Sunday, Feb. 1 – Full Snow Moon
February’s full moon will occur on Sunday, Feb. 1 at 5:09 p.m. EST, 2:09 p.m. PST, or 22:09 GMT while it shines among the stars of Cancer. The indigenous Anishnaabe (Ojibwe and Chippewa) people of the Great Lakes region call the February full moon Namebini-giizis “Sucker Fish Moon” or Mikwa-giizis, the “Bear Moon”. For them, it signifies a time to discover how to see beyond reality and to communicate through energy rather than sound. The Algonquin call it Wapicuummilcum, the “Ice in River is Gone” moon. The Cree of North America call it Kisipisim, “the Great Moon”, a time when the animals remain hidden away and traps are empty. For Europeans, it is known as the Snow Moon or Hunger Moon. Full moons during the winter months climb as high at midnight as the summer noonday sun, and cast similar shadows.
Monday, Feb. 2 – Bright moon covers the Lion’s Heart
On Monday evening, Feb. 2, the brilliant, 98%-illuminated, waning gibbous moon will clear the rooftops in the east shortly after dusk and then cross the sky all night long. Binoculars and sharp eyes will reveal Regulus, the brightest star in Leo, the Lion, twinkling close to the moon all night long. Lucky observers within a zone extending from eastern North America and across the Atlantic Ocean to northwestern Africa will see the motion of the moon (green line) carry it in front of Regulus. In Toronto, Canada, the lit, bottom portion of the moon will cover Regulus at 8:48 p.m. Eastern Time. The star will reappear from behind the unlit top of the moon at 9:51 p.m. EST, nearest to the prominent crater Langrenus. In western Africa, the event will occur during the wee hours of Tuesday morning. Lunar occultations are perfectly safe to view with unaided eyes and through binoculars and telescopes (orange circle). The timing varies by location, so use an app like Starry Night or Sky Safari to preview the occultation where you live and be sure to start watching a few minutes ahead of each time.
Tuesday, Feb. 3 – Evening zodiacal light (after dusk)
If you live in a mid-northern latitude location where the sky is free of light pollution, you might be able to spot the Zodiacal Light from Tuesday, Feb. 3, until the new moon on Feb. 17. After the evening twilight has faded, you’ll have about half an hour to check the western sky for a broad wedge of faint light extending upwards from the horizon and centered on the ecliptic below the planet Saturn. That glow is the zodiacal light — sunlight scattered from countless small particles of material that populate the plane of our solar system. Don’t confuse it with the brighter Milky Way, which extends upwards from the northwestern evening horizon at this time of year.
Wednesday, Feb. 4 – Uranus stops wandering west (evening)
On Wednesday, Feb. 4, the motion of the distant, blue-green planet Uranus through the background stars of western Taurus will slow to a stop — completing a westward retrograde loop that it began in early September. After tonight, the planet will start creeping eastward again. At magnitude +5.7, Uranus can be seen in binoculars and backyard telescopes, and even with unaided eyes under dark skies. In mid-evening, the planet’s small, blue-green dot will be shining less than a palm’s width below (or 5 degrees to the celestial southwest) of the bright Pleiades star cluster, Messier 45. Place the pretty cluster at the top of your binoculars’ field of view (orange circle) and Uranus will be the dull blue “star” on the opposite edge. Once you have identified Uranus, enlarge the planet with your telescope.
Friday, Feb. 6 – Moon shines with Spica (late night)
When the waning gibbous moon rises in late evening on Friday, Feb. 6 in the Americas, it will be shining just to the right (or celestial southwest) of Virgo’s brightest star Spica. By sunrise on Saturday morning, the duo will post prettily partway up the southwestern sky. Meanwhile, the rotation of the sky will have shifted the moon below the star.
Sunday, Feb. 8 – The Winter Football (evening)
On February evenings, the southern sky hosts the Winter Football asterism, also known as the Winter Hexagon and Winter Circle. The huge pattern, which is composed of the brightest stars in the constellations of Canis Major, Orion, Taurus, Auriga, Gemini, and Canis Minor — specifically Sirius, Rigel, Aldebaran, Capella, Castor and Pollux, and Procyon — covers a region of the southeastern sky after dusk that spans 65 degrees high by 45 degrees wide. Tilted to the east at dusk, the asterism will stand upright in the southern sky after mid-evening, with the Milky Way ascending vertically through it. This winter, the brilliant planet Jupiter will shine in Gemini near Pollux and Castor, turning the shape into a squashed diamond ring. The asterism is visible during the evening from mid-November to spring every year.
