The Moon is New on the 8th when it'll rise, invisibly, at 9am-ish and set before 4pm. First Quarter is on the 15th, rising at 10.30am and setting about 1am. It'll be Full on the 22nd rising at 4.30pm and setting at 8.30am, so will be there all night, just like in December. Last Quarter will be on the 30th rising at 1.30am and setting at 10am. The first half of the month will suit Deep Sky folk, and the second half the Lunarphiles, remembering that much of the third week will be near Full Moon when there is little detail to be seen on its face.
Planets. Mars is still the one to watch, easily seen high up all night all month, though by the end of the month it'll have shrunk to 12arc" in diameter and be setting by 4.30am. So, get your pictures while you can.
Uranus is still there low in the west all month, but setting by 8pm at the end, a nice blue disc. Neptune will also be there but lower and smaller, setting earlier.
Saturn rises at 9.30 at the start of the month and a couple of hours earlier by the end. It'll be getting brighter through the month, from 0.6 to 0.3mag, a reasonable increase, but not noticeable when compared with the brightness of Mars at -1.4mag, remembering that brightness increases as the number decreases, one mag being 2.5 times brighter/dimmer than the next. Saturn will follow Mars's trajectory high across the sky, brightening to a maximum of 0.2mag in March. Though the rings are closing (completely closed in 2009), it is still a marvellous sight and must be taken advantage of by the cameramen among us.
Venus rises at 5.30am on the 1st but will be overtaken by the dawn twilight in an hour or so, getting later daily till by the 31st she'll be rising in breaking dawn twilight, but at -4.0mag, unmistakable, and accompanied by Jupiter at -1.9mag, just a degree and a half behind. On the 1st of February the gap will be a third of a degree. But dawn will overtake and hide them unless you have a goto telescope. A good non-goto mount will be able to track them till closest approach about midday, if set up well on them as they rise at dawn.
Mercury will be visible from the 10th to about the 25th in the west just before sunset, as it goes down in the company of Neptune and Uranus. And though Uranus is some 25° behind, Neptune and Mercury will get within a quarter of a degree of each other on the 22nd. That may be worth the effort for conjunctionists to photograph. Very low and soon after the Sun has set. The Moon, a thin crescent, should add to the picture on the 10th, when the queue to set will be Mercury, Moon Neptune with Uranus 25° behind. On the 11th Mercury, Neptune, Moon, Uranus, and on the 12th it'll be the same but the Moon will be 4° before Uranus. To get Mercury you'll have to be ready less than a half hour after the Sun has gone down.
You can also try Mars and the Moon on the 20th, but it will be 2 days before full, so very bright, and at less than half a degree, very close, though Dave managed it recently. On the 25th the Moon tries to swamp Saturn but doesn't get as close. Both of these will be all night possibilities.
Meteor showers. A good start for the year is the Quadrantids peaking on the 3rd or rather, the morning of the 4th as it's a narrow peak emanating from the Bootes area. Quadrant was the name of a discarded constellation. A good shower of meteors bright enough to leave trains. Trains? Like aeroplane vapour trails, but they last just a few seconds. The Moon shouldn't be a problem.
Orion still commands attention all night with Taurus and Monoceros and Gemini and Auriga, coming up behind are Leo and Coma Berenices with their entourage of Galaxies, with Virgo below them and her galaxies. The galaxy season is soon to be upon us.
Regards, Brian