What’s Out Tonight?

A general ASTRONOMY site to get you started exploring the night sky

Tablet Home Page

I have optimized this site for desktop and laptop computers. 
The whole website would be very restrictive if I formatted it for smaller platforms—sorry! 
This page should read correctly on tablets but not on phones. Most of you who visit this site are looking for the Monthly Sky Chart which is presented here. You will need that desktop or laptop to access and adequately view all the other site information.
Email me, Ken Graun with any questions.

January 2025 
Free Sky Chart

It’s Free
Just click on the above image to get 
and print this 4-page PDF doc.

Useful anywhere in the mid-latitudes of the northern hemisphere including the continental US, Hawaii, Europe, Japan, etc. Optimized for 1.5 hours after sunset but can be used for several hours after that. Indicates visible planets and best objects for binoculars and telescopes. Packed with facts, mythology, Moon phases, meteor showers and more. For other months, see the archive below.

 January 2025 
Sky Notes
 About 90 minutes after Sunset

observing 
MArs

Planets
Every 26 months, like clockwork, the Earth and Mars are close together and this is that time! Mars will be closest to Earth on January 15/16 making it very bright in the sky, as bright as the brightest star, Sirius. Now, ​Mars will be rising in the east as the Sun is setting and will thus be lower in the eastern sky 90 minutes after sunset. Sirius will be slightly lower than ​Mars in the southeast. Yes, ​​Mars has a red color cast to it and it will not twinkle like the stars but shine steady. Higher up from Mars is Jupiter, which is brighter than Mars. Sometimes ​Mars gets as bright as Jupiter but not this time around. Due west is the very bright Venus.

Constellations
Orion is about halfway up the eastern sky with its three belt stars pointing straight down. These three stars are easy to recognize because they are the same brightness, equal distance and form a straight line (not a perfect line but close). There are no other three stars in the sky like them. And, they point downward to the bright star Sirius.

Sky Chart Archives

January 2025
February 2025
March 2025
April 2025
May 2025
June 2025

July 2025
August 2025
September 2025
October 2025
November 2024
December 2024

December 2024