Friday, February 7 Mighty Jupiter stands excessive within the east at sundown, dominating the celebrities of Taurus the Bull as they start to look within the deepening darkness. As soon as the Solar is safely under the horizon, heart your telescope on the gasoline big — these within the japanese half of the U.S. will see the planet and its 4 Galilean moons unfold out, with Io alone to the west and Europa (closest), Ganymede, and Callisto (farthest) to the east.
Because the hours cross, Europa is approaching the planet’s southeastern limb, crossing in entrance of the world beginning round 7:10 P.M. EST, as darkness falls throughout the western half of the U.S. A bit of over two hours later, round 9:35 p.m. EST, Europa’s shadow seems, lower than 10 minutes earlier than the moon itself slips away from the planet’s southwestern limb.
The shadow continues shifting east to west, at the same time as Europa pulls away from the planet to the west and Io approaches. The 2 moons swap locations round 10:45 P.M. EST, after which Io closes in on Jupiter’s northwestern limb. The volcanic moon disappears behind Jupiter in an occultation simply after 11:20 P.M. EST, whereas Europa’s shadow lastly exits the cloud tops by 12:10 A.M. EST.
Dawn: 7:02 A.M.Sundown: 5:27 P.M.Moonrise: 12:18 P.M.Moonset: 3:27 A.M.Moon Section: Waxing gibbous (76%) *Instances for dawn, sundown, moonrise, and moonset are given in native time from 40° N 90° W. The Moon’s illumination is given at 12 P.M. native time from the identical location.
Saturday, February 8Let’s return to Taurus and Jupiter within the east this night as one other Galilean moon and shadow transit, letting us witness orbital dynamics in motion.
Shortly earlier than 8:30 P.M. EST, Io approaches Jupiter’s southeastern limb, simply as Europa did final evening. Europa is now far to the planet’s west, with Callisto on the identical aspect, the latter nearer in to the gasoline big. Ganymede is much to Jupiter’s east.
Io’s transit begins round 8:35 P.M. EST, with its shadow showing simply after 9:45 P.M. EST — be aware that this can be a smaller window between the beginning of the 2 transits than final evening, when Europa and its shadow had been in movement. This opens a window into the jovian system, displaying us that Io orbits nearer to the planet than Europa.
Io continues sliding throughout Jupiter’s face from east to west, slipping away from the limb at 10:45 P.M. EST. Round this time, its shadow seems practically centrally on the disk. Ganymede is now alone to Jupiter’s east, with Io, Callisto, and Europa clustered to the west. Io’s small, darkish shadow continues towards the western edge, disappearing at midnight EST.
Dawn: 7:01 A.M.Sundown: 5:28 P.M.Moonrise: 1:17 P.M.Moonset: 4:31 A.M. Moon Section: Waxing gibbous (84%)
Sunday, February 9Mercury reaches superior conjunction at 7 A.M. EST, assembly with the Solar within the sky. Within the coming weeks, the small planet will reappear in our night sky, approaching Saturn for a night conjunction within the final week of February.
Tonight, the night sky holds a distinct conjunction, because the Moon passes 0.8° north of Mars at 3 P.M. EST and sits close to the magnitude 4.1 star Upsilon (υ) Geminorum within the early-evening hours. That star, nonetheless, is perhaps laborious to see, as our satellite tv for pc is vivid and practically totally lit, now virtually 12 days previous with 93 p.c of its nearside in daylight.
Simply to the Moon’s higher proper within the night sky is Mars. At magnitude –0.9, the Purple Planet ought to be seen even within the vivid moonlight; additionally seen ought to be 1st-magnitude Castor and Pollux, the heads of the Twins, to the left of the Moon and Mars. Barely brighter Pollux lies nearer to the bottom as Gemini rises, with Castor above it.
