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The sky in February

Natural History, Feb, 2003 by Joe Rao

Swift Mercury shines low along the east-southeastern horizon about an hour before sunrise in the first week of February. The planet, as bright as magnitude -0.1, reaches its greatest western elongation from the Sun on the 4th, 25 degrees from the Sun's glare. For the rest of the month Mercury falls back toward the Sun and, as early as midmonth, is hopelessly lost in the morning twilight.

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Brilliant Venus graces the dawn low in the southeast, though not quite so brightly as it did in January. The planet fades from magnitude -4.3 to -4.1 and sinks about 5 degrees lower into the sunrise. It has also entered its uninteresting season for telescopic observers; it looks like a small, featureless, gibbous Moon for the rest of the year. But Venus is still immensely brighter than any other point of light. Early risers in the first half of the month can enjoy watching the "teapot" of Sagittarius gliding below Venus in the starry background, then moving above and to the right of the planet as the weeks go by. On the morning of the 27th a waning crescent Moon appears on the southeastern horizon, well below and to the right of Venus.

Mars rises between 2:30 and 3:00 A.M. local time throughout the month, and is well up in the south-southeast by dawn. Shining at magnitude 1.3, the planet passes 5 degrees north of the first-magnitude star Antares on February 1, as it moves through the constellation Ophiuchus. Although Mars remains rather inconspicuous, its luminosity continually increases as the Earth's smaller, faster orbit brings the two planets closer. Mars reaches opposition in August, when it will be just 34,646,418 miles from the Earth, but in mid-February it's still 154 million miles away. Seen through a telescope, it presents a minute disk. A fat crescent Moon will be hovering well below and a bit to the left of Mars on the morning of the 25th.

Silvery white Jupiter, low in the east this month as the sky darkens at sundown, dazzles the eye at magnitude -2.6. Jupiter is at opposition to the Sun on February 2; it rises at sunset, stands highest in the south at midnight, and sets at dawn. At dusk on the 15th, Jupiter climbs the east-northeastern sky alongside the Moon, which is just one day from full.

Saturn, in the eastern part of the constellation Taurus, is high toward the south in the early evening hours. It sets in the west at around 4 A.M. at the beginning of the month and about two hours earlier by month's end. At magnitude -0.2, Saturn carries on its grand show for viewers with telescopes, as the great ring system continues to tilt steeply toward Earth. Late on the night of February 11, the Moon appears to pass less than 3 degrees to the north of Saturn.

The Moon is new on February 1 at 5:48 A.M. It reaches first quarter on the 9th at 6:11 A.M., full on the 16th at 6:51 P.M., and last quarter on the 23rd at 11:46 A.M.

Unless otherwise noted, all times are given in Eastern Standard Time.

The sky in February

Natural History, Feb, 2003 by Joe Rao

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