What can you see in the night sky tonight? Find out what’s on view in our monthly stargazing guide.
What’s in the night sky tonight?
Those of us who enjoy stargazing and observing the night sky can’t always plan when and where we’re going to get the chance to gaze upwards.
Busy schedules, light pollution, the weather: sometimes finding even just 30 minutes to stand and stare up at a clear, dark night sky and take in the planets, stars and constellations can be a feat in itself.
So when you do find the time, you’ll need to know what’s visible in the night sky tonight, and the best things to look out for when stargazing.
Complete newcomer? Read our guides to the best telescopes for beginners and astronomy for beginners.
Here’s our stargazing guide to what you can see in the night sky tonight.
Our guide is centred around what’s visible from the UK, but all northern hemisphere observers should be able to use it, with the odd adjustment to stated times.
In our guide, we useUniversal Time (UT) and British Summer Time (BST). UT is the standard time used by astronomers around the world. BST is one hour ahead of UT
We also use RA (Right ascension)and dec. (declination).
These coordinates are the night sky’s equivalent of longitude and latitude, describing where an object is on the celestial ‘globe’.
For help with these, read our guide to celestial coordinates.
For more advice, read our guide on how to stargaze or sign up to receive the BBC Sky at Night Magazine e-newsletter for weekly tips delivered directly to your email inbox.
If you’re south of the equator, find out what you can see in the Southern Hemisphere night sky tonight.
What’s in the night sky tonight?
January astronomy highlights
- 1 January Comet 144P/Kushida lies 2° south of Uranus
- 4 January Quadrantid meteor shower peak (am)
- 7 January Double shadow transit of Jupiter, from 02:09 UT until setting
- 18 January Jupiter lies 2° south of first quarter Moon (pm)
- 22 January Jewelled Handle clair-obscur visible on the Moon (am)
Comets
The planets put on a poor show at the start of 2024. In January, we find Jupiter and Uranus holding the fort, the others battling the evening and morning twilight.
Comets provide a few offerings for small telescope in January 2024, including 62P/Tsuchinshan 1, C/2021 S3 PanSTARRS, 12P/Pons-Brooks, 103P/Hartley 2 and 144P/Kushida, all predicted brighter than 10th magnitude.
Find out more in our guide to comets in 2024
Comet 144P/Kushida is especially well placed for Northern Hemisphere observers.
On 1 January it’s about 2° south of Uranus, crossing from Aries into Taurus during January, ending the month west of the Hyades.
The Moon
The Moon’s fuller phases ride high in the January night, drowning out all but the brightest of winter stars.
Full Moon occurs on 25 January, new on 11 January, the best time for stargazing.
Quadrantids
The Moon will influence the build up to the peak of this year’s Quadrantid meteor shower, but carefully placing the last quarter Moon behind a fence or building may give you a decent display of this rich shower.
The narrow Quadrantid peak is expected around 10:00 UT on 4 January, so it’s the period up to dawn on 4 January which is optimal.
Orion
When the Moon isn’t visible, the stars of winter shine bright, led by Orion, the Hunter.
The three Belt stars in a straight line mark the centre of Orion’s body.
His ‘shoulders’ are marked by bright Betelgeuse (Alpha (α) Orionis) to the northeast and Bellatrix (Gamma (γ) Orionis) to the northwest.
In the southwest there’s blue supergiant Rigel (Beta (β) Orionis) with Saiph (Kappa (κ) Orionis) in the southeast corner.
Hanging south from Orion’s Belt is his sword, a faint line formed by stars and deep sky objects.
Look at the sword through binoculars or a telescope and you’ll be rewarded by the superb Orion Nebula, M42, a luminous emission nebula powered by the radiation from young stars at its heart in the Trapezium Cluster.
But M42 isn’t the only jewel in Orion.
The sword is formed from M42, with smaller M43 next to it, NGC 1977 the Running Man Nebula, clusters NGC 1980 and NGC 1981, and a smattering of other stars and nebulous regions.
Orion’s Belt is part of the large open cluster Collinder 70. Look at it with binoculars and many additional cluster members can be seen.
The Hunter’s head is another deep-sky object. Marked by the star Meissa (Lambda (λ) Orionis), look at the region using binoculars or a small telescope to view the ‘L’ shaped pattern of the head stars, which sit at the centre of open cluster Collinder 69.
