Currently shining at its greatest brilliance for this current apparition, this dazzling evening "star" currently appears as a distinct crescent shape in small telescopes, which is growing progressively larger in size as it approaches our Earth.

The new moon of January will be at 7:36 a.m. Eastern Time on Jan. 29, according to the U.S. Naval Observatory, and two days later a young moon will pass near Saturn and near Venus as they cluster together in the evening sky.

I pick out North America’s celestial highlights for the week ahead (which also apply to mid-northern latitudes in the northern hemisphere).