By means of a telescope, Mars now seems 13” throughout and roughly totally lit. Observers with massive scopes and astrophotography expertise might be able to seize the large volcano Olympus Mons and the Tharsis ridge roughly central on the tiny martian disk at round 9 P.M. native time from the central U.S. (look an hour later to the east, and an hour or two earlier to the west).
Dawn: 7:00 A.M.Sundown: 5:30 P.M.Moonrise: 2:23 P.M.Moonset: 5:26 A.M. Moon Section: Waxing gibbous (91%)
Monday, February 10Saturn’s rings are shortly thinning because the planet tilts relative to our line of sight, making ready for a ring-plane crossing subsequent month. The ringed planet glows at magnitude 1.1 in Aquarius, shortly sinking towards the horizon after sundown. Your greatest wager for good views is to look shortly after sundown — 40 minutes after the Solar disappears, Saturn is 15° excessive within the west, hanging under a lot brighter Venus in Pisces.
By means of a telescope, Saturn’s disk spans 16”, whereas its rings stretch practically 36” from finish to finish. These rings at the moment are tilted towards us by simply 2.3°, barely displaying off their northern aspect. It’s a novel view of the planet that may solely proceed to vary because the angle of the rings shrinks all through the remainder of the month, ending February tilted towards us by simply 1.3°.
Saturn’s largest moon, Titan, shines at mid-Eighth magnitude and sits far west of the planet right now, some 2’ from the middle of Saturn’s disk. Nearer to the planet, bigger scopes would possibly decide up Tenth-magnitude Tethys, Rhea, and Dione within the rising darkness; Dione is east of Saturn, some 30” from the tip of the rings, whereas Rhea and Tethys are nearer to Saturn on its western aspect. Rhea is simply north of the rings tonight for observers within the japanese half of the U.S.; it disappears behind the planet’s northeastern limb in an occultation seen solely from the West Coast.
Dawn: 6:59 A.M.Sundown: 5:31 P.M.Moonrise: 3:33 P.M.Moonset: 6:10 A.M. Moon Section: Waxing gibbous (96%)
The Winter Hexagon is a big asterism created by linking seven stars within the wintertime sky. Credit score: Alison Klesman (through TheSkyX)
Tuesday, February 11Although we’ve handed the winter solstice, the Winter Hexagon continues to dominate the night sky. Spanning six constellations, you possibly can join the celebrities of this nice asterism as quickly as darkness falls out of your observing web site.
By an hour after sundown, the Winter Hexagon stands prominently within the southeast. Its lowest star can also be its brightest: blazing Sirius in Canis Main, on the ft of Orion the Hunter. At magnitude –1.4, Sirius is the brightest star within the sky. Transferring counterclockwise up into Orion, the subsequent star within the Hexagon is Rigel, Orion’s magnitude 0.2 proper knee (because the Hunter is usually drawn going through away from us). From Rigel, look upward to search out magnitude 0.9 Aldebaran, the attention of Taurus the Bull. Don’t confuse it with brighter Jupiter, which stands just a little above and to the left of this star.
Nevertheless, do look towards Jupiter — after which proceed on in the identical route till you attain the best star within the Hexagon early within the night sky: Capella, Auriga’s magnitude 0.1 alpha star. From there, gaze to its decrease left, as Castor and Pollux in Gemini — magnitudes 1.6 and 1.2, respectively — collectively type the subsequent “point.” Lastly, look down and barely proper to magnitude 0.4 Procyon in Canis Minor, which is the final cease earlier than the Hexagon closes at Sirius.
Dawn: 6:57 A.M.Sundown: 5:32 P.M.Moonrise: 4:41 P.M.Moonset: 6:45 A.M. Moon Section: Waxing gibbous (99%)
Wednesday, February 12Full Moon happens at 8:53 A.M. EST; by night, the Moon is rising within the east close to the entrance of Leo the Lion shortly after the Solar units under the western horizon. Our satellite tv for pc sits simply to the left of Regulus, the Lion’s magnitude 1.4 “heart” and the bottom of the Sickle asterism that outlines the nice cat’s head.
