-Thursday the 22^nd:  The nightly array of constellations includes one king:  Cepheus, the mythological king of ancient Ethiopia.  His constellation looks like a child’s drawing of a house, with a rectangle of stars topped by a pointed roof.  It is high in the northwest in early evening.

-Friday the 23^rd:  The Little Dipper stands in the north tonight and every night.  The star at the tip of its handle is Polaris, the North Star, which appears in the same position in the sky every night.  The other stars of the Little Dipper rotate around Polaris, and never set.

-Saturday the 24^th:  Three cats pad across the sky tonight.  The brightest is Leo, the lion.  Its alpha star, Regulus, rises almost due east around 7-8 p.m.  Just to the north of Leo is Leo Minor, the little lion.  You may also find the eye-straining Lynx stretching overhead of the lions.

-Sunday the 25^th:  A solar eclipse takes place tonight.  It will be visible across parts of the eastern hemisphere in Africa, Asia, Australia, Antarctica and the South Pacific.  The Moon is farther from Earth than average, so it won’t completely cover the Sun.  Instead, a bright “ring of fire” will encircle the Moon, creating what is called an annular eclipse.

-Monday the 26^th:  The Moon is new as it crosses between Earth and the Sun, beginning a new month-long cycle of phases.  The Moon is lost from view in the Sun’s glare but will return to view as a thin crescent in the western sky on Tuesday or Wednesday.  Mark when you can first observe it!

-Tuesday the 27^th:  One fun sky watching challenge is trying to find the very young Moon.  Since the Moon was new early yesterday, look for it just after sunset today.  It will be a whisker-thin crescent low in the west.  If you miss it, try again tomorrow.

-Thursday the 29^th:  Venus, the brilliant “evening star,” stands to the upper left of the crescent Moon at nightfall.  They will move closer together as they drop toward the western horizon creating a lovely pairing.

     Late January is usually chillingly cold, but it is worth a peak outdoors on a clear evening.  The excitement is definitely in the east.  Orion is rising still higher, with his belt changing from a vertical line to a diagonal line.  Brilliant Sirius is rising above the horizon earlier each evening.  Taurus the Bull with its angry red-eye Aldebaran is high above commanding the skies, with its shoulder, the Pleiades cluster, drawing your eye inevitably toward its unique star pattern.  Turn binoculars on this jewel and out jump dozens of stars where before there were just six or seven.  Set up your telescope and prepare to be rewarded with a sight of 300 to 500 stars in all, just within this little cluster, truly a spectacular mid-winter event.  Our nearby planets are visiting us once again.   Brilliant Venus is rising earlier and staying later each evening in the west.  While still in the eastern sky, Saturn rises much earlier now and gets correspondingly higher earlier each night.  Regulus twinkles below it at one quarter its brilliance leading Leo the Lion up into the sky.  High above the Saturn-Regulus pair you will find Castor and Pollux the Gemini Twins.  Pollux, an orange giant, is the lower of the two and slightly brighter.  It’s tinted pale yellow-orange; Castor is white.  One more challenge remains in the east.  Look to the right of Saturn by nearly two fist-widths for a gathering of faint stars somewhat larger than your extended thumb.  This is the head of Hydra, the sea serpent; the rest of his body winds dimly down below the horizon, not willing to rise wholly until the days turn warm once again.

*Sources:  Thanks to Star Date magazine, National Audubon Society Field Guide to the Night Sky, Starry Night Pro, The Stars by H.A. Rey, stardate.org, Sky Times, stardate.org, Joe Rao and Space.com