Dundee Astro - Sky Notes

As February opens, the Moon is a narrow waxing crescent low in the south-west as the sky grows dark. On Saturday 1st the Moon will appear 4° below the bright planet Venus, and 7° to the upper left of Saturn. On the following evening, Sunday 2nd, it will have moved to lie 10° to the upper left of Venus.

First Quarter is on the morning of Wednesday February 5th; the half-illuminated Moon will appear high in the south as the sky grows dark that evening, lying about 7° to the lower right of the Pleiades star cluster.

On the evening of Thursday 6th, the gibbous Moon will sit 6° to the upper right of the planet Jupiter. A few nights later, on Sunday 9th, the Moon passes very close to Mars in the early evening; the two objects will be at their closest at around 7.00 pm, when Mars will lie just a few arc-minutes beyond the lower right edge of the Moon’s disc. Binoculars may be required to spot the planet against the bright glow of the gibbous Moon at this time. As the evening progresses, the Moon will slowly move away to the left (see diagram below).

Full Moon is on the afternoon of Wednesday February 12th. The Moon rises in the north-east shortly before sunset and sets again in the north-west soon after sunrise the following morning. Throughout the night the Moon appears close to the bright star Regulus in the constellation of Leo.

Last Quarter is on the evening of Thursday February 20th; the half-illuminated Moon rises in the south east in the early hours of the following morning and is low in the south at dawn. The waning crescent Moon may be seen very low in the dawn twilight for another two mornings after this.

New Moon falls early on Friday February 28th, with the narrow young crescent Moon becoming visible low in the south-west from Saturday March 1st onwards. On that evening, the Moon will lie 9° to the lower left of Venus and 7° to the upper left of Mercury

Relative positions of the gibbous Moon and Mars on
the evening of Sunday February 9th, at the times
shown. These positions are for Dundee – for
locations further south Mars will appear slightly
more distant from the Moon, to the north it will
appear closer until, north of a line from North Uist to
Caithness, Mars will actually pass behind the Moon’s
disc and be occulted. (For clarity the Moon is shown
as fixed in this diagram, but in reality it is the Moon
that is moving in relation to Mars)

Mercury is at superior conjunction on the far side of the Sun on February 9th, and will initially be hidden in the glare of the Sun. However, during the second week of February it begins to emerge into the evening sky, and by the end of the month is setting in the south-west around an hour-and-a-half after the Sun.

Venus continues to shine brilliantly at magnitude -4.6 in the south-west after sunset throughout February, setting around four hours after the Sun.

Mars is in the east as the sky grows dark and high in the south by late evening, still shining brightly with its distinctive orange colour though fading slightly from magnitude -1.0 to -0.3 during the month. Mars starts February 4° to the right of Pollux, the lower of the ‘Twin’ stars of Gemini; its current retrograde
motion continues to carry it westwards amongst the stars, and it ends the month just over 7° to the right of Pollux and its upper ‘Twin’ Castor.

Jupiter shines brightly and steadily at magnitude -2.4 high in the south in the early early evening, just above the red giant star Aldebaran in Taurus and to the left of the Pleiades star cluster.

Saturn is low in the south-west in the early evening, about 11° to the lower right of Venus at the beginning of the month. It gradually sinks lower and by the end of February will be setting less than an hour after the Sun and will become more difficult to spot in the bright twilight.

Uranus lies in eastern Aries about 18° to the right of Jupiter and 8° to the lower right of the Pleiades; it is currently at magnitude 5.7.

Neptune is low in the south-west in the evening, around 10° to the upper left of Saturn.

The giant figure of Orion the Hunter stands high in the south on February evenings, surrounded by the other brilliant stars of the winter sky. Orion’s left shoulder is represented by the red star Betelgeuse, and his right knee by blue-white Rigel. The distinctive line of stars marking Orion’s belt points upwards to the yellow star Aldebaran in the V-shaped head of Taurus the Bull; a little further along this line is the star cluster of the Pleiades or Seven Sisters. This month Jupiter is an additional bright ‘star’ in Taurus.

Orion’s belt leads downwards to Sirius, or the Dog Star. At magnitude -1.4 this is the brightest star in the night sky, and although it is actually a white star, Sirius twinkles strongly, appearing to flash different colours as it does so.

The Square of Pegasus and the stars of Andromeda are now low in the south-west, with the ‘W’ of Cassiopeia just above. High overhead are the stars of Perseus and Auriga, along with the constellation of Gemini and its Twin stars Castor and Pollux, this year joined by orange Mars. Below Gemini is the bright
star Procyon, often known as the ‘Little Dog Star’.

Climbing higher in the east is Leo, with the bright star Regulus at the bottom of the ‘Sickle’ of stars representing the Lion’s head. Lower in the south-east is Alphard, brightest star in the constellation of Hydra the Water Snake. This long, straggling constellation is actually the largest in the sky, though most
of its stars are rather faint and its outline difficult to follow. Yellow-coloured Alphard stands out in an otherwise barren area of sky; appropriately enough, its name means ‘the Solitary One’.

The seven stars of the Plough are high in the north-east, the two ‘pointer’ stars showing the way to the Pole Star. The curve of the Plough’s handle leads down to the red giant star Arcturus, low in the north east. Two of the stars of the ‘Summer Triangle’, Deneb and Vega, remain visible all year round from Scotland, and on February evenings can be found low above the northern horizon.

The Milky Way continues to be well-placed in the sky during February, appearing as a faint band of light stretching from Deneb in the north-west, through Cassiopeia and Perseus, and into the south-east between Orion and Gemini.