Monday, Feb. 9 – Third quarter moon
The moon will complete three-quarters of its orbit around Earth, measured from the previous new moon, on Monday, Feb. 9 at 7:43 a.m. EST, 4:43 a.m. PST, or 12:43 GMT. At its third (or last) quarter phase, the moon is half-illuminated, on its western, sunward side. It will rise around midnight local time and then remain visible until it sets in the western daytime sky during the early afternoon. Third quarter moons are positioned ahead of the Earth in our trip around the sun. About 3½ hours later, Earth will occupy that same location in space. The week of dark, moonless evenings that follow this phase is ideal for observing the fainter objects in the night sky.
Tuesday, Feb. 10 – Crescent moon in the Scorpion’s Claws (predawn)
Early risers on Tuesday morning, Feb. 10, in the Americas can look in the southern sky before sunrise to see the pretty sight of the waning crescent moon shining near the bottom of the up-down chain of stars that mark the claws of Scorpius. The bright reddish star Antares will twinkle off to the moon’s left (or celestial east). That red giant star, which is located 550 light-years from our sun, marks the heart of the beast. The following morning, the moon will hop east to shine to Antares’ left.
Friday, Feb. 13 – The spectacular Orion Nebula
The bright stars of mighty Orion, the Hunter, shine in the southern sky on mid-February evenings. The sword of Orion, which spans 1.5 by 1 degrees (about the width of your thumb held up at arm’s length), descends from Orion’s three-star belt. The patch of light in the middle of the sword is the spectacular and bright nebula known as the Orion Nebula or Messier 42 and NGC 1976.
While simple binoculars will reveal the fuzzy nature of this object, medium-to-large aperture telescopes (green circle) will show a complex pattern of veil-like gas and dark dust lanes and the Trapezium Cluster, a tight clump of young stars that formed inside the nebula. Adding an Oxygen-III or broadband nebula filter will reveal even more details. The nebula and the stars forming within it are approximately 1,350 light-years from the sun, in the Orion arm of our Milky Way galaxy.
Monday, Feb. 16 – See Neptune near Saturn
For the better part of a year, the faint blue planet Neptune has been sharing the night sky with 650 times brighter Saturn. Their distance from one another has varied while each of them executed their own retrograde loops and orbital motion.
For about a week commencing on Monday, Feb. 16, Saturn will pass close enough to the remote planet for the pair to share the view in binoculars (orange circle) or any backyard telescope (green circle). In the sky, Neptune will be positioned less than a thumb’s width to Saturn’s right or 1.7 degrees to its celestial north and will shift a little lower each evening. Refractor (front lens) telescopes will mirror that arrangement and reflector (mirror in the bottom) telescopes will rotate Neptune to Saturn’s lower left. At their minimum separation on Feb. 20, the two planets will be 0.8 degrees apart, or less than a finger’s width.
Tuesday, Feb. 17 – New moon annular solar eclipse
When the moon passes the sun in western Aquarius at new moon on Tuesday, Feb. 17 at 7:01 a.m. EST, 4:01 a.m. PST, or 12:01 GMT, it will generate a solar eclipse visible from the southern tip of South America, most of Antarctica, southeastern Africa, Madagascar, the Seychelles, and Mauritius. Since the moon is farther from the South Pole of the Earth, it will be too small to completely block the sun’s disk, resulting in an annular, or “ring of fire”, solar eclipse visible along a narrow track that sweeps across the Victoria Land portion of Antarctica and ends in the Southern Ocean south of western Australia. The partial eclipse will run from 10:51 GMT to 12:44 GMT, but the brief annular phase will only appear from 11:47 to 11:49 GMT. No portion of this eclipse can be viewed or photographed without proper solar filters. On the evenings following the new moon phase, Earth’s planetary partner will return to shine in the western sky after sunset.
