These are the best times and also the worst times for stargazing, at least in this stargazers opinion. It's certainly not a time for hothouse flowers to take on January stargazing. Just bundle up and think warm, and you'll be rewarded with what I think is the best celestial show of the year. It's a great time to break in that new Christmas telescope, but even with binoculars or your naked eyes, you'll definitely be star struck! Just make sure your face isn't struck by frostbite.
You might want to delay your January stargazing until late next week, though, because we have a full moon coming on, whitewashing all but the brightest stars. However despite the moonlight, the bright planets Jupiter and Venus will be extremely easy to see in our sky.
Even before evening twilight, Venus will be brilliant in the southwestern sky. By far, it's the brightest star-like object in the night sky, but not much of a target with any telescope because it's completely cloud covered. On the other hand, the planet Jupiter, the second brightest star-like object in the evening heavens is wonderful through even a small telescope. You can track the positions of its four brighter moons that resemble faint little stars. Some nights, you can't see all four of the moons because one or more of them maybe in front of Jupiter, lost in its glow, or behind the 88,000 mile diameter planet, the big guy of our solar system.
Next week, after we get the full moon out of the sky, give yourself at least fifteen minutes to get used to the darkness and also the cold. Then, armed with your night vision, look in the low northeastern sky for the Big Dipper, standing up diagonally on its handle. Even though the Big Dipper is the most recognized star pattern in the sky, it is not an official constellation.
The Big Dipper is actually the rear end and tail of the Big Bear, known more formally as Ursa Major. The entire Big Bear is a little difficult to see right now because it's still pretty low in the sky and you're forced to look through more of Earth's blurring atmosphere. Nonetheless, look to the upper right of the pot section of the Big Dipper for a skinny triangle of three slightly dimmer stars that outline the head of the celestial bear.
Below and to the right of the Big Bear's head look for two moderately bright stars, Talitha and Al Kaprah, which together mark Ursa Major's front paw.
The fainter Little Dipper, otherwise known as Ursa Minor or the Little Bear, is hanging by its handle, or tail, above the Big Dipper. At the end of the Little Dipper's handle is Polaris, otherwise known as the North Star. By no means is Polaris the brightest star in the night sky, but it's an important one. It's what I call the "Lynchpin of the heavens" because it shines directly above the Earth's North Pole.
As a result, all of the stars and planets, the sun, the moon and anything else in the sky seem to revolve once around Polaris every 24 hours as the Earth rotates on its axis in the same period.
The main stage in the January sky show is definitely in the eastern half of the sky, where "Orion and his Gang" are setting up celestial camp. Surrounding the constellation Orion are the brilliant constellations Taurus the Bull, Auriga the Chariot Driver, Gemini the Twins and Orion's hunting dogs Canis Major and Canis Minor. I love this part of the sky!
Orion's brightest stars are Rigel at his knee and Betelgeuse at his armpit. In fact, Betelgeuse is an Arabic name that roughly translates to "armpit of the great one" in English. Other shining jewels of Orion are the three stars in a diagonal row that outline the belt of the celestial hunter. From the lower left to upper right the stars are Alnitak, Alnilam, and Mintaka. Nowhere else in the sky will you see three bright stars so neatly in a row.
Dress warm and enjoy these frosty January nights.
(Lynch is an amateur astronomer and professional broadcast meteorologist for WCCO Radio in Minneapolis and is author of the book, "Pennsylvania Starwatch.")