We start this month with Venus and Jupiter still in close conjunction in the low southeastern sky in the early morning. They were at their closest Friday when they were less than a degree apart.
It still will be a great show as they gradually part company this week. There’s also a total lunar eclipse Feb. 20, a prime-time eclipse visible in the early evening. You don’t want to be a slave to “American Idol” and miss this one.
Leave your couch, because it will be the last total lunar eclipse we’ll see until late December, 2010. I’ll have much more on the eclipse two weeks from today in Starwatch.
Star watching is wonderful this month. In fact, this is one of the best times of the year. Bundle up and see what I mean. It’s a fabulous show, especially if you can get away from some of the city lights and into the countryside. Maybe you already live out there, and if you do, I’m jealous. Even if you have to put up with urban lighting, you can still see a lot of bright stars and constellations, especially in the southern half of the sky. The constellation Orion the Hunter and the gang of bright constellations surrounding him are the main celestial event.
There’s Orion himself, surrounded by a cast of characters like Taurus (the bull), Auriga (the chariot driver), Gemini (the twins). Lepus (the rabbit), Canis Minor (the little dog) and Canis Major the big dog). At the nose of the Canis Major is Sirius, the brightest star we see in the entire night sky any time of the year, shining brightly more than 50 trillion miles away (about 8.5 light-years).
Also in the mix of winter constellations is the planet Mars, still shining brightly, but not nearly as bright as it was in January as it gradually moves farther away from Earth.
You would think with the logjam of bright stars and constellations in the winter sky that we would be facing toward the center of our Milky Way Galaxy. Actually, we’re facing away from the galactic center, looking in the direction of the edge of our galaxy.
Toward the edge, however, there happen to be brighter arms of our Milky Way. The nighttime side of the Earth faces the Milky Way’s center in the summertime, and without a doubt, the stars of summer are wonderful, but they are nowhere near as dazzling as the winter constellations.
There’s even a sign of Spring in the February skies, with the first early evening appearance of the constellation Leo (the lion). Leo resembles a backwards question mark in the eastern sky. You’ll get a lot better look at it later in the evening as it rises higher.
Just to the lower left of Regulus, the brightest star of Leo at the bottom of the question mark, is the wonderful ringed planet Saturn, which will reach its closest point to the Earth later this month. Even with the smallest of telescopes you should be able to see the ring system of Saturn, especially later in the evening as it rises above the blurring atmospheric sludge near the horizon.
Remember to let your telescope sit outside for at least a half an hour before you use it to let the optics adapt to the cool winter air.
Mike Lynch is an amateur astronomer and professional broadcast meteorologist for WCCO Radio in Minneapolis and is author of the book “Washington Starwatch,” available at bookstores and at his Web site, www.lynchandthestars.com
The Everett Astronomical Society welcomes new members and puts on public star parties. Its Web site is: members.tripod.com/everett_astronomy.
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