MERCURY is in the evening sky throughout January. That is it will set after the Sun but, at its best, no more than an hour later. Add to this the long twilights of summer results in Mercury being virtually unobservable this month.

The planet is at greatest elongation east of the Sun on January 22, less than half a degree from Neptune the following night and stationary on January 28. This last will see Mercury's motion through the stars reverse from east to west.

VENUS is a brilliant object in the morning sky, rising between two and two and a half hours before the Sun. So the planet will be at a moderate altitude to the east easily visible in the dawn sky to shortly before sunrise.

Venus will be a few degrees from the star Antares, magnitude 1.1, early in January. The two are closest on the morning of January 7, about 6.5° apart. At the end of the month, Venus and Jupiter will be 2° apart in Sagittarius, near the handle of the teapot. The two planets will get closer on the first few mornings of February.

MARS will be readily visible all evening throughout January as a bright orange object just inside the constellation Taurus. It will slowly move to the west in the constellation until it reaches its stationary position on January 31, when it will reverse direction and start moving east. At the end of January, Mars will be 2.5° from the second brightest star in Taurus, βTau, magnitude 1.7.

Mars will be the only planet visible in the evening sky for much of the month. By the end of January Saturn will be rising in the late evening.

The reversal of the motion of Mars is of course only an apparent effect. In recent months the Earth, nearer the Sun and so faster moving, has been overtaking Mars, making Mars appear to move backwards, in a westerly direction, through the stars (known as retrograde motion). By the end of January, as the Earth swings round the Sun away from Mars, the latter will appear to start moving forward again to the east. In reality Mars, like all the planets, moves continually in an easterly direction round the Sun.

JUPITER having been at conjunction with the Sun onwards the end of Christmas, will be in the morning sky rising before the Sun. During the first part of January it will rise only shortly before the Sun so not be observable due to morning twilight. Each day it will rise about 4 minutes earlier, so that by mid month it will rise about 90 minutes before the Sun but will still be very low in the morning twilight. The end of the month will present a good opportunity to find the planet in the morning sky as it will be only 2° from Venus.

Jupiter will be in Sagittarius a few degrees from the "Teapot's Handle".

SATURN will rise shortly after midnight at the beginning of January and about 10 pm NZDT by the end of the month. Thus by then it will be visible rather low, a little east of northeast, in the late evening sky. Saturn will be in Leo 7° to 8° from the star Regulus magnitude 1.4. Saturn will be noticably brighter than the star with a magnitude 0.4.

The Moon passes Saturn towards the end of the month. On the morning of January 25 when the Moon occults Regulus, it will be to the left of, and slightly lower than, Saturn. The following morning the Moon will be to the right of and higher than the planet.