Wednesday, Feb. 18 – Sliver of moon poses with Mercury and Venus
Above the western horizon for a brief time after sunset on Wednesday, Feb. 18, the 2%-illuminated, young crescent moon will join the inner planets Mercury and Venus. In Asia, the sliver of moon will be positioned about a finger’s width to the right (or celestial north) of very bright Venus, close enough for them to share the view in a backyard telescope or binoculars. Less-brilliant Mercury will shine a generous palm’s width above them. In the Americas, the moon will swap partners — appearing telescope-close (green circle) below Mercury while much brighter Venus gleams a generous palm’s width below them. Meanwhile, observers located in a zone extending from the eastern coast of Australia and across New Zealand, southeastern Melanesia, parts of Polynesia, the Baha Peninsula, and most of Mexico and Central America can safely watch the moon occult Mercury after sunset. The timing varies by location, so use an app like Starry Night or Sky Safari to look up the occultation where you live and be sure to start watching a few minutes ahead of each time.
Thursday, Feb. 19 – Mercury at greatest eastern elongation
On Thursday evening, Feb. 19, in the Americas, Mercury (orbit shown in red) will reach its widest separation of 18 degrees east of the sun, and maximum visibility for the current brief apparition. With Mercury positioned above the evening ecliptic (green line) in the western sky, this appearance of the planet will be a very good one for Northern Hemisphere observers, but the planet will not be easily seen from the Southern Hemisphere.
The viewing window at mid-northern latitudes will last about an hour starting around 5:45 p.m. local time. Viewed in a telescope (inset), the planet will exhibit a waning, half-illuminated phase. Venus will gleam below (to the celestial west of) Mercury and the pretty crescent moon will shine beside Saturn and Neptune in the sky above Mercury.
Thursday, Feb. 19 – Earthshine moon joins a planet party
In the western sky after sunset on Thursday, Feb. 19, the young crescent moon will exhibit Earthshine, also known as the Ashen Glow and “the old moon in the new moon’s arms”. That’s sunlight reflected off Earth and back onto the moon, slightly brightening the dark portion of the moon’s Earth-facing hemisphere. The phenomenon appears for several days before and after each new moon. Since the Earthshine light has made an extra round trip from Earth to the moon and back, it is about 2.6 seconds “older” than the light we see from the lit crescent.
Brilliant Venus will shine just above the horizon with somewhat less-dazzling Mercury a palm’s width above it. As the sky darkens more, Saturn’s yellowish dot will appear a short distance to the left of the moon. Once the surrounding stars appear, use binoculars or a backyard telescope to see Neptune’s faint blue speck less than a finger’s width to the right of Saturn.
Saturday, Feb. 21 – The stars of Orion’s Belt
The three stars that make up Orion’s Belt are bright enough to tolerate some moonlight. The stars may look similar, but they are quite different under closer inspection. Magnitude 1.85 Alnitak (Zeta Orionis), the left-most (easterly) of the three, is bluer. In a telescope, Alnitak (Arabic for “the Girdle”) is revealed to be a very tight double star. The nebulae surrounding Alnitak are a favorite target for photographers. The middle star Alnilam (Epsilon Orionis) is more than twice as far away as the other two. It is 1,976 light-years away from the sun. At the right-hand (western) end of the row, magnitude 2.4 Mintaka (Delta Orionis) is a more widely-spaced double star. Use binoculars (orange circle) to look for a large, upright, S-shaped asterism of dim stars in the space between Alnilam and Mintaka. Then switch to the medium-bright star sitting less than a finger’s width below (or 0.8 degrees southwest of) Alnitak. That’s Sigma Orionis, a beautiful little grouping of ten or more stars.
Monday, Feb. 23 – Half-moon skims the Pleiades
In the western sky on Monday evening, Feb. 23, in the Americas, the waxing half-moon will shine a short distance to the lower right (or celestial northwest) of the stars in the prominent Pleiades star cluster, which is also known as Messier 45, Subaru, and the Seven Sisters.
For those viewing the meet-up later or from more westerly time zones, the moon’s eastward orbital motion will carry it through the outskirts of the cluster, occulting several of the stars. While the glare of the moon will hide the cluster’s stars from your unaided eyes after dark, viewing the encounter during evening twilight, especially through binoculars (orange circle) or a backyard telescope, will allow you to see them better. The blue nebulosity around the Pleiades stars is only apparent with a very large telescope or a long exposure image when the moon is not close by. With the Pleiades positioned at the top of your binoculars’ field of view, Uranus will be the bluish “star” at bottom left.
