For most of the world, the moon and the blazing planet Venus will be closest together for the month this evening, on Thursday, January 26, 2012. It’ll be hard to miss this brilliant couple in the southwest or western sky at dusk and early evening. The moon and Venus rank as the second- and third-brightest celestial objects, respectively, after the sun. They’ll set in the west at early to mid evening.
Moon and Venus as seen on January 26, 2012 from Normandy. Image by EarthSky Facebook friend Jean Marie Delaporte.
More favorite photos of moon and Venus from EarthSky Facebook page
Venus isn’t the only brilliant planet to bedeck the evening sky. The giant planet Jupiter, the fourth-brightest heavenly body after Venus, lights up the nighttime until late night or after midnight. From northerly latitudes, Jupiter appears in the southern sky at dusk or nightfall. From the northern tropics, Jupiter shines high overhead, and as seen from the Southern Hemisphere, Jupiter appears in the north or northwest sky as darkness falls.
All these evening worlds – the waxing crescent moon, Venus and Jupiter – are super easy to see. After all, the moon ranks as the brightest orb of nighttime, followed by Venus and then by Jupiter.
Moon pairs with Jupiter on January 29 and 30
Mars was near the star cluster M44 in mid April 2010. It is the bright reddish object in the upper left of this beautiful image by Peter Wienerroither. (Used with permission)
Before going to bed tonight, look also for the red planet Mars over the eastern horizon. It’ll rise around 9 to 10 o’clock this evening, and it’ll look like a bright ruddy star. Or if you’re a night owl, you’ll catch the planet Saturn following Mars into the sky around midnight to 1:00 a.m. Shortly after Jupiter sets in the west, look for Saturn to rise opposite of Jupiter in the east.
Mars starts to retrograde on January 24, 2012
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Saturn, a golden-colored world, is found close to sparkling blue-white Spica, the brightest star in the constellation Virgo.
If you’re an early riser, look for Mars and Saturn in the morning sky. As seen from northerly latitudes at about 5:30 a.m. local time, Saturn shines in the south while Mars lords over the southwest, to the right of Saturn.
Yes, you can see four visible planets sometime tonight, starting with the moon, Venus and Jupiter at dusk.
Bottom line: The very bright “star” near the waxing crescent moon on the evening of January 26, 2012 is the planet Venus. The planet Jupiter – not quite as bright as Venus, but nearly so – is nearby. Look soon after sunset!
Where can I find if the the night sky is good for stargazing.
Kind regards
Ian Tovey
Thanks for the information’s !!
Wonderful!
GOD Is Great!
Yep! God totally put this here for us to look at! Makes sense.
I just spent the afternoon decorating my 3 yr old son’s bedroom wall with the planets of the solar system. If your son came to visit, would he say to mine “Yeah sure. Your dad just put these here for you to look at. Like any dad would bother to do THAT!”
Venus and the moon look fantastic right now in the crystal clear sky from my kitchen window.
Where can I find out how to calculate the moon luminance for a particular night?
Mo,
The moon’s brightness varies with distance, phase and other factors, and I don’t know of any easy formula for calculating brightness. If you can find a second edition of Guy Ottewell’s The Astronomical Companion, read the Moonlight article on page 36, whereby he gives a detailed explanation. He says that 2.4 days before and after the full moon, the moon is 1/2 as bright as the full moon. He also states the first-quarter moon is about 1/11 as bright as the full moon. Moreover, the last-quarter moon is not quite as bright as the first-quarter moon because of the greater area of dark maria on illuminated side of the moon at last-quarter phase.
Bruce
To me the simplest way is using Stellarium free software. I set it to my specific location and just click over the moon, on any particular day I choose. It will show me the magnitude and other info. For example, today’s Moon magnitude is -8.92 whereas Venus’ is -3.96. If you want to see what phase the Moon is in, you just do a zoom in and you can see how illuminated it is on that particular day.
In London of all places, the sky is particularly clear tonight. Venus is brighter than any star
Have never done this before, but there was such a bright celestial body in the sky south west of the crescent moon, that I Googled it and found out it was Venus. I noticed it on the drive home and was amazed at the clear sky. This was in Hillingdon, West London, 6pm.
Now I want to find out more about Venus.
Wow, we all need to look up more, not down!
wow just looked out my back bedroom window in the pitch blackness there is the moon and venus how stunning and hanging out the window ive found jupiter to. I will be looking for mars later on cant wait. from lincolnshire.
Yes , it was a wonderful sight this evening with the crescent moon, Venus and Jupiter close together over the river Arun in Arundel. Then came a flash of lightening and clap of thunder soon after but no rain!
[...] didn’t get out early enough to see the Moon. Tonight the Moon and Venus make a pretty nice pair in the early evening western sky. I’m going to try and get a view of them [...]
[...] Moon and Venus closest for month on January 26 [...]
Have just seen mars beautiful and looking forward to seeing saturn later on what a wonderful sky to night.
From my location in Derbyshire tonight the moon looked to be double, as though looking through water or double glazing. My neighbours saw it, so did my daughter travelling up the M4 from Plymouth. What could cause this?
Spotted Venus; Jupiter and Mars – so lovely to see them all out and such a wonderful clear sky! So clear…I saw three bright stars in a gorgeous row to the East of Jupiter…not sure which constellation they belong to…Andromeda? There was also a bright body glinting away to the South East of them : )
A magical night!
3 stars in a row in the position you describe would be the “belt” in the constellation Orion. And the other bright star sounds like that hunter’s foot.
I see a very bright planet above me that is east of the moon and venus in the southern sky. I live in northeast Florida. What is it?
That’s Jupiter — the third brightest object in the night sky, next to the moon and Venus. (See the note in the second & third paragraphs of the article.)
I am in the Caymen Islands and 40 +/- mins ago I saw a high altitude, round, star white explosion – size = 1 – 1.5 times the diameter of venus tonight, duration = aprox 1/4 – 1/3 sec. Location 2/3 od the distance on a line between the Pleides and Betelgeuse.
Does anyone have any idea what this might have been?
Corrected Comment from Erik Young
I am in the Caymen Islands and 40 +/- mins ago I saw a high altitude, round, star white explosion – size = 1 – 1.5 times the diameter of venus tonight, duration = aprox 1/4 – 1/3 sec. Location 2/5 of the distance on a line between the Pleides and Betelgeuse.
Does anyone have any idea what this might have been?
I dragged my whole family out to the front porch after dinner to see the show. Spectacular! (My family — two teens, two toddlers, and my wife — were like, “Uh, yeah. Thanks Dad. Nice stars.” I’m like, “No! they’re not stars! They’re pla–” (oh well; at least they glanced up.)
WOW! it is a beautiful sight tonight in the skies in our West California sky. Hypnotic to the mind and such a beautiful sight for us earthbound humans, don’t you think?
I live in Ontario, Canada and with the snow this time of the year the evening sky is ‘sometimes’ clear. One clear night I decided to search online after seeing a bright star and interesting moon glow. I came across this website and info. Thanks so much for sharing and especially any images.
Outstanding photo for Jan 26th of the evening moon and venus. Thanks for sharing Jean Marie. (I like realistic photos since only occasional days with clear skies to see live beauty).
In San Diego the moon looks so bright it hurts to stare at it. I have never seen the moon with a big smile. Doesn’t it usually tilt?
There is absolutely no moon in the sky we watched it disappear and on stelarium it is covered up by something big and black
Where is the moon?
Wow it was sooooo weird n beautiful! Im so glad I seen it well worth it n a day after my birthday!
Not to mention I live in san bernardino ca.