If you long for warm nights of skywatching, look at the summer sky about an hour before sunrise. The stars of summer evenings appear just before dawn in winter. So tomorrow morning, you can see the stars as they will look during July evenings.
Weekly Stargazing Tips
Provided by StarDate.org. Unless otherwise specified, viewing times are local time regardless of time zone, and are good for the entire Lower 48 states (and, generally, for Alaska and Hawaii).
January 11: Hot Weather
January 12: The Footstool
Mighty Orion the hunter has a mighty resting spot for his tired feet: Cursa, the second-brightest star of Eridanus, the river. As night falls, the star stands above Orion's foot, Rigel, the hunter's brightest star.
January 13: Moon and Antares
The Moon is low in the sky at dawn tomorrow. The bright star Antares, the heart of the scorpion, is close by. Although the Moon is a thin crescent, the dark portion of the lunar disk is illuminated by earthshine, which is sunlight reflected from Earth.
January 14: Orion Nebula
The Orion Nebula is in the southeast at nightfall, to the lower right of Orion's Belt. It looks like a big, faint star. Instead of a single star, though, it's a giant complex of gas and dust that has given birth to thousands of stars.
January 15: Caroline's Cluster
A star cluster discovered by Caroline Herschel, one of the first women astronomers, is in view tonight in Canis Major, the big dog. It stands to the lower left of Sirius, the brightest star in the night sky, and is visible through binoculars.
January 16: Evening Milky Way
Under dark skies, the Milky Way is in good view tonight. In early evening, it extends along the body of Cygnus, the swan, in the west-northwest; through M-shaped Cassiopeia, higher in the sky; then between Orion and the twins of Gemini, in the east-southeast.
January 17: Epsilon Eridani
Epsilon Eridani is the third-closest star system that's visible to the unaided eye, at a distance of just 10.5 light-years. It is well up in the south-southeast at nightfall, far to the right of the top right corner of Orion.