Features: Calendar | Lunar Almanac | Monthly Topic
This Month's Night Sky - NOTE: The next paragraph describes the sky as it
appears at 10 pm EST (11 pm EDT) near mid- month. The sky also looks
this way at 11 pm EST (midnight EDT) during the beginning of the month and
at 9 pm EST (10 pm EDT) by month's end.
A large asterism, "the Winter Triangle", appears directly overhead. It is an inverted triangle formed by three bright stars: Procyon (Canis Minor) upper left, Betelgeuse (Orion) upper right and Sirius (Canis Major) below center. The Big Dipper (Ursa Major's famous asterism) stands high in the NE with its "handle" still pointing towards the horizon. Follow the handle's curve to orange star Arcturus (Bootes). Look for Cassiopeia's "W" asterism high in the NW. To the S, Orion dominates the sky while Aldebaran (Taurus) followed by the Pleiades star cluster drops below the horizon by 3 AM. Regulus (Leo) now rises in the SE. If you live in a dark site region, don't forget to observe the Milky Way's (our spiral galaxy) arm that passes through Cassiopeia. It will not be visible in bright Moon light or in the cities.
MERCURY makes its winter appearance around mid-month. It will be quite dim and rise from in the ESE about an hour before sunrise. VENUS and JUPITER rise together in the SE around 5 am and will be very close together at the beginning of the month. They will draw apart as the month progresses. Reddish MARS is high in the S as night falls and by mid-month becomes smaller and dimmer. SATURN rises in the E just after sunset and doesn't set until dawn. Look for a total eclipse of the MOON during the evening of the 20th.
Calendar of Events
NOTE: For those observers not in the ET zone, convert the calendar times to your zone's time by subtracting one hour for CT, two for MT and three for PT. Don't forget to adjust for Daylight Savings Time when necessary by subtracting one hour from your planisphere's time.; Dawn and dusk times must also be corrected. See your local newspaper, TV news, or cable TV's Weather Channel for sunrise and sunset times. Unfortunately some of these events may occur during daylight hours in your area.
| DATE | EVENT |
01 |
Look for a very close conjunction (0.5 degrees) of Venus and Jupiter, low in the SE at dawn. Also, high in the SSE, find the crescent Moon near the bright star Antares (Scorpius). |
03 |
Early in the pre-dawn morning, the thin crescent Moon is about 5 degrees from Venus and Jupiter in the SE sky. |
04 |
Look for a conjunction (4 degrees) of the Moon and Jupiter at 1 am. |
16 |
There is a close conjunction (< 2 degrees) of the Moon and Mars at 3 am. |
20 |
Observe a total lunar eclipse beginning at 10:05 pm and ending at 10:48. Although the Moon is full, it should appear quite dim and reddish at mid eclipse around 10:30. The bright yellowish planet below and to the left of the Moon is Saturn. NOTE, when ever there is a total lunar eclipse there is also a solar eclipse within two weeks. That occurred on the 6th. but it was not visible anywhere in the U.S. Better see this one because there won't be another until December, 2010! |
25 |
Early in the pre-dawn morning, look for a close conjunction (2 degrees or less as the week progresses) of Mercury and Venus. You should be able to see this conjunction for the rest of the week, at about this time. |
28 |
Look for a very close (< 1 degree) "conjunction" of the Moon and the bright star, Antares (Scorpius). |
Lunar Almanac for February 2008
| Phases of the Moon | Phase and Date(s) | Best viewed before local midnight |
 |
New |
Deep Space Objects |
 |
1st. Qtr |
Planets & Moon |
 |
Full |
Moon |
 |
Last |
Deep Space & Planets |
Topic of the month: Binocular Object: The Pleiades
Topic of the month: Binocular object: The Hyades (Open Star Cluster in Taurus)
A bright, "V" shaped group of stars forms the middle of the constellation, Taurus. All of these stars, except very bright Aldebaran, are gravitationally locked together into a loose cluster known as the Hyades. They form one of the closest star clusters to us at 130 light years away. (Aldebaran is much closer at 65 light years distant.) Although brighter and more spread out than its neighbor, the Pleiades (last month's topic), it is not very impressive in most telescopes. It is, however, very nice in binoculars. There are a great variety sights; different colors, patterns and pairs. |
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--See you next month! * Also see Ron's What's Up? Bonus Issue December 2007 for more binocular information. |
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This installment of "Whats Up?" is ©2008 Ronald A. Leeseberg, encoded by Dawn Jenkins for Astra's Stargate.
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