Archive

Archive for January 1, 2026

Ephemeris: 01/01/2026 – Previewing January’s skies

January 1, 2026 Comments off

Happy New Year, this is Ephemeris for New Year’s Day, Thursday,
January 1st 2026. The Sun will rise at 8:20. It’ll be up for 8 hours and 52 minutes, setting at 5:13. The Moon, 2 days before full, will set at 8 o’clock tomorrow morning.

As we start a new year let’s take a look at the calendar we’ve adopted from the Romans. When first adopted there were only 10 months, and it began in March. That’s why the months September through December actually means 7 through the 10th month respectively. Originally they didn’t count January and February, (I kind of agree with them there). But eventually they added them to the calendar. And starting in 153 BCE the Romans moved the beginning of the year to January 1st. January was named for the Roman god Janus, who also had a face on the back of his head, looking both forward and backward, as we too look back at the year past and ahead at the year just starting, hoping for a happier one.

The astronomical event times given in this blog are for the Traverse City/Interlochen area of Michigan (Lat 44.7° N, Long 85.7° W; EST, UT – 5 hours) unless stated otherwise. Times will be different for other locations.

Addendum

January Evening Star Chart

Star Chart for January 2026 (9 PM EST January 15, 2026).
Star Chart for January 2026 (9 PM EST January 15, 2026). Click or tap on the image to enlarge it. Created using my LookingUp program.

The planets and stars are plotted for the 15th at 9 PM EST in the evening and 6 AM on the 16th for the morning chart. These are the chart times. Note that Traverse City is located approximately 45 minutes behind our time meridian, West 75° longitude. (An hour 45 minutes behind our daylight saving time meridian during EDT), so the skies may not exactly match as seen from other locations.

January Morning Star Chart

Star Chart for January mornings of 2026 (6 AM EST January 16, 2026).
Star Chart for January mornings of 2026 (6 AM EST January 16, 2026). Click or tap on the image to enlarge it. Created using my LookingUp program.

For a list of constellation names to go with the abbreviations click here.

  • Pointer stars at the front of the bowl of the Big Dipper point to Polaris the North Star.
  • The leaky bowl of the Big Dipper drips on Leo.
  • Follow the arc of the handle of the Big Dipper to the star Arcturus, then
  • Follow the spike to Spica.
  • QuadR on the star charts is the radiant of the Quadrantid meteor shower which peaks on the 3rd at 4:34 PM EST (21:14 UT).

Twilight Limits, Nautical and Astronomical

      EST        
  Morning Twilight Evening Twilight Dark Night Moon
Date Astro. Nautical Nautical Astro. Start End Illum.
2026-01-01 6h35m 7h11m 18h22m 19h01m – – 98%
2026-01-02 6h35m 7h11m 18h23m 19h02m – – 100%
2026-01-03 6h35m 7h11m 18h24m 19h03m – – 99%
2026-01-04 6h35m 7h11m 18h25m 19h04m – – 96%
2026-01-05 6h35m 7h11m 18h26m 19h05m 19h05m 20h10m 90%
2026-01-06 6h35m 7h11m 18h27m 19h06m 19h06m 21h26m 82%
2026-01-07 6h35m 7h11m 18h27m 19h07m 19h07m 22h37m 74%
2026-01-08 6h35m 7h10m 18h28m 19h08m 19h08m 23h45m 64%
2026-01-09 6h35m 7h10m 18h29m 19h08m 19h08m – 54%
2026-01-10 6h35m 7h10m 18h30m 19h09m 19h09m 0h51m 45%
2026-01-11 6h35m 7h10m 18h31m 19h10m 19h10m 1h57m 35%
2026-01-12 6h35m 7h10m 18h33m 19h11m 19h11m 3h03m 27%
2026-01-13 6h34m 7h09m 18h34m 19h12m 19h12m 4h09m 19%
2026-01-14 6h34m 7h09m 18h35m 19h14m 19h14m 5h14m 12%
2026-01-15 6h34m 7h08m 18h36m 19h15m 19h15m 6h15m 7%
2026-01-16 6h33m 7h08m 18h37m 19h16m 19h16m 6h33m 3%
2026-01-17 6h33m 7h08m 18h38m 19h17m 19h17m 6h33m 0%
2026-01-18 6h32m 7h07m 18h39m 19h18m 19h18m 6h32m 0%
2026-01-19 6h32m 7h07m 18h40m 19h19m 19h19m 6h32m 2%
2026-01-20 6h31m 7h06m 18h41m 19h20m 19h42m 6h31m 6%
2026-01-21 6h31m 7h05m 18h43m 19h21m 20h53m 6h31m 12%
2026-01-22 6h30m 7h05m 18h44m 19h22m 22h05m 6h30m 19%
2026-01-23 6h29m 7h04m 18h45m 19h24m 23h17m 6h29m 29%
2026-01-24 6h29m 7h03m 18h46m 19h25m – 6h29m 39%
2026-01-25 6h28m 7h03m 18h47m 19h26m 0h32m 6h28m 50%
2026-01-26 6h27m 7h02m 18h49m 19h27m 1h50m 6h27m 62%
2026-01-27 6h27m 7h01m 18h50m 19h28m 3h10m 6h27m 73%
2026-01-28 6h26m 7h00m 18h51m 19h29m 4h30m 6h26m 82%
2026-01-29 6h25m 6h59m 18h52m 19h31m 5h43m 6h25m 90%
2026-01-30 6h24m 6h58m 18h54m 19h32m – – 96%
2026-01-31 6h23m 6h57m 18h55m 19h33m – – 99%

