This new year of 2024 will be great for anybody who enjoys taking in the free nightly show overhead, although the biggest show of the year will be during the day, in this stargazer’s opinion.

On April 8, there will be a legendary total solar eclipse, stretching in a path from the Pacific Ocean to Nova Scotia, crossing parts of Mexico and many states of the United States from Texas to Maine. It won’t quite be a total eclipse in Butler, but as close as extreme northwest Pennsylvania, you’ll be in the path of totality! Stay tuned for more!

The planets Jupiter and Saturn still dominate the evening sky, but they’re starting to say goodbye as the Earth gradually turns away from them as we orbit around the sun. This is especially the case for Saturn. Early in January, it will appear as a modestly bright star in the low southwest sky after evening twilight, setting before 9 p.m.

By the end of the month, though, Saturn will be very close to the horizon at dusk. It’s much farther away from us than it was late last summer, but even with a small telescope, you should still be able to see Saturn’s ring system and maybe its brightest moon, Titan.

It’s best to set your scope on Saturn in the first half of January while it’s still far enough away from the blurring effects of Earth’s atmosphere close to the horizon.

The new crescent moon will appear just below Saturn in the very early evening of Jan. 13 and will be just to the upper left of Saturn on Jan. 14.

Even though Jupiter’s distance from Earth continues to increase, the largest planet in our solar system is still by far the brightest star-like object in the early evening. Even before the end of the evening twilight, it pops out high in the southwest sky and doesn't set until well after sunset. As you gaze upon brightly lit Jupiter, keep in mind that over a thousand Earths could fit inside the big guy!

Even with a halfway-decent pair of binoculars, you should be able to spot up to four of Jupiter’s brightest moons, depending on where they are in their orbit around the behemoth planet. Watching them constantly changing their positions relative to Jupiter from hour to hour and night to night is fun. With a small telescope, you’ll probably see at least some of Jupiter’s brighter cloud bands along with the moons.

The fabulous winter constellations put on the best celestial show in January! I absolutely love the great constellation Orion the Hunter and his great companion constellations dominating the early evening eastern sky.

At first glance, mighty Orion resembles a sideways bow tie, but without too much imagination, you can see the torso of a massive man in your mind's eye. The three bright stars that make up Orion’s belt are in a perfect row and jump right out at you. Extremely bright stars are on opposite corners of the great constellation. Rigel marks Orion’s knee, and Betelgeuse marks his armpit.

You might want to keep your eye on Betelgeuse because, at some point within the next million years, Betelgeuse could explode as a tremendous supernova.

Elsewhere in Orion’s gang of constellations is Auriga, the retired chariot driver turned shepherd with its bright star Capella, marking a sheep draped over his shoulder. There’s also Taurus the Bull, appearing as a little arrow pointing to the right, outlining the bull's face with the reddish star Aldebaran marking the angry red eye of the beast. Just above Taurus are the Pleiades, a beautiful bright star cluster resembling a tiny Big Dipper. The Pleiades star cluster comprises over one hundred young stars, probably less than a hundred million years old.

Between 7 and 8 p.m., you’ll see a really bright star on the rise in the southeast. That’s Sirius, the brightest star in the night sky at any time throughout the year. If you draw a line through Orion’s belt and extend it to the lower left, it will point right at Sirius, a little more than 8 light-years away, with just one light-year equaling nearly 6 trillion miles.

The Big Dipper appears standing on its handle in the northeastern evening sky. The Big Dipper is not an official constellation but instead makes up the bright derrière and tail of Ursa Major. To the upper right of the Big Dipper is the Little Dipper, hanging by its handle. Polaris, the North Star, shines at the end of the handle. The Little Dipper is also known as Ursa Minor, the Little Bear.

You can easily spot an upside-down “W” (or a right-side-up “M”) in the high northern heavens that outlines the constellation Cassiopeia the Queen. Can you see the queen bound to her throne, hanging by the ropes? The Andromeda galaxy, the next-door neighbor to our Milky Way galaxy, is not far from Cassiopeia in the northwestern sky. Your Sky Guide app can help pinpoint it. You might even see the Andromeda galaxy in super dark skies with just the naked eye. It’s well over 2 million light-years away!

Despite the cooler or colder nights, depending on where you are, don’t miss the breathtaking beauty of the night sky in January!

Mike Lynch is an amateur astronomer and retired broadcast meteorologist for WCCO Radio in Minneapolis/St. Paul. He is the author of “Stars: a Month by Month Tour of the Constellations,” published by Adventure Publications and available at bookstores and adventurepublications.net. Contact him at mikewlynch@comcast.net.