Welcome to Observing With Webb, where a high school astronomy teacher tells you what you’re looking at, why it’s so cool, and what you should check out later this month…at night. Don’t forget to check out my Podbean page, YouTube Channel, and Twitter feed, or get my podcast feed on Stitcher, or iTunes.
A great morning lineup in the beginning of the month, a conjunction mid-month, all the naked-eye planets visible at some point in the month, winter constellations, and a great lineup ending the month is making February look like a GREAT month for naked eye astronomy.
Naked-eye PLANETS...
Mercury
Venus
Mars
Jupiter
Saturn
EVENTS...
New Moon – 4th (darkest skies)
First Quarter Moon – 12th (Visible until midnight)
Full Moon – 19th (Visible all night)
Last Quarter Moon – 26th (Visible from midnight into the morning)
Jan 30th – Feb 2nd – Morning Lineup #1 – Saturn, Jupiter, Venus, and the Moon will all be lined up in the SSE these four mornings. Jupiter will be the highest planet, rising after 4am, with the brightest planet Venus trailing only 8˚ behind. Saturn will be the hardest to find, very low on the horizon around 6:30am, and 20˚ down and to the left of Venus. Where does the Moon come in? On the 30th, it’s above Jupiter, and on the very next day it travels to within 2˚ to the right of Venus. Feb 1st it will be directly in between Venus and Saturn. February 2nd will be a challenge, but binoculars will help you find Saturn and an extremely thin crescent Moon down and to the left.
10th – Close Encounter – Moon, Mars – Get out after sunset, find the crescent Moon, and Mars will be about 6˚ up to the right until they set around 11pm.
18th – Conjunction – Saturn, Venus – Get out in the morning after 5am but before 6:30ish and look low in the SE for Saturn and Venus less than 1˚ apart. Venus will be MUCH brighter and only a pinky’s width away from Saturn. Don’t forget to check this out on the couple of days before and after, as the planets will still be close together.
26th – March 3rd – Morning Lineup #2 – Moon, Jupiter, Saturn, Venus – Any time after 5am these mornings, you’ll see the three planets lined up (bright Venus is lowest, dimmer Saturn a fist-width to the right and up a little bit, and Jupiter 2.5 fist-widths further from Saturn), with the Moon traveling through.
26th – Moon is up and to the right of Jupiter
27th – Crescent Moon is just 2˚ above Jupiter
28th – Crescent Moon is in between Jupiter and Saturn
3/1 – Crescent Moon is about 3˚ up and to the right of Saturn
3/2 – Crescent Moon is about 5˚ to the right of Venus
3/3 – VERY THIN crescent Moon 6˚ down and to the left of Venus
CONSTELLATIONS...
(see sky map link at the bottom for a Star Map for this month)
After Dinner:
Orion & his winter companions – By 7pm, Orion is about as high as it will get for the night about halfway up the southern sky, tempting us to tour the winter constellations. Begin by finding Orion by looking for three stars in almost a straight line and close to each other, Orion’s Belt, which is surrounded by a bigger, vertical, almost rectangle of stars. Orion will be our guidepost for the other winter constellations. Start at the left belt star and draw a straight line connecting them, then continue that line far past the last belt star about 20˚ or two fist-widths held at arm’s length. There you’ll find the V constellation Taurus, with bright red Aldebaran at the top left of the V. Taurus is part of a big cluster of stars known as the Hyades. Remember that line you just made? Follow it just 10˚ further (one fist-width) and you’ll find a mini-mini-dipper of stars call the Pleiades, which is another open cluster of stars within our Milky Way Galaxy. Let’s go back to the belt, but draw the connecting line from right to left, and continue about 20˚ past the belt, where you’ll find the brightest star in the sky, Sirius. Perhaps you can also see the constellation Canis Major, known as the big dog. We’ll stop there for this month, and pick up next month with Gemini, Auriga, and Canis Minor.
Before Bed:
Auriga, Gemini – Look almost straight up, and you’ll find a pentagon shaped constellation which is the Charioteer Auriga, with its brightest star Capella. Gemini, the twins, will be to the left of Auriga, with bright Castor and Pollux heading them up. For reference, Orion will be below both of them.
Before Work:
Leo, Big Dipper – Leo will be more to the West than before, but the Big Dipper will be super big and bright above Leo’s backward question mark.
Use a sky map from www.skymaps.com to help you out.
Create your
podcast in
minutes
It is Free