January 2028 Calendar: Five Saturdays, Two Eclipses
Dispatch, January 2028: the leap year opened on schedule, on a Saturday. Our correspondent counts 31 days and five Saturdays, five Sundays and five Mondays. The month opens on Saturday, January 1. It closes on Monday, January 31. The superstitious get a calm quarter. Thursday, January 13 opens it. Sunday, February 13 follows. Monday, March 13 closes the set. The year's only unlucky 13th waits until October. The moon is showing off anyway, with two eclipses packed into one month. Both fall on Wednesdays. The blank grid on this desk already holds four ink marks and one resolution.
The shape of the month
January 2028 holds 31 days, 21 business days and 10 weekend days. Week numbers run 52, 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5. The year's first two days still sit inside week 52 of 2027.
Ten of those days are weekend days, tying April for the heaviest share of the half. Five Saturdays land on the 1st, 8th, 15th, 22nd and 29th. Five Sundays and five Mondays complete the set.
A leap year opening on a Saturday is rare company. The last was 2000, and 1972 before that. On the calendar's 28-year echo, the weekdays repeat exactly.
Two eclipses, both on Wednesdays
The full moon on Wednesday, January 12 arrives with a partial lunar eclipse. About 3 percent of the moon slides into shadow. It is visible from the Americas, Europe and Africa.
Fourteen days later, on Wednesday, January 26, the new moon carries an annular solar eclipse. A ring of sun circles a dark disk. The ring's path clips Ecuador, Peru and Brazil, then finishes at sunset over Spain and Portugal. Partial phases show across much of Europe, northwestern Africa and the Americas.
The rest of the lunar month is quieter. First quarter arrives on Wednesday, January 5. Last quarter arrives on Tuesday, January 18. Eclipse travelers have spread the year's first booking wave across Iberia and northwestern South America. The shallow January 12 shadow goes almost unnoticed.
Alpine youth and a Superdome finale
Italy's mountains host the fifth Winter Youth Olympic Games from Saturday, January 15. The Games run through Saturday, January 29. Venues spread across Trentino, Valtellina and Cortina d'Ampezzo, with Bormio, Livigno and Stelvio among them. It is Italy's first Youth Games, with 74 events across 7 sports.
Two weeks of racing surface the generation aiming at the 2030 Winter Games. The host valleys get a quiet-season lift, and the short clips do the traveling.
College football ends its season on Monday, January 24 at Caesars Superdome in New Orleans. The building last hosted the title game in January 2020. Between the eclipses, the snow and the scoreboard, this month holds plenty to watch.
Two eclipses overhead, and not one unlucky 13th on paper. January 2028 is dramatic in the sky and polite in the squares. The ring on Wednesday, January 26 is worth stepping outside for.