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Observe a comet, and other skywatching tips for January

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What's Up: January 2023 Skywatching Tips from NASA

NASA is back with its monthly preview of what to look out for in the night sky.

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January offers some real crackers, including a parade of planets, a winter dazzle of stars, and even a comet.

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Planets

Throughout the month of January, you’ll be able to spot four planets at the same time, with the naked eye (weather permitting, of course).

First, try to seek out Mars in the east, identifiable by its salmon-pink color. Then, look out for the bright light of Jupiter overhead, and Saturn in the southwest, close to Venus.

If you’re unsure which is which, download one of these excellent astronomy apps for Android and iOS, and they’ll point you in the right direction.

Stars

January’s crisp, winter nights offer a great chance for folks in the Northern Hemisphere to spot bright stars and constellations.

“There’s Orion the hunter; the big dog constellation Canis Major; and the lesser known little dog, Canis Minor with its bright star Procyon,” NASA explained on its website.

“Y-shaped Taurus, the bull, includes the bright Hyades and Pleiades star clusters. And just east of Orion, you’ll find the bright stars Castor and Pollux, which form the heads of the twins in Gemini.”

Again, if you’re having trouble picking out the features, fire up your astronomy app.

Comet

The entirety of January offers folks in the Northern Hemisphere the exciting chance to spot a comet hurtling across the sky (those in the Southern Hemisphere can see it in February).

Comet C/2022 E3 (ZTF) is observable with binoculars or a telescope in the predawn sky, moving swiftly toward the northwest.

Currently passing through the inner solar system, the comet was first sighted in March 2021 when it was already inside the orbit of Jupiter. C/2022 E3 (ZTF) will make its closest approach to the sun on January 12, and come closest to Earth on February 2.

“Comets are notoriously unpredictable, but if this one continues its current trend in brightness, it’ll be easy to spot with binoculars, and it’s just possible it could become visible to the unaided eye under dark skies,” NASA said.

NASA describes the event as an “awesome opportunity to make a personal connection with an icy visitor from the distant outer solar system.”

It added that the astronomy apps should offer details on the comet’s position for the specific date that you’re looking skyward.

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Trevor Mogg
Trevor Mogg
Contributing Editor
Not so many moons ago, Trevor moved from one tea-loving island nation that drives on the left (Britain) to another (Japan)…

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NASA astronaut Matthew Dominick captured this timelapse photo of Comet C/2023 A3 (Tsuchinshan-ATLAS) from the International Space Station as it orbited 272 miles above the South Pacific Ocean southeast of New Zealand just before sunrise on Sept. 28, 2024. At the time, the comet was about 44 million miles away from Earth.

This month sees a very special visitor to the skies over Earth: a comet that only passes by once every 80,000 years. The last time this comet passed Earth, Neanderthals populated the planet, hunting with stone tools. Now, Comet Tsuchinshan-ATLAS has been photographed on its journey around the sun by humans living in orbit in the International Space Station.

The comet made its closest pass of the sun on September 27, but is even more visible in the sky now as it passes by Earth. ISS astronauts have tracked the comet as it approaches, and the next few days should offer the best chance for those of us here on the surface to see this remarkable sight streaking through the sky.

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Comet Tsuchinshan-ATLAS as seen from the space station.

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Comet 12P/Pons-Brooks photographed in March 2024.

This October will see a once-in-80,000-year event, when Comet Tsuchinshan-ATLAS passes by Earth. First spotted in 2023, the comet (technically called C/2023 A3), which has been billed the "comet of the century" by some in the astronomy community, could be so bright that it outshines the stars around it in the sky, and even the planets Jupiter and Venus. Just how spectacular the comet is remains to be seen, as it is hard to predict how comets will appear in advance, but the possibility has skywatchers around the world excited for the event.

Whether you are able to see the comet with the naked eye depends on whether it will be as bright as optimists hope. “We’re all really excited about the prospect of the Comet A3 (Tsuchinshan-ATLAS) and how it might just be a nice bright object in the night sky,” said the Royal Astronomical Society’s Robert Massey. “I would think that you’re going to need a pair of binoculars to pick it out, or a telescope if you have the right kind of telescope with a wide field and you know exactly where to look. But who knows, it might be visible to the naked eye as well. We’ll just have to wait and see.”

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