The sky in January: Meteors herald dawn solar eclipse on Tuesday

The New Year opens in spectacular fashion with the peak of the Quadrantids meteor shower next Monday night and a partial eclipse of the Sun at dawn on the following morning.

There is no shortage of interest throughout January, though, as we enjoy the best starscapes of the year and all but one of the bright planets are on view. We just need to pile on the cold-weather clothing.

The focus of interest at our star map times is in the south-east where the unmistakable form of Orion stands well clear of the horizon and above-right of Sirius, the brightest star.

Leading Orion across the sky is Taurus the Bull with the Pleiades star cluster, which stands high in the south at our map times and just to the right of the Moon on the 25th.

High above Orion is Capella in Auriga, which twinkled low in our northern sky during the summer. It is now the turn of Vega in Lyra to make an even lower transit across our northern sky during the night - it dips to stand less than 5 high and due north at midnight at present.

Nightfall, though, finds Vega, Deneb and Altair, the Summer Triangle, in the middle of our western sky as Jupiter, brighter than any star, stands at its highest and best in the south. The giant planet is creeping eastwards against the stars of Pisces, below the Square of Pegasus, and dims slightly from magnitude -2.3 to -2.2 during January as its diameter contracts from 39 to 36 arcseconds.

Uranus, visible through binoculars at magnitude 5.9, lies 0.6 north of Jupiter on Sunday and 1.2 to Jupiter's west (right) by the 13th. The annual Quadrantids meteor shower is active until the 6th but is predicted to unleash most of its meteors in only a few hours around a peak which is due at, or soon after, midnight on the 3rd/4th.

At its best, more than 100 Quadrantids per hour might be seen by a single observer under ideal skies. The meteors enter the upper atmosphere at 41 km per second and are visible in all parts of the sky, though their paths diverge from a radiant point in northern Bootes, a region that once formed the now obsolete constellation of Quadrans Muralis.

This radiant is plotted low in the north on our star map but follows the Plough to climb through our north-eastern and eastern sky later in the night. Analyses of the shower in recent years suggest that it may produce a second strong flurry of meteors as we run up to dawn on Tuesday.

That dawn brings the first of the year's four partial solar eclipses, and the only one to be visible from the British mainland. The eclipse is already well under way as the Sun rises and we must be content with watching the Moon's disk withdraw from the Sun as the latter climbs slowly away from our south-eastern horizon.

For Edinburgh, the left-hand 42 per cent of the Sun's disk is hidden by the Moon as it rises at 08:43 and the eclipse ends when the Moon leaves the Sun at 09:34.The corresponding obscurations for other locations include: London 67 per cent; Glasgow 36 per cent; Inverness 27 per cent; and Stornoway 11 per cent. The eclipse is visible across most of Europe and parts of Asia and Africa.

To avoid serious eye damage, never view the Sun directly through any telescope or binoculars. Safe alternatives will be highlighted in the first of three Stargazing Live TV programmes to be broadcast on BBC2 and BBC HD next Monday to Wednesday evenings - to coincide with the Quadrantids and the eclipse.

Saturn rises in the east four hours after our map times and crosses some 30 high on the meridian well before dawn. It lies in Virgo, 8 above and right of Virgo's leading star Spica, and improves from magnitude 0.8 to 0.6. Look for the triangle formed by Saturn, Spica and the Moon before dawn on the 25th when Saturn's disk appears 18 arcseconds wide and the rings, 41 arcseconds across, have their north face tipped 10 towards up.

Venus stands furthest west of the Sun (47) on the 8th and remains brilliant as a morning star. It does, though, dim slightly from magnitude -4.5 to -4.3 as it recedes and sinks slightly lower in the south-south-east before dawn. Viewed telescopically, it changes from a 46 per cent sunlit crescent to a 61 per cent illuminated gibbous phase as it shrinks from 27 to 20 arcseconds across. Look for it above the waning Moon on the 30th.

Mercury may be glimpsed through binoculars, if not with the unaided eye, very low in the south-east before dawn for the initial two weeks of the year. Until the 12th, it shines near magnitude 0 and stands 5 or more above the horizon 40 minutes before sunrise. It is furthest west of the Sun (23) on the 9th when it appears 63 per cent sunlit and only 7 arcseconds across through a telescope.

Believe it or not, the Earth is closest to the Sun on Monday, 5 million km closer than we are in early July. The Sun climbs 6 northwards during January as sunrise/sunset times for Edinburgh change from 08:44/15:49 on the 1st to 08:10/16:43 on the 31st.

The period of nautical twilight at dawn and dusk shrinks from 96 to 87 minutes. The Moon is new during the eclipse on the 4th, at first quarter on the 12th, full on the 19th and at last quarter on the 26th.