The February Full Moon can also be known as the Snow Moon, probably as a result of this month is usually when North America sees important snowfall. The Full Moon itself lies reverse the Solar within the sky, and is seen all evening, throwing its vivid mild throughout the sky. Throughout this section, many fainter stars turn out to be invisible, with solely the brightest luminaries shining by.
The parade of planets presently on show options a number of vivid photo voltaic system worlds that ought to nonetheless be seen, even within the mild of the Full Moon. Early within the night, Saturn is seen for just a little over an hour after sundown, sinking within the west. Above it, Venus dominates Pisces, setting greater than three hours after the Solar. Jupiter in Taurus and Mars in Gemini are seen many of the evening, remaining above the horizon till the early-morning hours, with Mars disappearing simply over an hour earlier than the Solar seems above the japanese horizon tomorrow morning.
Dawn: 6:56 A.M.Sundown: 5:33 P.M.Moonrise: 5:49 P.M.Moonset: 7:13 A.M. Moon Section: Full
Thursday, February 13Rising only a few hours earlier than the Solar, the Wild Duck Cluster in Scutum is a good goal for occasions when the Moon is vivid. Positioned close to the tail of Aquila, this cluster — additionally cataloged as M11 and NGC 6705 — rises round 3:30 A.M. native time and reaches practically 25° in altitude within the southeast an hour earlier than dawn.
Seen with binoculars or any small scope, the bigger your aperture, the extra stars on this cluster will come out, significantly with that vivid moonlight flooding the sky. The Wild Duck Cluster shines with a complete magnitude of about 6, although most of its particular person stars fall round Tenth magnitude. It spans 14’ on the sky and hangs just below 2° southeast of 4th-magnitude Beta (β) Scuti, or 4° west-southwest of Third-magnitude Lambda (λ) Aquilae.
In whole, the Wild Duck Cluster holds practically 3,000 stars and sits greater than 6,000 light-years from Earth.
Dawn: 6:55 A.M.Sundown: 5:34 P.M.Moonrise: 6:52 P.M.Moonset: 7:37 A.M. Moon Section: Waning gibbous (99%)
Eunomia passes close to the Sixth-magnitude star cluster NGC 1746 this month, which is the dad or mum of a number of smaller teams and associations. Credit score: Astronomy: Roen Kelly
Friday, February 14The dwarf planet 1 Ceres is along side the Solar at 5 P.M. EST right now. So, let’s concentrate on one other vivid main-belt world — 15 Eunomia, which shines at roughly Tenth magnitude and stands close to Sixth-magnitude NGC 1746 in Taurus.
Some 70° excessive within the east an hour after sundown, Eunomia is completely poised for observing throughout the brief darkish window earlier than the Moon breaches the horizon. It’s additionally comparatively straightforward to search out, mendacity roughly midway between vivid Jupiter and magnitude 1.7 Elnath, the tip of the Bull’s “top” horn as its face lies sideways within the sky early within the night. Elnath, technically cataloged as Beta Aurigae, falls proper on the border of Taurus and Auriga.
Tonight, Eunomia is 5.3° southwest of Elnath, in a area comparatively freed from vivid background stars. As a bonus, it’s simply 2.5° north of NGC 1746. Though categorised as an open cluster, astronomers now suppose this grouping could also be extra of an opportunity superposition than a gravitationally sure ball of stars. Nevertheless, the close by cluster NGC 1750, which lies much less than 7’ to NGC 1746’s south, is probably going a real open cluster of related younger suns.
Venus reaches biggest brilliancy this night at 6 P.M. EST, shining at magnitude –4.9 as a blazing beacon lingering lengthy after sundown. We’ll focus our gaze on Earth’s sister planet subsequent week, so keep tuned for extra particulars to come back.
Dawn: 6:54 A.M.Sundown: 5:35 P.M.Moonrise: 7:54 P.M.Moonset: 7:58 A.M. Moon Section: Waning gibbous (95%)
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