Astronomy guide to the night sky January 2026
With the Newbury Astronomical Society
The chart above shows the night sky at 20:00 on 21st January 2026
(Click on the image above to enlarge and click away from the image to return here)
The chart above shows the night sky looking south at about 20:00 GMT on 21st January. West is to the right and east to the left. The point in the sky directly overhead is known as the Zenith and is shown (in red) at the upper centre of the chart. The curved brown line across the sky is the Ecliptic or Zodiac. This is the imaginary line along which the Sun, Moon and planets appear to move across the sky. The brightest stars often appear to form a group or recognisable pattern; we call these ‘Constellations’.
Constellations through which the ecliptic passes this month are: Aquarius (the Water Carrier), Pisces (the Fishes), Aries (the Ram), Taurus (the Bull), Gemini (the Twins), Cancer (the Crab) and Leo (the Lion).
The southern sky is now dominated by the constellation of Taurus (the Bull). The most obvious star in Taurus is the lovely Red Giant Star called Aldebaran. It appears slightly orange to the ‘naked eye’ but it is very obviously orange when seen using binoculars or a telescope. Aldebaran is located at the centre of the ‘flattened’ X shape formed by the brightest stars in Taurus. At the end of the top right (upper west) arm of the ‘X’ is the beautiful ‘naked eye’ Open Star Cluster called Messier 45 (M45) also known as the Pleiades (or the Seven Sisters). It is best seen using binoculars. Uranus can be seen using binoculars to the west (right) of the ‘distorted’ X shape of Taurus.
Following Taurus is the constellation of Gemini (the Twins). The two brightest stars in Gemini are Castor and Pollux and they are named after mythological twins. This month the bright and beautiful giant planet Jupiter, is in the constellation of Gemini. Jupiter is shining very brightly and cannot be missed.
To the north of Taurus is the ‘odd pentagon shape’ of Auriga (the Charioteer). Dominating Auriga is the brilliant white star Capella which is almost directly overhead. For those with a telescope there is a line of lovely open clusters to search out in Taurus and Auriga. These are M35 in Taurus and M36, M37 and M38 in Auriga.
To the south of Taurus is the most recognised winter constellation called Orion (the Hunter). Orion is easily found by looking for the very obvious three stars of his belt and his sword hanging below the belt. Orion has his Hunting Dogs, following him, Sirius (the big dog) and Procyon (the little dog) to the east (left) and (indicated by the arrows). Orion appears to be defending himself from the charging Bull Taurus.
WHERE TO FIND THE PLANETS THIS MONTH
MERCURY Is directly behind the Sun in its Superior Conjunction 21st January and cannot be seen.
VENUS was in Superior Conjunction on 6th January and will now be emerging from its excursion behind the Sun so it will not be possible to see this month.
MARS is also very close to the Sun from our point of view. It will be at Superior conjunction on 9th January so it will not be visible this month.
JUPITER is now starting to move into the eastern evening sky this month. It will be at its best position for observing this year on 10th January. Jupiter will be at its very best because it will be at opposition on 10th January. At this time, it will be due south at midnight 00:00 GMT and appearing at its highest above the southern horizon.
SATURN is now effectively moving closer to the western horizon and is at a not so good position to be observed with a telescope but it is still worth a look this month.
URANUS was at Opposition on 21st November when it was at its best position for observing this year. Using a small telescope Uranus will appear as a small and rather ‘fuzzy’ blue disc. It will not be much better even using a larger telescope and no detail can be seen.
NEPTUNE will be just visible this month close to Saturn using large binoculars or a telescope. It will be difficult to find in the sky because it is very small at just 2.3″ (arc-seconds) and only magnitude +7.9. Neptune will appear half the diameter of Uranus and less than a quarter of the brightness of Uranus.
To see a full version of this article and a guide to the night sky with charts, read the monthly magazine on the Newbury Astronomical Society website at: Magazine January 2026
For details and directions visit the Newbury Astronomical Society website at: Home – Newbury Astronomical Society
Our next meeting will be at Stockcross Village Hall on Wednesday 21st January 2026, from 7pm until 9pm.
