We start the year with our planet reaching perihelion - closest point to the Sun - which will happen at 22:49 UTC on January 2. At the time, Earth will be 146.6 million km (91 million miles) from the Sun.
The first meteor shower of the year - Quadrantids - will reach the maximum rate of activity on the morning of January 4. However, some shooting stars will be visible each night from January 1 to 6. The Moon will be 24 days old at the time of peak activity, and so will present minimal interference.
The best time of the month to observe faint objects such as galaxies and star clusters because there is no moonlight to interfere - New Moon - is scheduled for the night of January 10.
Full Moon is scheduled for January 24.
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January 2 - Earth at perihelion - 22:49 UTC. The Earth's annual orbit around the Solar System will carry us to our closest point to the Sun, at a distance of 0.98 AU (146.6 million km / 91 million miles)...
