This Months Sky
The times stated should always be in ‘Universal Time’ (UT) which basically ignores the British Summer Time rule. and should therefore be one hour behind BST.
Sources: Unless specified otherwise the following detail is taken from either the BBC Sky At Night magazine for that month or from the BAA (British Astronomy Association) Observing Calendar, the exact timings may have been left out to encourage members to seek out the data for themselves.
Author: Brian Shepherd
January 2026
| 1st | The Moon will reach the closest point, perigee, along its orbit to the Earth and will appear slightly larger than at other times. |
| 2nd | Asteroid 40 Harmonia will be at opposition tonight reaching its highest point in the night sky around midnight UT. The Galilean Moon Callisto reappears from behind Jupiter around 02:00 UT. |
| 3rd | Tonights full Moon is declared as a Supermoon owing to it being just after perigee. Earth is also at perihelion today meaning it is at its closet point to our Sun. The bright Moon will spoil the viewing of the Quadrantid meteor shower, peak ZHR can be around 120 under good dark skies. |
| More to follow soon … | |