Stars, galaxies, dust clouds and Uranus: take a tour of the January night sky

January is the month to go star-hopping to see how many constellations you can spot.

You might also see a galaxy if you’ve headed bush for the holidays and the skies are clear.

And, if you’ve packed some binoculars, a camera or a telescope, you can see stunning dust clouds, star clusters and distant planets too.

It’s a bumper of a month, according to amateur astronomer Ian Musgrave.

“The constellations will be fantastic,” Dr Musgrave says.

And Mars will point the way to Uranus.

“A whole world that you’ve heard of … actually turns out to be relatively easy to see once you know where to look,” he says.

At this time of year we have very long twilights, especially in the southern states, so wait at least an hour and half after sunset to head…