Venus begins the New Year among the dimmer stars of eastern Capricornus. Now setting about 3 hours after the sun, watch Venus move eastward into Aquarius and toward a Neptune conjunction.
See our article about Venus as an Evening Star, 2019-2020
As the New Year opens, brilliant Venus is 35° east of the sun, setting nearly 3 hours after sunset. Use a binocular to track Venus against the dimmer starfield.
On January 6 About an hour after sunset, Venus, nearly 18° up in the southwest, is 0.8° to the upper right of Gamma Capricorni (γ Cap, m = 3.6).
A few nights later, January 8, at an hour after sunset, Venus, nearly 19° up in the southwest, is 0.9° to the upper right of Delta Capricorni (δ Cap, m =2.8).
On January 11 Venus moves into the dimmer starfield of Aquarius.
Now setting in a dark sky on January 20, over three hours after sunset, Venus is 4.3° to the upper right of Tau Aquarii (τ Aqr, m = 4.0).
On January 23 about an hour after sunset, Venus, 23° up in the southwest, is 1° left of Lambda Aquarii (λ Aqr, m = 3.7) and 4.5° to the lower right of Neptune (m = 7.9).
On January 26, through a telescope observe that Venus is 75% illuminated, an evening gibbous phase that is 15” across.
Near month’s end, on January 27, Venus is 40° east of the sun. At the end of evening twilight (about 6:30 p.m.), Venus, 18° up in the west-southwest, is 0.2° to the upper left of Neptune, nearly 7° above the crescent moon (3.1 days past the New phase, 9% illuminated) and 0.2° to the lower right of Phi Aquarii (φ Aqr, m =4.2).
The moon continues its appearance with Venus. On January 28, at the end of evening twilight Venus, about 18° up in the west-southwest, is 7° to the lower right of the moon (4.1d, 15%).