{"id":3122,"date":"2026-01-02T00:47:58","date_gmt":"2026-01-02T00:47:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.griffithmedia.org\/skyreport\/?p=3122"},"modified":"2026-01-02T00:47:58","modified_gmt":"2026-01-02T00:47:58","slug":"griffith-observatory-sky-report-through-january-2026","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.griffithmedia.org\/skyreport\/2026\/01\/02\/griffith-observatory-sky-report-through-january-2026\/","title":{"rendered":"Griffith Observatory Sky Report through January, 2026"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Click<\/strong><\/a>LISTEN to this week\u2019s Sky Report<\/p>\nhttps:\/\/www.griffithmedia.org\/skyreport\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/Jan_2026-Sky-Report.mp3<\/a><\/audio>\n

This is the Griffith Observatory Sky Report for the period between January 1 and January 31, 2026. Here are the events happening in the sky of southern California.<\/p>\n

Mercury, Venus, and Mars<\/strong> are close to the sun and are not safe to observe. Do not observe any planet when it comes close to the sun, for the danger to the eyes is great.<\/p>\n

Jupiter<\/strong> is in the constellation Gemini the Twins. On the 1st<\/sup>, Jupiter rises in the east-northeast at 5:32 p.m., PST, with a disk that is 47 arcseconds wide. On the 31st<\/sup>, Jupiter sets in the west-northwest at 5:35 a.m., PST. A telescope capable of magnification 50x will show the Red Spot, and the four bright Galilean moons can be seen moving back and forth, across and behind Jupiter.<\/p>\n

Saturn<\/strong> is in the constellation Pisces the Fishes. On the 1st<\/sup>, Saturn sets in the west at 10:49 p.m., PST. On the 31st<\/sup>, Saturn sets in the west at 9:02 p.m., PST. The disk of Saturn is 17 arcseconds wide. The rings and Saturn\u2019s largest moon Titan may be seen with a telescope capable of magnification 50x.<\/p>\n

Uranus<\/strong> is in the constellation Taurus the Bull. On the 1st<\/sup>, Uranus sets in the west-northwest at 3:50 a.m., PST. On the 31st<\/sup>, the planet sets in the west-northwest at 1:50 a.m., PST. On the 15th<\/sup>, Uranus is at Right Ascension 3h<\/sup> 41m<\/sup> 39s<\/sup> with a declination of +19\u00b0 26\u02b9 34\u02ba. The disk of Uranus is 3.7 arcseconds wide, and so a telescope with a magnification of 150x is needed.<\/p>\n

Neptune<\/strong> is in the constellation Pisces the Fishes. On the 1st<\/sup>, Neptune sets in the west at 11:05 p.m., PST. On the 31st<\/sup>, Neptune sets in the west at 9:10 p.m., PST. On the 15th<\/sup>, Neptune is at Right Ascension 0h<\/sup> 1m<\/sup> 8s<\/sup> with a declination of -1\u00b0 19\u02b9 14\u02ba. The disk of Neptune is only 2.3 arcseconds wide, and so a telescope with a magnification of 150x is needed to show the disk.<\/p>\n

Full Moon is on the 3rd<\/sup>, last quarter on the 10th<\/sup>, new moon on the 18th<\/sup>, and first quarter on the 25th<\/sup>.<\/p>\n

SPECIAL EVENTS<\/strong><\/p>\n

The Quadrantid meteor shower<\/strong> will peak on the night of the 3rd<\/sup> and through to the morning of the 4th<\/sup>. The peak usually lasts only six hours. Rates may approach 25 meteors per hour, but the full moon will interfere with observation. These meteors usually lack persistent trains but can produce bright fireballs. They appear to radiate from the constellation Bo\u00f6tes the Herdsman.<\/p>\n

Griffith Observatory normally provides free public sky observing day and night\u2013weath\u00ader permitting\u2013through a variety of telescopes. Currently, the Observatory is open Tuesday through Sunday. To plan a visit to the Observatory, please see our website (www. griffithobs.org) for the latest information. The Sky Report, also available on the website, pro\u00advides monthly observing information.<\/p>\n

Follow All Space Considered and Griffith Observatory on Facebook<\/a>, Instagram<\/a>, YouTube<\/a>, and Twitter<\/a> for updates on astronomy and space-related events.<\/p>\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

LISTEN to this week\u2019s Sky Report https:\/\/www.griffithmedia.org\/skyreport\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/Jan_2026-Sky-Report.mp3 This is the Griffith Observatory Sky Report for the period between January 1 and January 31, 2026. Here are the events happening in the sky of southern California. Mercury, Venus, and Mars are … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3122","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-skyreport"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.griffithmedia.org\/skyreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3122","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.griffithmedia.org\/skyreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.griffithmedia.org\/skyreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.griffithmedia.org\/skyreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.griffithmedia.org\/skyreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3122"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.griffithmedia.org\/skyreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3122\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3124,"href":"https:\/\/www.griffithmedia.org\/skyreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3122\/revisions\/3124"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.griffithmedia.org\/skyreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3122"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.griffithmedia.org\/skyreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3122"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.griffithmedia.org\/skyreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3122"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}