Twilight calendar was generated using Cartes du Ciel (Sky Charts).

See my blog post: Twilight Zone for the definitions of the different periods of twilight here: https://bobmoler.wordpress.com/2018/09/27/.

NASA Calendar of Planetary Events

    Date      Time    Event
Jan  1  Th            Venus: 1.3° W
     1  Th   4:43 PM  Moon Perigee: 360300 km
     2  Fr   3:20 AM  Moon North Dec.: 28.3° N
     3  Sa   5:03 AM  Full Moon
     3  Sa  11:59 AM  Perihelion: 0.9833 AU
     3  Sa   4:34 PM  Quadrantid Shower: ZHR = 120
     3  Sa   5:01 PM  Moon-Jupiter: 3.7° S
     4  Su   8:09 PM  Moon-Beehive: 1.3° S
     6  Tu  10:58 AM  Venus Superior Conj.
     6  Tu  11:20 AM  Moon-Regulus: 0.5° S
     7  We   6:22 AM  Moon Descending Node
     9  Fr   4:58 AM  Mars Conjunction
    10  Sa   3:22 AM  Jupiter Opposition
    10  Sa  10:48 AM  Last Quarter
    10  Sa   6:50 PM  Moon-Spica: 1.8° N
    13  Tu   3:47 PM  Moon Apogee: 405400 km
    14  We   2:28 PM  Moon-Antares: 0.6° N
    16  Fr  12:25 AM  Moon South Dec.: 28.3° S
    18  Su   2:52 PM  New Moon
    21  We  10:45 AM  Mercury Superior Conj.
    21  We   7:03 PM  Moon Ascending Node
    23  Fr   7:31 AM  Moon-Saturn: 4.5° S
    25  Su  11:47 PM  First Quarter
    27  Tu   4:07 PM  Moon-Pleiades: 1.1° S
    29  Th  12:02 PM  Moon North Dec.: 28.4° N
    29  Th   4:53 PM  Moon Perigee: 365900 km
    30  Fr   9:31 PM  Moon-Jupiter: 3.9° S
Feb  1  Su            Venus: 6.3° E

All event times are given for UTC-5 Eastern Standard Time.
Sky Events Calendar by Fred Espenak and Sumit Dutta (NASA’s GSFC),
http://eclipse.gsfc.nasa.gov/SKYCAL/SKYCAL.html.

If you go to the above site you can print out a list like the above for the entire year or calendar pages for your time zone.

