FEBRUARY

OBSERVING HIGHLIGHTS

 

 

EARTH SATELLITES:

 

Moon --- New Moon occurs February 7 at 3:44UT (10:44 p.m. EST)

    First Quarter Moon occurs February 14 at 3:33 UT (10:33 p.m. EST)

                Full Moon occurs February 21 at 3:30 UT (10:30 p.m. EST) – Lunar  

                         Eclipse on night of Feb. 20-21 10:05 p.m. to 10:48 p.m. EST.

    Last Quarter Moon occurs February 29 at 2:18 UT (9:18 p.m. EST)

                

 

Artificial Satellites --- Reference the following web site for information on observing

                artificial satellites: http:www.calsky.com/cs.cgi

 

PLANETS:

 

Mercury will become visible around mid-month very low in the southeast before sunrise. For 5 weeks beginning on February 23 it will be within 3 degrees of Venus.

 

Venus at about -3.9 magnitude will be 0.6 degrees upper left of Jupiter at dawn on February 1. The pair will rise about 2 hours before the Sun. On February 27 Venus will be 1.1 degrees below Mercury and low in the southeast at dawn.

 

Mars at -0.6 magnitude will be high in the night sky and fade to +0.2 magnitude during the month. By month end it will be 4 degrees from M35 in the constellation Gemini.

 

Jupiter will be at about -2.0 magnitude at dawn and on February 1 will be about 0.6 degrees lower right of Venus in the southwest.  

 

Saturn in the constellation Leo will be at +0.4 magnitude to a maximum brightness for the year and rising in the early evening.

 

Neptune, Uranus and Pluto will be unobservable.

 

DEEP SKY:

 

The constellations Auriga, Orion, Taurus, Canis Major, and Canis Minor will dominate the night skies this month. Cassiopeia, Pegasus, Andromeda and Perseus will descend toward the northwest horizon. The stars of Aldebaren in Taurus, Capella in Auriga, the Twins Castor and Pollux in Gemini along with Arcturus in Bootes can be observed. The bright star Sirius can be seen in Canis Major. Ursa Major will be upside down and high overhead.

 

Nebula

 

The Great Orion Nebula (M42) a.k.a. NGC 1976 is a diffuse nebula in the constellation Orion visible to the naked eye. Although you can see M42 moderately well in binoculars, it is more appreciated when viewed with a 6 to 8 inch (150 – 200 mm) telescope. It has a an apparent magnitude of 4 with a size of 28 light years and a distance of 1,600 light-years. The brightest stars in the nebula are the famous four Trapezium stars. The Horse Head Nebula can be observed in Orion with a telescope, also.

 

 

The Crab Nebula (M1) a.k.a. NGC 1952 in Taurus can be observed with binoculars but any sort of detail in the Crab requires a good 10-inch (250 mm) instrument.  The Crab nebula has an apparent magnitude of 8.2 and is 6300 light-years distant.

The Eskimo Nebula another telescopic object this month.

 

Clusters

 

The Hyades a.k.a. Melotte 25 is a naked eye object of about 200 stars in the constellation of Taurus with an apparent magnitude of 0.5. It is a large, V-shaped grouping of stars situated 150 light-years distant near the bright orange star Aldebaren is about 700 million years old (much younger than the Solar System).

 

M37 a.k.a. NGC 2099 is an open cluster in the constellation Auriga with nearby M36 and M38. To find M37, point your binoculars midway between the stars Theta and Beta Auriga, then scan a couple of degrees toward Gemini. They will reveal a misty patch, while a telescope will resolve the many stars. M37 has an apparent magnitude of 5.6 and a distance of 4,100 light years.

 

Pleiades (M45) a.k.a. the Seven Sisters can be seen with the naked eye. This open cluster is in the constellation Taurus. It has an apparent magnitude of 1.2 with a size of 13 light-years and a distance of 400 light-years.

 

Other open clusters in February for the naked eye include the NGC 2548 and the Beehive Cluster (M44)

 

Galaxies

 

M95 a.k.a. NGC 3351 is a faint barred spiral galaxy in the constellation Leo. It is a member of the Leo I Galaxy Group which includes M96, M105 and several fainter NGC galaxies. It has an apparent magnitude of 9.7 with a distance of 36 million light-years. A telescope larger than 10” (250 mm) is required to begin to distinquish the galaxy’s spiral structure.

 

Other galaxies in the night sky are M65 (seen with binoculars) and the Whirlpool Galaxy (M51) (a telescopic object).

 

ref1/24/08