Planets Overhead Through January

What's up? This is a great month for planet-watching in this part of the world! You will have the best luck going somewhere dark, away from city or other lights, and away from tall buildings and trees that might obstruct your view of objects near the horizon. Four planets will be visible in the night sky, but they don't all show up at the same time.

6 PM - Saturn will be the first planet to disappear from the night sky, so you'll want to look for this golden-hued planet right after sunset. Look toward the southwestern horizon; this is not a planet that will appear high in the sky above your head.

8 PM - Venus is making the opposite move as Saturn; each night it will climb farther into the sky before disappearing. It is Earth's next door neighbor, so it looks like one of the brightest planets. Look toward the southwestern horizon an hour or two after sunset for a chance to spot this planet.

10 PM - Jupiter is also located in the southwestern sky, but you have a few extra hours to watch for it before it disappears from our view each night. This planet appears brighter than the stars in the sky, so it's fairly easy to locate.

All night - Mars will be visible nearly all night, until just a few hours before the sun comes up. Right now Mars is the brightest it will be all year, so look for the red object high up in the western sky.

Mercury is the only planet that's best spotted in an early morning sky (before dawn). It hasn't been viewable for us at the beginning of this month, but it should start to emerge above the southeastern horizon within the next week.

If you take a turn spotting these planets or think you have identified something in the night sky, let us know! You can connect with all of our meteorologists on Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram.