This map unfolds the entire night sky from sunset (at right) until sunrise (at left).
Arrows and colored dots show motions and locations of solar system objects during the month.
The planets
in their orbits
Arrows show the inner planets’
monthly motions and dots depict
the outer planets’ positions at mid-
month from high above their orbits.
Jupiter’s moons
Io
Europa
S
WE
N
Ganymede
Callisto
ILLUSTRATIONS BY
ASTRONOMY
: ROEN KELLY
AQL
LY R
CYG
VUL
SGE
EQU
LAC
AQR
AND
TRI
ARI
PER
TAU
PEG
PSC
CET
SCL
PHE
FOR
CAE
ERI
DEL
SGR
SCT
SER
CAP
MIC
GRU
PsA
Objects visible in the evening
e Sun (^) (Ecliptic)
e Sun (^) (ecliptic)
Path of
(^) the M
oon
Sun
Early evening
Uranus
Neptune
Pallas Venus
Iris
28 27 26 25 24 23 22 21 20 19 18 17 16
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
Callisto
Europa
Io
Ganymede
Jupiter
Mercury
Greatest western
elongation
is January 1
Ceres
Opposition
is January 31
Pluto
Solar conjunction
is January 9
Mars
Uranus
Neptune
Saturn
Jupiter
Jupiter
Earth
Perihelion is
January 2/3
Venus
Superior conjunction
is January 8/9
WWW.ASTRONOMY.COM 41
Dots display positions
of Galilean satellites at
6 A.M. EST on the date
shown. South is at the
top to match
the view
through a
telescope.
To locate the Moon in the sky, draw a line from the phase shown for the day straight up to the curved blue line.
Note: Moons vary in size due to the distance from Earth and are shown at 0h Universal Time.
The planets
in their orbits
Arrows show the inner planets’
monthly motions and dots depict
the outer planets’ positions at mid-
month from high above their orbits.