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The month starts out with Venus shining above Jupiter in the morning sky, yet the month ends with Jupiter shining above Venus. Day by day, Jupiter climbs upward, away from the sunrise, while Venus sinks downward, toward the rising sun. The two will meet for a conjunction in the morning sky on January 22, 2019.

After this month, Venus will spend less time in the predawn sky before sunrise each morning, but it'll still be dazzlingly bright and visible at dawn to all on Earth for months to come.

The Moon is beginning a new month this week, so this is a good time to start tracing its nightly path through the sky. Look for it early in the week, a slim crescent in the southwest after sunset. Each night it will appear to "grow" as it moves around the Earth and the side facing us gets more illuminated by the Sun. Look for bright Mars, shining halfway up in the south-southwest sky at sunset, as a marker of sorts, against which you can measure the Moon's nightly progress eastward (toward the left). On the night of the 12th the Moon will appear near Mars. In the predawn eastern sky, look for bright Venus about 25° high in the southeast, with Jupiter to its lower left, about half as high in the sky. To the right of Jupiter, reddish Antares, in the constellation Scorpius, shines as a reminder that the stars of summer are visible now just before sunrise in the east.

This is the last week of the lunar month, so the Moon starts the week rising around 1:00 AM and by week's end, just before it becomes the "new" Moon, it will be a waning crescent visible in the southeastern sky. This graphic from Sky & Telescope magazine shows how the Moon will pass by Jupiter, Venus, and Saturn in the predawn sky during the next week. After sunset, look for Mars still shining prominently in the southwestern sky.

As April rolls in, the brilliant constellations Taurus, Orion, and Canis Major turn to the west after sunset and are on their way out for the year. Jupiter and Saturn slowly move westward each night in the east-southeast on their way to opposition in a couple of months; both planets become visible well after midnight. Venus and Neptune make a close approach in the pre-dawn sky, while Mars passes through the stars of the constellation Taurus in early evening at the beginning of the month. And a respectable meteor shower comes to pass, although the light of the moon gets in the way.