January 2026

Compiled by John Panek

Monthly Highlights 

The Hubble Space Telescope has discovered a new type of astronomical object:  a starless, gas-rich, dark matter cloud thought to be a relic or remnant of early galaxy formation.  Compared to more common hydrogen clouds near the Milky Way, "Cloud-9" is more compact and highly spherical.  About 1 million solar masses of hydrogen are packed into a diameter of 4,900 light years, but if the gas pressure is balanced by gravity of dark matter then about 5 billion solar masses of dark matter must be present.   This gives strong support to a cornerstone prediction of the Lambda cold dark matter model.  https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2025ApJ...993L..55A/abstract

The James Webb Space Telescope spotted an "Impossible" atmosphere around an ancient Super-Earth, exoplanet TOI-561b.  Covered by a global ocean of molten rock, the 2 Earth mass planet is orbiting extremely close to a star slightly smaller and cooler than our Sun.  Normally a planet like this would be thought to be too small and hot to retain its own atmosphere, but observations suggest it is surrounded by a thick blanket of gas.  https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.3847/2041-8213/ae0a4c

Nikolai De Silva wrote a very inspiring post over on CloudyNights titled "A Small Note To A Beginner" - check it out and get re-inspired for 2026:  https://www.cloudynights.com/articles/articles/a-small-note-to-a-beginner…-r4806/

Skywatching

Lunar Phases:

     January 3, Full Moon

     January 11, Last Quarter (waning gibbous)

     January 18, New Moon 

     January 26, First Quarter (waxing gibbous)

Planets:

     Jupiter at Opposition January 10, in the east-northeast in Gemini

     Uranus is well placed high in the Southeast in Taurus early evenings

     Saturn and Neptune in Pisces in the early evening

     Pluto in conjunction with the Sun, will be visible starting in May and in opposition in July.  

     Mercury in superior conjunction January 21, but perhaps visible in the early days of the month in Sagittarius

     Mars and Venus also in conjunction with the sun, with Venus reappearing in mid-February and Mars in late spring

Comets:

     24P/Schaumasse at around magnitude 10 moving from Coma Berenices early in the month over to Bootes by month's end.

     Finder chart:  https://cometchasing.skyhound.com/comets/24P.pdf

Meteor Showers

     QUADRANTIDS (ZHR 120) from December 28 to January 12, peaking January 2-3, unfortunately during the full moon

ISS Passes

Space Agency News

NASA is bringing home 4 astronauts from the ISS due to a serious medical issue.  Planning for splashdown off the Pacific coast on January 15.

NASA is also in the final stages of preparation for Artemis 2, sending 4 astronauts around the moon in the Orion capsule Integrity no earlier than February 6.

ESA recently finished their ministerial conference, deciding on funding profiles for the next 3 years.  Big cuts (~40%) to unspecified collaborations with NASA, and big increases to domestic launch vehicle developments.  Overall a 31% increase in funding levels from the previous one 3 years ago.