January 4
January 4 is the 4th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar; 362 days remain until the year's end. It falls in winter (northern hemisphere) and under the astrological sign of Capricorn.
Day of year
4
Days remaining
362
ISO week
1
Zodiac
Capricorn
Season
Winter
Sun declination
-22.7°
External references
Curated jump-off points to the major almanacs, encyclopaedias and primary sources for this date.
Wikipedia: this day →Britannica: this day →LoC: Today in History →History.com: this day →On-This-Day.com →BBC: On This Day →NYT: this day →Time and Date →NASA APOD archive →U.S. Naval Observatory →Wolfram|Alpha →Wikidata →Google Books →JSTOR →Internet Archive →
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Astronomy
Computed via Cooper's formula. Positive declination = Sun north of the celestial equator (Northern Hemisphere summer).
On January 4 the Sun's declination is approximately -22.7°. At this latitude the Sun is south of the celestial equator, giving the Northern Hemisphere shorter days than nights.
For specific rise/set times at your location, see the U.S. Naval Observatory, or the NASA APOD archive for any imagery published on a January 4.
Position in the year
Holidays & observances
- World Braille Day (UN)
- Independence Day — Myanmar (1948)
Events
A selection of widely-documented historical events that took place on this date. Years marked BCE follow standard astronomical convention.
- 1493 — Christopher Columbus left the New World on his first voyage, bound for Spain. ↗(533 years ago)
- 1847 — Samuel Colt sold his first revolvers to the U.S. government for the Mexican-American War. ↗(179 years ago)
- 1948 — Burma (now Myanmar) gained independence from the United Kingdom. ↗(78 years ago)
- 1958 — Sputnik 1, the first artificial Earth satellite, fell from orbit. ↗(68 years ago)
- 2004 — NASA's Spirit rover landed successfully on Mars. ↗(22 years ago)
- 2010 — The Burj Khalifa in Dubai opened, becoming the tallest structure in the world at 828 m. ↗(16 years ago)
Notable births
Notable deaths
- 1965 — T. S. Eliot, American-British poet and Nobel laureate. ↗(61 years ago)
Numerical & calendrical curiosities
| Day-of-year (4) | 2^2 · composite (no) |
|---|---|
| Days remaining (362) | 2 × 181 |
| Date code DDMMYYYY | 04012026 · no palindrome in next 200 years |
| Sun declination | -22.74° (Cooper approximation) |
| Distance from solstice | 15 days |