Cool Things in the Sky this Month
January 2026
Hello and welcome to UT Skywatch!
The moon phases for this month are full on the 3rd, last quarter on the 10th, new on the 18th, and first quarter on the 25th.
The ringed giant, Saturn, sets about 10:40 p.m. mid-month deep in the west. The rings are still just beginning to open up after seeming to close again last November. The gaps are hard to see but will be a bit easier in the next couple of months, albeit extremely close to the sun so it will likely be mid-to-late April morning sky observable. A waxing crescent moon slides past Saturn on the 22nd and 23rd.
Jupiter is next up in the east and at opposition on the 10th. The gas giant will rise around sunset and be in the sky all night in January. Jupiter will be at its best observationally this month, so get out your binoculars and see how many of the Galilean satellites you can spot. They will appear star-like and in a line near the equatorial plane of the planet. Jupiter is joined by a full moon on the 3rd, making for a very nice pairing.
The jewel of the winter sky is a veritable stellar nursery where stars are forming in what are called proto-planetary discs or proplyds. Though proplyds are not visible to small-to-even-large amateur telescopes, they are revealed in images from both the Hubble Space Telescope and the James Webb Space Telescope. Believe it or not, with a pair of binoculars you can see the dust and gas cloud where these wonders are hidden. A star chart (see below) shows you where to look. This nebula is about 1250 light years distant. You can even see it naked eye (a little bit). Look in the southeast this month in the early evening. Very bright Jupiter is to the left of what is known as the Winter Triangle comprising Sirius, Procyon, and Betelgeuse.
