The Sky At A Glance

January 1 marks the beginning of the International Year of Astronomy, organized to commemorate the 400th anniversary of the astronomical telescope. (See our What's New section for more.).

Earth reaches perihelion at about 10:00 AM EST on January 4, when its center is only 147,096,000 km (91,401,000 mi) from the center of the Sun. (Earth's seasons are caused by the planet's tilt on its axis, not by its distance from the Sun; currently the Northern Hemisphere is tilted away from the Sun, and is therefore experiencing winter.)

There is an annular solar eclipse on January 26, visible over the Indian Ocean and parts of Indonesia.

Evening Planets (after sunset)

• Mercury, W
• Jupiter, SW
• Venus, SW
• Neptune,SW
• Uranus, S

Visible at Midnight

• Saturn, SE

Morning Planets (before sunrise)

• Saturn, S
• Mercury, SE

Newcomer comet C/2007 N3 (Lulin) is an early morning object, in Libra. It may reach 8th magnitude in the later part of the month.

The Quadrantid meteors peak on January 2-3. Before dawn on the 3rd, up to 100 meteors per hour may be visible.