Tuesday, Feb. 24 – First quarter moon
The moon will complete the first quarter of its 29.53-day trip around Earth on Tuesday, Feb. 24, at 7:28 a.m. EST and 4:28 a.m. PST or 12:28 GMT. At first quarter, the moon’s 90-degree angle from the sun causes us to see it half-illuminated on its eastern side among the faint stars of Pisces. First quarter moons always rise around midday and set around midnight, so they are also visible in the afternoon daytime sky. The evenings surrounding the first quarter are the best ones for seeing the lunar terrain when it is dramatically lit by low-angled sunlight, especially along the terminator, the pole-to-pole boundary that separates the moon’s lit and dark hemispheres.
Wednesday, Feb. 25 – Moon near the bull’s horn
On Wednesday, Feb. 25, the slightly gibbous moon will shine high in the eastern sky during late afternoon. As the sky darkens after sunset, the bright stars of the winter constellations will appear around it. The star that marks the northern horn tip of Taurus, known as Elnath and Beta Tauri, will be shining several finger widths to the moon’s right (or celestial west), close enough to share the field of view of binoculars (orange circle) with the moon.
Hours earlier, observers in eastern Africa and the Arabian Peninsula and within a zone that extends eastward across the Arabian Sea to the Maldives and Sri Lanka will be able to watch the moon occult Elnath in late evening. The timing varies by location, so use an app like Starry Night or Sky Safari to look up the occultation where you live and be sure to start watching a few minutes ahead of each time.
Thursday, Feb. 26 – Bright moon joins Jupiter in Gemini (evening)
At dusk on Thursday evening, Feb. 26, look to the east for the brilliant planet Jupiter shining a palm’s width below (or celestial southeast) of the bright, waxing gibbous moon — cozy enough for them to share the view in binoculars (orange circle).
The duo will make a lovely photo opportunity when composed with some nice foreground scenery. As the moon and Jupiter climb higher, the bright stars of winter will appear around them, particularly Pollux and Castor, the bright twins of Gemini on their left (or celestial northeast). Both stars are part of the huge winter hexagon asterism. The moon and Jupiter will culminate due south around 8:30 p.m. local time and then set in the west in the wee hours of Friday morning. By then the moon will have moved closer to Jupiter and the diurnal rotation of the sky will have shifted the moon to Jupiter’s upper right.
Friday, Feb. 27 – Moon aligns with Gemini’s Twins (evening)
After 24 hours of motion, the moon’s orbital motion will carry it lower in Gemini to form a crooked line with Gemini’s brightest stars Pollux and Castor in the eastern sky after dusk on Friday, Feb. 27. The brilliant planet Jupiter will shine to the upper right of the trio, making a lovely visual and photo opportunity while they are carried across the sky all night long.
Saturday, Feb. 28 – Moon flees the Beehive (evening)
The bright, waxing gibbous moon will rise in the east during the afternoon on Saturday, Feb. 28. After the sky darkens, use binoculars (orange circle) to see the stars of the large open star cluster in Cancer known as the Beehive, Praesepe, and Messier 44 sprinkled several finger widths to the upper right (or celestial west) of the moon.
The moon will be slightly farther from the cluster for those viewing the scene later or in more westerly time zones. The bright moonlight will obscure the cluster’s dimmer stars. To better see the “bees”, which will be scattered across an area more than twice the size of the moon, hide the moon just beyond the lower left edge of the binoculars’ field of view.
Saturday, Feb. 28 – Sunbound Mercury passes Venus
If you can spot the brilliant planet Venus shining above the western horizon after sunset on Saturday, Feb. 28, look for far fainter Mercury sitting less than a palm’s width to Venus’ right (or 4.8 degrees to its celestial NNW). That’s close enough for them to share the view in binoculars (orange circle). Mercury’s swing sunward (green path) will drop it past Venus for several days centered on Saturday.
Read more & view accompanying images at: https://www.space.com/16149-night-sky.html