Skywatch February 2006

by Julene M Packer-Johnson

Skywatch Stargazing Archives

Venus and Jupiter are visible in the morning sky this month. Mars and Saturn are visible in the evening sky. Mercury joins them the second week of February and reaches greatest elongation the fourth week. Venus stations direct in the beginning of the month and reaches greatest brilliancy near mid-month. There are two related minor meteor showers that peak in February: Alpha Centaurids & Beta Centaurids. The moon occults 2 fixed stars this month: Spica over eastern North America and Antares over Australia.

The evening sky in the northern hemisphere
As the skies darken on the evening of February 1st, look for Saturn above the eastern horizon among the stars of Cancer. He rises before the sunsets. Being a dimmer planet, weíll have better viewing after the twilight clears and leaves behind darker skies. Mars will be high in the southern sky among the stars of Aries near Taurus. Mars sets around 2:00 a.m. Saturn sets around 7:30 a.m. in the glow of morning twilight.

Watch as Saturn appears higher above the eastern horizon each night throughout February. At 7:00 p.m. on the 1st, Saturn will be in the 12th house area of the sky. On the 10th at 7:00 p.m., Saturn will be on the 11th/12th house cusp. For the rest of month, Saturn moves further into the 11th house each night at 7:00 p.m. and thus he becomes visible higher above the eastern horizon each night at that time. The reason Saturn is becoming visible higher above the eastern horizon as twilight dissipates is because he is rising earlier. This of course means he will also set earlier as February progresses. On the 15th, Saturn sets around 6:30 a.m. On the 28th Saturn sets around 5:30 a.m. Saturn is retrograde this month and does not show any movement against the dim stars of Cancer that are hard to locate in urban areas.

Mars is an interesting planet to watch this month, because he covers a good amount of sky. Mars begins the month in the constellation Aries near the boundary of Taurus. Watch each night as Mars travels east toward the Pleiades cluster of Taurus. On the evening of the 15th, Mars will hang below and to the left of Pleiades. His set time will be around 1:45 a.m. The evening of the 18th will display Mars just left of Pleiades. By the 20th, he will have noticeably passed by the Seven Sisters and lie above and to their left. Now we can watch Mars gain on the alpha star of Taurus, Aldebaran. By monthís end the red planet will lie midway between Pleiades and Aldebaran. Mars sets around 1:25 a.m. on the 28th.

On the evening of the 8th, Mercury makes his monthly debut upon the eveningís stellar stage. Look for him low along the west-southwest horizon among the stars of Aquarius. He sets around 6:20 p.m. Each night he will rise higher and higher out of the sunset, becoming easier to locate as February progresses. You can also track his movement through the constellation Aquarius and into Pisces this month. On the 15th Mercury sets around 7:05 p.m. Mercury reaches greatest eastern elongation on the 23rd. By this time he is near the stars that comprise the head of Pisces and setting around 7:30 p.m. By February 28th, Mercury is a bit further along the head of Pisces and sets at 7:30 p.m. He will set earlier and earlier each night in the beginning of March until we loose him in the glow of twilight on March 6th.

The morning sky in the northern hemisphere
On the morning of February 1st before the glow of dawn encroaches, look for Venus rising low along the eastern horizon, Jupiter higher in the southern sky and Saturn setting low along the western horizon. While Venus is usually the brightest object in the heavens (Jupiter can outshine her on rare occasions), she is especially bright this month. Venus reaches greatest brilliancy on the 17th.

Venus rises around 5:45a.m. on the 1st near the head of Sagittarius. She stations direct on the 3rd at 4:19a.m. EST. It takes her a bit over a week to gain noticeable speed and eastern movement after the station change. She begins to move on the 11th. On the 17th she passes the dim star Upsilon Sagittarii, however in most areas this star is not visible. We are better off tracking Venusí movement above the star Albaldah. On the 1st she is above and slightly left of Albaldah of Sagittarius who rises 15 minutes later than the brilliantly illuminated planet. While she remains left of the star all month, she will move east to rise with it on the 20th at around 5:00 a.m. On the 28th Venus rises around 4:45 a.m. about 20 minutes after Albaldah.