Sun and Moon Rising and Setting Events

LU           Ephemeris of Sky Events for Interlochen/TC
January, 2026    Local time zone: EST
+-----------------------------------------------------------------------+
| DATE |  SUN     SUN  DAYLIGHT|   TWILIGHT*    |MOON  RISE OR    ILLUM |
|      |  RISE    SET    HOURS |  END    START  |PHASE SET** TIME FRACTN|
+=======================================================================+
|Thu  1| 08:20a  05:13p  08:52 | 06:23p  07:09a |      Set  08:00a   97%|
|Fri  2| 08:20a  05:14p  08:53 | 06:24p  07:09a |      Set  08:57a  100%|
|Sat  3| 08:20a  05:14p  08:54 | 06:25p  07:09a |Full  Rise 05:28p   99%|
+------+-----------------------+----------------+-----------------------+
|Sun  4| 08:20a  05:15p  08:55 | 06:26p  07:10a |      Rise 06:50p   96%|
|Mon  5| 08:19a  05:16p  08:57 | 06:26p  07:10a |      Rise 08:10p   91%|
|Tue  6| 08:19a  05:18p  08:58 | 06:27p  07:09a |      Rise 09:25p   84%|
|Wed  7| 08:19a  05:19p  08:59 | 06:28p  07:09a |      Rise 10:37p   75%|
|Thu  8| 08:19a  05:20p  09:00 | 06:29p  07:09a |      Rise 11:45p   66%|
|Fri  9| 08:19a  05:21p  09:02 | 06:30p  07:09a |      Rise 12:51a   56%|
|Sat 10| 08:18a  05:22p  09:03 | 06:31p  07:09a |L Qtr Rise 01:57a   47%|
+------+-----------------------+----------------+-----------------------+
|Sun 11| 08:18a  05:23p  09:05 | 06:32p  07:09a |      Rise 03:02a   37%|
|Mon 12| 08:17a  05:24p  09:06 | 06:33p  07:08a |      Rise 04:08a   28%|
|Tue 13| 08:17a  05:26p  09:08 | 06:35p  07:08a |      Rise 05:13a   20%|
|Wed 14| 08:17a  05:27p  09:10 | 06:36p  07:08a |      Rise 06:14a   13%|
|Thu 15| 08:16a  05:28p  09:12 | 06:37p  07:07a |      Rise 07:09a    8%|
|Fri 16| 08:15a  05:29p  09:13 | 06:38p  07:07a |      Rise 07:54a    3%|
|Sat 17| 08:15a  05:31p  09:15 | 06:39p  07:06a |      Rise 08:31a    1%|
+------+-----------------------+----------------+-----------------------+
|Sun 18| 08:14a  05:32p  09:17 | 06:40p  07:06a |New   Set  05:19p    0%|
|Mon 19| 08:13a  05:33p  09:19 | 06:41p  07:05a |      Set  06:30p    1%|
|Tue 20| 08:13a  05:35p  09:21 | 06:42p  07:05a |      Set  07:42p    5%|
|Wed 21| 08:12a  05:36p  09:23 | 06:44p  07:04a |      Set  08:53p   10%|
|Thu 22| 08:11a  05:37p  09:26 | 06:45p  07:04a |      Set  10:04p   18%|
|Fri 23| 08:10a  05:39p  09:28 | 06:46p  07:03a |      Set  11:17p   26%|
|Sat 24| 08:09a  05:40p  09:30 | 06:47p  07:02a |      Set  12:31a   37%|
+------+-----------------------+----------------+-----------------------+
|Sun 25| 08:09a  05:41p  09:32 | 06:48p  07:01a |F Qtr Set  01:49a   48%|
|Mon 26| 08:08a  05:43p  09:35 | 06:50p  07:01a |      Set  03:10a   59%|
|Tue 27| 08:07a  05:44p  09:37 | 06:51p  07:00a |      Set  04:29a   70%|
|Wed 28| 08:06a  05:45p  09:39 | 06:52p  06:59a |      Set  05:43a   80%|
|Thu 29| 08:05a  05:47p  09:42 | 06:53p  06:58a |      Set  06:44a   89%|
|Fri 30| 08:04a  05:48p  09:44 | 06:55p  06:57a |      Set  07:31a   95%|
|Sat 31| 08:02a  05:50p  09:47 | 06:56p  06:56a |      Set  08:07a   99%|
+-----------------------------------------------------------------------+
* Nautical Twilight
** Moonrise or moonset, whichever occurs between sunset and sunrise
Generated using my LookingUp for DOS program.
Categories: Ephemeris Program, Month preview, Observing Tags: