The Planets
Planet Data For January
Click on any planet below to go straight to its section.
The table below shows key data for the planets this month, including rise, transit and set times, as well as magnitude, apparent size and position data (right ascension and declination).
Events that occur when the sun is below the horizon are shown with a black background and white text. All other events happen when the sun is in the sky and other for not visible for observation.
January is an unusual month because we’ve got three planets passing behind the sun all within a week of each other: Mercury, Venus, and Mars, meaning that we can’t observe them this month because they’re too close to the sun. At the other end of the spectrum, Jupiter reaches opposition, giving us its best views of the year. That leave Saturn, Neptune and Uranus, which all offer good views in the dark skies of early evening.
All of the images below can be opened full screen in a new tab by clicking on them
Mercury
05th January
Mercury scrapes over the horizon at 7:15 this morning, far too close to the sun to be observed.
15th January
This scene at 7:30 shows how close Mercury is to the sun.
25th January
Mercury passed behind the sun a week ago and is now an evening planet. At 17:30, it’s still too close to the sun to be observed.
Superior conjunction is when a planet passes behind the sun from our perspective. For Mercury, this happens on the 21st of the month and, consequently, the tiny planet spends the whole of January too close to our star to be observed.
After Mercury passed its inferior conjunction, it’ll be a morning planet, visible before sunrise. We’re going to get good views of it in December because the morning ecliptic is very steep but, for this month, the smallest plane is out of reach of our telescopes.
I’m pleased to report, however, that Mercury will be putting on a fabulous evening display for us to enjoy in February.
Venus
05th January
One day before Venus passes behind the sun, this star chart – for 7:30 – shows how close they are to each other.
15th January
Officially an evening planet now, this view just after sunset shows we still can’t observe Venus.
25th January
This 17:45 view shows Venus pulling away from the sun, but it’ll be a while before we can observe it.
Venus also reaches superior conjunction this month, earlier than Mercury on the 6th.
We’re not able to see the planet all month because it’s so close to the sun but, like Mercury, we’ll have better views of it later in February.
Mars
05th January
Mars is the third planet jostling to pass behind the sun early in 2026. It does so on the ninth.
15th January
It’s a week after conjunction and Mars is now a morning planet and heading back towards us.
25th January
This view at 7:30 shows that we’ve got a longer wait yet before Mars is observable.
Although the Martian conjunction on 09 Jan marks the point at which it begins its journey back towards Earth, we’ve still got 13 months to go until opposition in February 2027.
The shallow morning ecliptic in February means it’ll be March before we’re able to get our first glimpse of the Red Planet in quite some time and April before it’s a good view.
Jupiter
05th January
Opposition is only five days away and this star chart for 20:30 shows Jupiter high in the east in Gemini.
15th January
The Jovian disc is over 46 arcseconds wide at the moment and visible all night long.
25th January
At magnitude -2.6, Jupiter is the brightest object in the night sky after the moon this month.
January’s planets seem to be telling a tale of extremes: Mercury, Venus and Mars are all passing behind the sun, and now Jupiter is reaching opposition. As an astronomer, opposition is the much more enjoyable phase. It’s the time in our orbits when the planet is closest to Earth, meaning it’s larger and brighter than at any other time. As an added bonus, the planet is visible all night long, available to observe whether you prefer early evening or early morning for your stargazing.
Most of us are evening stargazers, so look for it high in the east at around 8pm – ideally when the moon is not around – and you’ll spy its unmisatakable bright disc against the background of Gemini.
Saturn
05th January
At 7pm, Saturn is 40° over the southwest horizon, near Pisces.
15th January
The Ringed Planet shines at magnitude 1.6, making it the brifghtest object in the neighborhood.
25th January
This chart is also for 7pm and we can see Saturn is getting lower in the sky fairly quickly.
Saturn is the only one of the five naked-eye planets that’s got nothing overly exciting to talk about this month. It’s doing its thing, shining brightly in the southwest near Pisces in the early evening.
Its journey behind the sun is scheduled for 25 March, so this will be the last month for some time where we’ll enjoy decent views of it.
Uranus & Neptune
15th January – Uranus
Uranus is 70° high in the south near the Pleiades in the middle of the month at 20:00.
15th January – Neptune
At the same time, Neptune is just 2.5° away from Saturn, making it a very handy marker.
Both ice giants are readily visible in the early evening sky.
All Planets Viewer
Use the table below to see when each of the planets is observable for each day this month. Click on it for full screen.
A planet is classed as observable when it is more than 10° above the horizon and the sky is dark enough for it to be observed.
Planet ephemeris tables produced with the kind permission of Dominic Ford. Sky images are courtesy of SkySafari Pro 6.