Jupiter rises around 1:45 p.m. on February 1st among the stars of the constellation Libra. By the 15th of February, heíll rise around 12:45 a.m. By monthís end, Jupiter will rise around midnight. The fixed star of Libra to the west of Jupiter is Zubenelgenubi, the southern scale. Above Jupiter is the northern scale Zubeneschmali. To the left of Jupiter is Gamma Librae. These three form a triangle.

The Moon as your celestial guide to the planets in the northern hemisphere
As the skies darken on the evening of the 5th, look for Mars to pop into view below the Moon. As the skies darken on the evening of the 10th, look for Saturn to pop into view below the moon. Saturn will pop into view above and slightly right of the moon on the evening of the 11th. Looking south in the pre-dawn sky on the morning of the 20th, youíll find Jupiter above the moon. On the morning of the 23rd Venus will rise to the left of the moon. On the morning of the 24th Venus will rise before the moon and lie above the luminary in the early morning sky. On the evening of the 28th, look for Mercury above a day young moon low along the western horizon just after sunset.

The evening sky in the southern hemisphere
As the skies darken around 9:30 DST on February 1st, look Mars in the north-northwest sky. Saturn will be low above the eastern horizon. The Moon will be above the western horizon.

Saturn travels through the dim stars of Cancer this month and his retrograde motion will not show much movement. He will however become visible higher above the eastern horizon each night during February. He will also set early each night. On the 1st he sets around 6:00 a.m. DST. He sets around 5:00 a.m. DST on the 15th and around 4:00 a.m. DST on the 28th.

Mars shows the most movement against the fixed stars this month. Mars begins the month to the left of Botein, the tail star of Aries. He sets around 12:40 a.m. DST on the 1st. Watch as Mars continues to make his way east to the Pleiades cluster in Taurus that represents the Seven Sisters. On the 18th, he will lie directly above them and set around midnight. By the 28th, he will be half way to Aldebaran and set around 11:30 p.m. DST.

Mercury joins the evening line up on the 8th. At about 8:45 p.m. DST, try to spot Mercury briefly in the twilight very low along the western horizon. The angle of the ecliptic in the southern hemisphere makes Mercury a rather illusive planet to watch this month. Mercury reaches greatest elongation on the 23rd, providing you with your best night for observation. Mercury sets at 8:40 on the 23rd, so be sure you start looking as the sun sets. By monthís end, Mercury will be swallowed up by the evening twilight.

The morning sky in the southern hemisphere
Venus rises around 4:50 a.m. DST on February 1st among the stars of the constellation Sagittarius. She stations direct on the 3rd and takes a good week to gain speed and make noticeable eastward progress through the constellation. Venus begins the month to the left and below Albaldah of Sagittarius. Watch this month as she pulls east from that star increasing her distance and heading toward Capricornus. On the 28th Venus makes it easy to spot 2 fixed stars in both constellations. She lies directly between and in a nice straight alignment with both Albaldah of Sagittarius above and Al Giedi of Capricorn below. See if you can notice those 2 fairly bright stars flanking the brilliant Venus above and below.

Jupiter rises around 12:45 p.m. DST on the 1st. By mid-month he rises around 11:50 p.m. DST. On the 28th, Jupiter rises around 11:05 p.m. DST. We wonít catch much movement through the constellation Libra this month because he is slowing due to his upcoming retrograde station in March. Zubenelgenubi the bright star representing Libraís southern scale lies above and to the left of Jupiter. The northern scale, Zubeneschamali lies below and to the left.

The Moon as your celestial guide to the planets in the southern hemisphere
As the skies darken on the evening of the 5th, look for Mars to pop into view above and to the right of the First Quarter Moon. On the 11th, as the skies darken, look for Saturn to pop into view above and to the right of the nearly Full Moon. Looking high in the northeastern sky before sunrise, youíll find Jupiter below the moon on the 20th. In the predawn skies on the morning of the 25th, Venus will lie below the moon. The next morning, Venus will lie above the moon in the early morning sky.

Occultations
The Moonís occultation of Spica occurs on the 18th at 3:00 U.T. Spica is the alpha star of the constellation Virgo. This can be observed over eastern North America and northwest Africa. In North America, Spica is rising over the northeastern continent at the time of the occultation. Observers in Canada can witness the star disappear as it rises. A bit later in the evening the northeastern United States can see the reappearance of Spica low on the eastern horizon, since she rises in an occulted state. On the 17th from 10:00 ñ 10:15 p.m. EST the disappearance of occultation passes over Newfoundland, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, and Prince Edward Island, Canada. The reappearance of Spica occurs between 10:45 ñ 11:10 p.m. and is visible over the U.S. from Maine to South Carolina and Georgia to Michigan. It reappears over the same Canadian providences it disappeared in and adds lower Ontario and Quebec to the list of observable areas.

The Moonís occultation of Antares occurs on the 21st over Australia, Indonesia and Malaysia. Antares is the alpha star of Scorpius. In Australia, the occultation path misses Melbourne. Both disappearance & reappearance occurs from Adelaide to Derby and passes over Darwin. Perth can witness the reappearance. Disappearance of Antares begins with Derby around 19:00 UT, Darwin around 19:34 UT and Adelaide around 19:45 UT. Reappearance begins with Darwin around 19:43 UT, Derby around 20:10 UT, Perth around 20:21 and Adelaide around 21:12.

Meteor Showers
The Alpha and Beta Centaurids are southern hemisphere meteor showers. They are active from February 2nd ñ 25th and peak on the 8th/9th. The Centaurids tend to be bright meteors with trains. The Alpha Centaurids produce about 3 meteors per hour while the Beta Centaurids produce about 14 per hour. The radiants are very close to each other.

Look for both radiants to come from between the constellation Centaurus and Crux, the Southern Cross. These constellations rise in the southeast as the sun sets. By 10:30 p.m. DST, Centaurus will be fully above the southeast horizon. Crux, above Centaurus, will have cleared the horizon by the time the skies darken. As Libra & Scorpius become visible above the southeast horizon by 1:00 a.m. DST, the radiant of the Centaurids should be high enough in the sky for optimal viewing. If you are rising early on the morning of the 9th, to try to catch the peak activity, look directly overhead just before sunrise. At 5:00 a.m. DST, Centaurus will be near the zenith. The bright object youíll see to the left is Jupiter and Venus will be peaking above the eastern horizon.

Moon Data
The First Quarter Moon occurs on February 5th at 1:29 a.m. EST when the moon perfects waxing square to the sun. The moon opposes the sun on the 12th at 11:44 p.m. EST resulting in the Full Moon. The following evening at 7:47 p.m. EST the moon reaches apogee and lies 252,500 miles from Earth. On the 21st the Last Quarter Moon occurs at 2:17 a.m. EST when the moon perfects waning square to the sun. On the 27th two lunar events occur. First the moon reaches perigee at 3:25 p.m. EST and lies 221,757 miles from earth. At 7:31 p.m. EST the moon conjuncts the sun, and the New Moon occurs.

Apogee and perigee are terms used that state the maximum and minimum distance of the moon from earth. The moon has an elliptical orbit around earth. This causes her to be closer to our planet at times and farther at others. The distance in miles varies slightly from month to month at her closest perigee distance and furthest apogee distance. If you have trouble remembering which term is used for which position, try this little memory trick. Apogee and away both start with the letter A, so apogee is furthest away. (This trick carries over into the explanation of planetary distance from the sun: perihelion and aphelion. Aphelion, starting with the letter a, is furthest away from the sun.)

Sky Maps Available in the OCA Main Public Library

Northern Hemisphere:
-Feb 15 at 5:45 a.m. depicting Venus and Jupiter
-Feb 15 at 8:00 p.m. depicting Saturn and Mars

Southern Hemisphere:
-Feb 9 at 5:00 a.m. DST depicting Centaurus, Jupiter and Venus
-Feb 15 at 10:00 p.m. DST depicting Mars and Saturn

Happy stargazing!

Julene Packer, Dipl.OCA, CAP
Media Director & Instructor, OCA
ONLINE College of Astrology
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