—
—
—
—
—
—

Maps: NASA Blue Marble, Black Marble, LRO, MESSENGER, Cassini, New Horizons · Mars: NASA/JPL/USGS Viking mosaic, relief from MGS MOLA (NASA/GSFC, 6x vertical exaggeration) · Jupiter: Hubble OPAL 2019, NASA, ESA, A. Simon (GSFC), M.H. Wong (UC Berkeley) (CC BY 4.0), enhanced colour · Sun's limb: NASA/SDO AIA 304 Å · Sun, Saturn, Saturn's rings, Uranus, Neptune, clouds, relief: Solar System Scope (CC BY 4.0) · Moons and small worlds: NASA/JPL/USGS; Io, Ganymede, Titan, Triton via CelestiaContent (CC BY, Askaniy Anpilogov et al.); Mimas, Tethys, Dione, Rhea, Ceres, Vesta via Stellarium (CC BY 4.0, Oleg Pluton, FarGetaNik) · Bennu, Ryugu, Itokawa, Eros, Arrokoth: shape models NASA PDS / OSIRIS-REx / NEAR / New Horizons (CC0), Ryugu ISAS/JAXA (CC BY 4.0); maps via CelestiaContent (Askaniy Anpilogov, Roman Tkachenko; Stooke, NASA PDS; CC BY) · Orbits: JPL, Minor Planet Center; asteroids and comets: NASA/JPL Small-Body Database (via KStars) · Spacecraft trajectories: NASA/JPL Horizons · Rotation: IAU WGCCRE · Data: NASA NSSDC
Space Simulator

Loading…

The night sky in January 2027

What happens in the sky in January 2027, worked out from orbital data. Open the calendar to see each event in 3D. Times in UTC.

5 sky events this month
  • 3 Sun Venus at greatest western elongation: best before sunrise
    Venus is as far from the Sun in our sky as it gets this time, 47°. Look low in the east shortly before sunrise.
  • 4 Mon Quadrantid meteor shower peaks (about 80 an hour in ideal skies)
    Dust shed by asteroid 2003 EH1 burns up high in our air. The meteors seem to fly out of one point, the radiant. Best after midnight, far from city lights; the Moon is 12% lit that night.
  • 7 Thu New Moon · around 08:24 PM
    The Moon is on the Sun's side of the sky and can't be seen. The nights around it are the darkest of the month, the best for the Milky Way and faint meteors.
  • 22 Fri Full Moon · around 12:11 PM
    The Moon is opposite the Sun, so its whole face is lit. It rises around sunset and is up all night.
  • 23 Sat The Moon passes Jupiter, about 1.3° apart · around 11:34 PM
    The Moon moves about its own width across the stars every hour, so it passes each planet about once a month. The gap is as seen from Earth's centre; from where you stand it can differ by up to a degree. Up most of the night.