Venus blazes within the sky above the BlackGEM telescopes at ESO’s L. a. Silla Observatory in Chile. Credit score: Zdeněk Bardon (bardon.cz)/ESO
As February starts, Venus seems low within the western night time sky. The intense planet stands just about 15° top an hour after the Solar is going down and dominates the faint background stars of Pisces the Fish. Even if the internal international lies a wholesome 45° east of the Solar, it doesn’t climb top since the ecliptic — the obvious trail of the Solar around the sky that the planets practice carefully — makes a shallow attitude to the western horizon after sundown at the moment of 12 months. And, sadly, Venus dips nearer to the horizon because the month progresses.
However no longer even twilight can stay the brightest planet down. Venus reaches biggest brilliancy at midmonth, when it shines at magnitude –4.9 — absolutely 10 occasions brighter than its nearest competitor, Jupiter.
That is the month to focus on Venus via a telescope as it sports activities a big disk and a lovely crescent form. On Feb. 1, the internal planet seems 32″ throughout and 38 % lit. Via the twenty eighth, its diameter has swollen to 48″ whilst the Solar illuminates simply 16 % of its Earth-facing hemisphere.
You’ll use Venus as a information to discovering Saturn in early February. The ringed planet lies 11° to Venus’ decrease left however shines modestly at magnitude 1.1, so you could want binoculars to pick out it out of the twilight glow. A skinny crescent Moon seems 1° to Saturn’s proper the night time of Feb. 1.
Regrettably, Saturn’s low altitude manner you gained’t see it obviously to your telescope’s eyepiece. Higher perspectives anticipate after it reappears sooner than crack of dawn q4.
The opposite outer planets fare a lot better on February evenings. Jupiter makes a lovely sight underneath the Hyades megastar cluster in Taurus the Bull. Its yellow-white colour contrasts properly with the purple large megastar Aldebaran, which might seem like a cluster member however in reality lies a lot nearer to Earth. The enormous planet shines at magnitude –2.4 and looks a ways brighter than Taurus’ luminary.
A telescope unearths Jupiter to be a dynamic object with colourful cloud tops arrayed in a sequence of alternating vivid zones and darker belts. Its equatorial diameter at midmonth is 41″, just about 3″ greater than during the poles. You’ll additionally need to stay a watch out for the large planet’s 4 vivid satellites — Io, Europa, Ganymede, and Callisto — as they modify relative positions from night time to nighttime.
Mars reached opposition in January and stays a superb sight all over February. Even if it dims noticeably this month, the planet glows brighter than magnitude 0.0 and overshadows the another way conspicuous stars of Gemini the Twins.
As Mars drifts clear of Earth in February, its obvious diameter dwindles from 14″ to 11″. That’s nonetheless sufficiently big to expose the sophisticated floor markings that experience lengthy intrigued each beginner {and professional} astronomers. Watch for moments of stable seeing to look main points snap into view.
Mercury involves awesome conjunction Feb. 9 and stays out of sight all month.
A waning crescent Moon occults the 1st-magnitude megastar Antares on Feb. 21. Observers within the southern 3rd of South The united states can have the most productive perspectives. From Buenos Aires, Antares heads in the back of the Moon’s vivid limb at 7h35m UT and returns to view from in the back of the darkish limb at 8h32m UT. As a result of Antares is a purple supergiant megastar, it takes greater than the blink of a watch to vanish and reappear.
The starry sky
I frequently discuss with the constellation Octans the Octant all over my planetarium shows. That’s as a result of I really like to provide an explanation for methods to to find the South Celestial Pole the usage of Crux the Move and the Pointer Stars: Alpha (α) and Beta (β) Centauri.
Even if Octans doesn’t rank some of the vivid constellations, one a part of it’s somewhat simple to acknowledge, no less than on megastar charts: the “trapezium” created from the celebs Sigma (σ), Chi (χ), Tau (τ), and Upsilon (υ) Octantis. Don’t confuse this workforce with Orion’s extra well-known Trapezium Cluster, which lies on the heart of the Orion Nebula (M42). Mathematicians outline a trapezium as a four-sided determine with one pair of parallel aspects. The 4 stars in M42 come on the subject of this definition, however I feel the 4 in Octans are similarly excellent.
The Octans asterism performs a pivotal position when the usage of the pole finder built-in into some equatorial mounts. Those are small telescopes with crosshairs that can help you align the mount’s polar axis as it should be. One member of this stellar quartet — Sigma — supplies the Southern Hemisphere’s highest Pole Megastar. The real pole is living somewhat greater than 1° from Sigma, so when the usage of this kind of finder you want to estimate the offset between Sigma and the South Celestial Pole. It is helping that Sigma, Chi, and Tau shape an arrowhead that issues to the pole. And with a low-power eyepiece, you frequently can come with all 3 stars and the pole in the similar box.
Attempt to see what number of of those stars you’ll be able to to find with the unaided eye. All lie on the subject of the naked-eye restrict. The brightest, Chi, glows at magnitude 5.3, adopted by way of Sigma at magnitude 5.4, Tau at magnitude 5.5, and Upsilon at magnitude 5.8.
Your probabilities of recognizing the trapezium stars support underneath a gloomy sky and with a extra southerly location, which puts them upper and thus further from the dimming brought about by way of atmospheric extinction.
Megastar Dome
This map portrays the sky as observed close to 30° south latitude. Positioned within the border are the cardinal instructions and their intermediate issues. To search out stars, cling the map overhead and orient it so some of the labels fits the path you’re going through. The celebrities above the map’s horizon now fit what’s within the sky.
The all-sky map displays how the sky appears at:10 p.m. February 19 p.m. February 158 p.m. February 28
Planets are proven at midmonth