Our Planet of the Month for January is the smallest planet of them all: Mercury, the closest world to the Sun. As Mercury is the nearest planet to the Sun it never strays far from it in the sky. We never see it shining brightly in a dark sky, only for a short time after sunset or before sunrise.
Because of this proximity, many people – even amateur astronomers – have never seen this fascinating world, but by mid-month it will be very well placed for observation by everyone, looking like a copper-coloured star low in the southwest after sunset.