Feature Article February 12, 2004
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The Night Skies for February
Four planets across the February evening sky: During the month of February, sunsets are noticeably later from evening to evening, but twilight still ends much earlier than it will later in the winter and spring.
The many brilliant stars of the winter sky still dominate the southern part of the heavens in the late evening, led by the powerful outline of Orion, the Great Hunter, high in the south, followed, in the south-eastern sky, by his two dogs, Canis Major and Canis Minor. Following in a straight line from the three-star belt of Orion is Sirius, the Great Dog Star, the brightest star in the whole sky, marking the head of the first dog. Above it and to the left is Procyon, the skys sixth brightest star, marking the position of the second dog. Well above the two dog stars and very high in the sky are the twins, the bright stars Castor and Pollux, the famous Gemini pair, to the right of which the very bright planet Saturn is easily found throughout the year 2004.
As twilight ends and the sky becomes quite dark, Saturn is easily seen to be brighter than the nearby twin stars just mentioned, but also brighter than all the stars of Orion and all of its surrounding stars, except Sirius.
Even before the sky is dark enough to make this observation, most people will have noticed, on any clear night, that there are two star-like objects, both of which are brighter, much brighter, in fact, than Saturn. They are the planets Venus and Jupiter. Venus, stunningly bright, may be seen almost immediately after sunset well up in the western sky; in fact, a few very careful observers may be able to spot it before sunset! For the next three hours until it sets, Venus becomes brilliant enough to cast a shadow for those who are in a location without other distracting lights.
The other very bright planet is the largest one in our solar system, Jupiter, which rises in the east shortly after sunset and dominates the eastern half of the sky throughout the night. Jupiter is located, until August of this year, among the stars of the constellation Leo the Lion, which experienced observers associate with the stars that are seen in the spring of the year. That constellations brightest star, Regulus, is easily located, in the late evening eastern sky, above Jupiter by about the width of a fist held at arms length. The fourth evening planet, Mars, though not as bright as the trio just mentioned, will be easily seen as a reddish, star-like object well above the planet Venus in the western evening sky. Careful observers may notice, over the course of this month and the coming four months, that Mars gradually becomes fainter, as the Red Planet and our Earth move even further apart.
For those who enjoy a good clear view of the western horizon, the young crescent moon will put on a notable show beginning about a half-hour after sunset on five consecutive nights. First, on Saturday, February 21, a very thin crescent will be well below Venus and so slender that most people will need binoculars to see it. On Sunday, February 22, a slightly bigger, but still thin, crescent moon will still be well below Venus. On the 23rd, the crescent and Venus will be very close, a reminder of the spectacle that some of us saw on Christmas Day, two months ago. The following night the moon will be mid-way between Venus and Mars, and finally on the 25th the moon will be remarkably close to Mars. Mark these events on your calendar, and do not miss such a chance to see the waxing of a crescent moon and its orbital motion from day to day. On the night of February 29, watch the moon periodically as it moves past the planet Saturn in the constellation Gemini.
A leap-day observation such as this last one can be a reminder that astronomers historically assisted calendar reformers in understanding the need for an extra day every fourth year (more precisely, 97 such days every 400 years) in order to restore order to our calendar. With an actual year of about 365 days, our equinoxes, solstices and all seasonal events of 2003 had moved forward 18 hours (6 hours per year) from when they were in 2000, so that last years winter solstice was on December 22. This months extra leap day restores order to our calendar and puts the winter solstice back to December 21 where it belongs.
More information about the winter and spring sky is now available in the book, The Beginners Observing Guide which is available at Sharbot Lake Pharmacy.
