Mars and Jupiter January 2010

It is January 2010 and a great time to see Jupiter and Mars.

The opposition of Mars happens on January 29, 2010. Mars is in the constellation Cancer. What does that mean? Most websites go into lots of details. That's fine, but where is Mars in layman's terms? Just after sunset (the sun sets in the West by the way) look directly East and there should be a bright star that is "not quite right". Mars is reddish and it is a disk (not a point source of light like a star) and will not really twinkle (at least it will twinkle less than a star). As the evening progresses Mars will rise and cross the sky (like the moon/sun/stars do).
http://www.earthsky.org/tonightpost/astronomy-essentials/best-time-to-see-mars-in-2010-is-january-and-february

Jupiter is in the southwest in January. Jupiter is in the constellation Aquarius. It was probably best on January 17, 2010 when one could find it near the crescent moon. But it is still there late January 2010, though low in the sky. It takes fairly dark regions to be able to see anything well near the horizon at sunset. Jupiter sets following the sun in the West, so you cannot see it all night. Jupiter is not really very colorful, but it is a disk (not a point source of light like a star) and will not really twinkle (at least it will twinkle less than a star). If you have a telescope or pair of binoculars, you can go hunting bright spots and, if you find Jupiter, you will be rewarded with it having a disk shape (maybe with some bars seen) and a nice little line-group of Jupiter's moons around it. If you watch night to night, and make little drawings of what you see you might be able to track Jupiter's moons' motions. Jupiter's moons are easier to track than Saturn's because they are more-or-less on a line. Saturn's are in a cloud because of our tilted view of their orbits.
http://www.earthsky.org/tonightpost/es-tonight/moon-and-jupiter-move-eastward-through-the-stars

My biggest gripe about Astronomy webposts and blogs is they often omit what YEAR they are writing about. You can spend a half hour trying to figure out what they mean about Saturn only to realize they mean February 14, 2004 (not 2010 or whatever). Please everyone, write out a date and include the YEAR when giving guidance.