves
 swiftly toward the northwest

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 during January.

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 It'll become visible

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00:02:46,867 --> 00:02:48,702
 in the Southern Hemisphere
 in early February.

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 This comet isn't expected
 to be quite the spectacle

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00:02:51,938 --> 00:02:54,574
 that Comet
 NEOWISE was back in 2020.

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00:02:54,941 --> 00:02:56,843
 But it's still an awesome
 opportunity

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 to make a personal connection

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 with an icy visitor from the
 distant outer solar system.

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 Here are the phases of
 the Moon for January.

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 Stay up to date
 with all of NASA's missions

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 to explore the solar system
 and beyond at nasa.gov.

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I'm Preston Dyches from NASA's
 Jet Propulsion Laboratory

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 and that's
 What's Up for this month.