Sky Diary January 2026

Quadrantid meteors, Comets, Jupiter at opposition and the Moon visits the Pleiades

by Mark Phillips
Using data from Dominic Ford’s in-the-sky.org and other sources

Quadrantids radiant

The Quadrantid meteor shower, although often neglected, is one of the best of the year. It peaks at 23:00 GMT on 3 January but unfortunately the radiant is highest, when rates are usually best, during daylight hours (09:00 GMT) for Edinburgh. The Moon is also Full this year so that will limit the number seen, but it is one of the most prolific with around 110 per hour predicted at peak. You can see meteors from this shower from 12 Dec to 12 January but the peak is very sharp and only lasts a few hours so rates are much lower away from maximum. Although the constellation after which the shower is named is no longer recognised (Quadrans Muralis), the radiant is in the region of the constellation of Boötes. The parent body is likely to be be minor planet 2003 EH1, one of the few showers not originating from a comet.

Jupiter 23 Dec 2024, David Brett

Jupiter is the stand-out planet on show this month, bright at mag. – 2.6 and comes to opposition – the point directly opposite the Sun as seen from Earth – on 10 January. At opposition, Jupiter is visible for most of the night, rises around sunset and sets around sunrise, reaching its highest point due south near local midnight. Through a telescope, even a small beginner’s scope, you should be able to watch the 4 Galilean satellites as they orbit the planet and see some of the darker bands on the visible, gaseous surface.

At the start of the month, Saturn is around magnitude 1.2, sets at 21:24 GMT and reaches its highest point in the sky of 30° at 17:15 GMT setting at 21:24 GMT. That changes to 27° at 17:27, setting at 20:01 GMT as the month ends.

The 3rd interstellar object discovered, 3I/ATLAS, continues to be visible in the early morning sky while fading on its way out of our solar system. On 1 Jan it reaches its highest point in the sky at 03:14 GMT of 45°. Watch the recent talk about this fascinating object given by Dr Darryl Z. Seligman.

240P/NEAT M. Phillips

C/2025 K1 (ATLAS) continues to fascinate with its various forms of fragmentation. Observable all night but getting much fainter now.

Comet 240P/NEAT is an interesting object. It was discovered in 2002 by Near Earth Asteroid Tracking (NEAT) and had an orbital period of 8.1 years. But on 3 october 2025 it fragmented resulting in a second object, 240P/NEAT-B, being created changing the period to 7.6 years. You can see both objects in the evening around about mag. 13 / 14.

Highlights:

• 3 Jan – Full Moon, supermoon, known as the “Wolf Moon”
• 3 Jan – 23h GMT Peak of the Quadrantid meteor shower, full Moon interferes
• 3 Jan – Close approach of the Moon and Jupiter
• 3 Jan – Earth at perihelion
• 10 Jan – Jupiter reaches opposition, opposite the Sun in the sky, mag -2.6
• 15 Jan – Interstellar comet 3I/ATLAS continues to fade and reaches its highest altitude of 95° at 01:17 GMT
• 18 Jan – New Moon
• 27 Jan – Close approach of the 9 day old Moon and the Pleiades
• Comet C/2025 R2 (Swan) fading but getting higher in the sky
• Comet C/2025 K1 (ATLAS) circumpolar so visible all night
• Comet 240P/NEAT and new fragment 240P-B an interesting one to watch in the evening