Jupiter beams bright, Saturn and the Moon cozy up, and the Beehive Cluster appears

Jupiter is at its biggest and brightest all year, the Moon and Saturn pair up, and the Beehive Cluster buzzes into view.

Skywatching Highlights

• Jan. 10: Jupiter at opposition
• Jan. 23: Saturn and Moon conjunction
• Jan. (throughout): Beehive Cluster

Transcript

Jupiter is at its biggest and brightest

The Moon and Saturn share the sky 

And the beehive cluster makes an appearance 

That’s what’s up, this January

January 10, Jupiter will be at its most brilliant of the entire year! 

This night, Jupiter will be at what’s called “opposition,” meaning that Earth will be directly between Jupiter and the Sun. 

In this alignment, Jupiter will appear bigger and brighter in the night sky than it will all year – talk about starting off the new year bright! 

To see Jupiter at its best this year, look to the east and all evening long, you’ll be able to see the planet in the constellation Gemini. It will be one of the brightest objects in the night sky (only the moon and Venus will be brighter)  

Saturn and the Moon will share the sky on January 23rd as part of a conjunction!  

A conjunction is when objects in the sky look close together even though they’re actually far apart. 

To spot the pair, look to the west and you’ll see Saturn just below the moon, sparkling in the night sky. 

The beehive cluster will be visible in the night sky throughout January!

The beehive cluster, more formally known as Messier 44, or M44, is made of at least 1,000 stars

It’s an open star cluster, meaning it’s a loosely-bound group of stars. There are thousands of open star clusters like the beehive in the Milky Way Galaxy! 

To see the beehive cluster, look to the eastern night sky after sunset and before midnight throughout the month – especially great nights to spot the cluster are around the middle of January when the cluster isn’t too high or low in the sky to see.   

With dark skies you might be able to spot the beehive with just your eyes, but binoculars or a small telescope will help. 

Here are the phases of the Moon for January.

You can stay up to date on all of NASA’s missions exploring the solar system and beyond at science.nasa.gov.

I’m Chelsea Gohd from NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, and that’s What’s Up for this month.