Orion also contains reflection nebula M78 and the emission nebula NGC 2024 known as the Flame Nebula, near the eastern Belt star Alnitak (Zeta (ζ) Orionis).
The faint Horsehead Nebula B33 lies south of Alnitak, a finger of dark material silhouetted in front of the emission curtain IC 434.
A long, tracked exposure of Orion may reveal a giant, glowing emission ring known as Barnard’s Loop, together with the smaller, round Angelfish Nebula which surrounds Collinder 69.
Orion is south around 23:00 UT on 1 January, 22:00 UT mid-month and 21:00 UT on 31 January.
Find out more in our guides to the best targets in Orion and lesser-known targets in Orion.
Night sky in January 2024, night-by-night
Monday 1 January
Predicted to be at mag. 8.9, comet 144P/Kushida currently sits 2° south
of Uranus.
Sirius (Alpha (α) Canis Majoris) is at opposition,
a perfect excuse to look for its companion known as ‘the Pup’.
Wednesday 3 January
Tonight and into tomorrow morning is the best time to spot a Quadrantid meteor. The shower peaks at 10:00 UT tomorrow morning.
Earth is at perihelion, 147,099,586km from the Sun.
Thursday 4 January
The lunar clair-obscur effects known as Curtiss’s Cross and Gruithuisen’s Lunar City are optimally visible at 01:20 UT and 05:20 UT respectively.
Saturday 6 January
Ganymede is in transit from 21:00 UT, joined by Europa at 22:07 UT. Io is occulted at 22:47.
Venus and Antares (Alpha (α) Scorpii) appear 6.4° apart this morning.
Sunday 7 January
The Moon’s libration favours a view of Mare Orientale.
A double Jovian shadow transit as Ganymede and Europa’s shadows appear together between 02:18 and 02:54 UT. Jupiter sets before the end.
Monday 8 January
This morning a 12%-lit waning crescent Moon sits 8.2° southwest of Venus and 4° west of Antares.
Tuesday 9 January
This morning’s 6%-lit Moon forms a tricky-to-see triangle with mag. –0.1 Mercury and mag. –3.9 Venus.
Thursday 11 January
A view of Saturn through larger scopes may bring a view of Dione’s shadow in transit. View as soon as darkness falls until 18:42 UT.
Friday 12 January
Castor (Alpha (α) Geminorum) is at opposition. It’s a multiple star easily split through the eyepiece.
Mag. –0.1 Mercury is at greatest western elongation, 23.5° from the Sun.
Saturday 13 January
Procyon (Alpha (α) Canis Minoris) is at opposition. Like Sirius’s ‘Pup’, Procyon also has a white dwarf companion.
Sunday 14 January
As darkness falls, Saturn appears near this evening’s 14%-lit waxing crescent Moon.
Europa, Ganymede and Io all interact with Jupiter from around 00:35 UT until Jupiter sets.
Monday 15 January
The Moon and Neptune approach conjunction. The 24%-lit waxing crescent Moon sits 1.5° south of Neptune just before they set.
Wednesday 17 January
The mag. 8.9 star TYC-634-519-1 lies 7 arcseconds south of Jupiter’s southern pole at 20:49 UT.
Thursday 18 January
The moon Tethys’s shadow transits Saturn from darkness falling until 17:30 UT.
Clair-obscur effects visible this evening: Face in Albategnius (18:10 UT) and Nessie (19:55 UT).
Friday 19 January
The 67%-lit Moon and Uranus appear in conjunction, Uranus sitting 2.3° south of the Moon.
Clair-obscur effects visible: Stars of Aristillus (00:04 UT), Eyes of Clavius (15:50 UT) and Plato’s Hook (21:00 UT).
Saturday 20 January
Lunar libration brings eastern features into view, such as Mare Smythii and Mare Marginis.
The Pleiades are 3.5° west-northwest of the 76%-lit waxing gibbous Moon as darkness falls.
Sunday 21 January
The Jewelled Handle clair-obscur effect is visible this morning, being optimal around 01:28 UT.
Sunday 28 January
Mag. –0.2 Mercury sits 29 arcminutes east-northeast of mag. +1.3 Mars, a tricky spot low in the dawn twilight.