JAMESTOWN, N.D. (NewsDakota.com) – The following is an article provided by Dr. Timothy Bratton, Professor Emeritus at the University of Jamestown and amateur astronomer.
After the Supermoon total lunar eclipse on the last day of January, February has a hard act to follow. Both Mercury and Venus, returning from behind the Sun, are the only “evening stars,” and they will not be easy to spot until the very end of the month. The remaining naked-eye planets are “morning stars,” and the Moon, which has occulted (covered) the bright stars Aldebaran and Regulus in past months, will just miss them as viewed from our locality. There are not any major meteor showers in February. So please bear with me as I describe the few events that are worth seeing.
Feb. 7 (Weds.): Last Quarter Moon occurs at 9:55 a.m. CST, when it will be 16 degrees above the SW horizon, 30.1 minutes of arc in apparent span, and 246,663 miles away.
Feb. 8 (Thurs.): At 6 a.m., just a few minutes before the start of astronomical twilight, the Moon and two naked-eye planets will form an attractive triangle. At that hour the waning gibbous Moon will be 41.7% lit, still 30.1 arc-minutes across, 246,984 miles distant, and 25¼ degrees above the SSE horizon. Just 8.1 degrees to its right will be bright cream-colored Jupiter (magnitude -2.0); the largest world of the solar system will be then 99.2% lighted, 36.7 arc-seconds across, 504,388,993 miles from the Sun, and 499,665,350 miles from Earth. 9 1/3 degrees to the Moon’s lower left will be Mars (mag. 1.1); the “Red Planet” will be then 5.9 arc-seconds in apparent diameter, 90½% illumined, 148,232,257 miles from the Sun, and 148,685,602 miles from the Earth. 5½ degrees below Mars will be the red supergiant Antares (Alpha Scorpii, mag. 1.07), the fiery “heart” of the Scorpion. Antares is the 15th brightest star in the heavens even though it lies 326.4 lightyears from Earth. Its name is Greek for “the rival of Mars,” since it often appears brighter and redder than the “Red Planet.” Such is the case today, when Antares outshines Mars by 1.445 times. By July 30, when Mars is closest to the Earth, the Martian disk will swell to 24.3 arc-seconds across; at a magnitude of –2.77, it will appear 34.36 times more luminous than Antares!
Feb. 10 (Sat.): At 6 a.m. Mars will make its nearest approach to Antares, passing 5 1/6 degrees above that star. The “Red Planet” will be then 18 degrees over the SSE horizon. Antares is such a bloated star that if it replaced our Sun, it would swallow the entire inner solar system, including Mars!
Feb. 11 (Sun.): At 6 a.m. the waning crescent Moon will be 7½ degrees above the SE horizon, only 16 2/3% lit, and 29.52 arc-minutes across. It will reach apogee, its farthest distance from the Earth this month, at 8:16 a.m., when it will be 252,095 miles away. The bright yellow “star” only 1.87 degrees below it is the ringed planet Saturn (mag. 0.6). At this hour the sixth planet of our solar system will be 99.9% lighted, 15.42 arc-seconds in apparent diameter (its famous rings, tilted 26 degrees toward Earth, span 34.9 arc-seconds), 935,628,756 miles from the Sun, and 996,261,385 miles from our home world. Even when viewed with binoculars or field glasses, Saturn looks somewhat elongated; a small telescope with a magnification of at least 30 times ought to show its spectacular rings.
Feb. 15 (Thurs.): New Moon takes place at 3:05 p.m., when it will be 21.64 degrees above the SSW-SW skyline, 30.12 arc-minutes across, and 247,652 miles from Earth. From Jamestown, it will be passing 1.82 degrees south of the Sun, so we will not see any kind of solar eclipse this month. However, from the Southern Hemisphere the Moon will be displaced enough toward the star for people in Argentina, Chile, Uruguay, and Antarctica to witness at least a partial solar eclipse.
Feb. 23 (Fri.): First Quarter Moon takes place at 2:09 a.m., when Luna will be 32.04 arc-minutes in span, 231,859 miles distant, and 3.9 degrees below our city’s WNW horizon.
Feb. 27 (Tues.): Lunar perigee – its closest approach to the Earth this month – occurs at 8:39 a.m., when the waxing gibbous Moon will be 226,137 miles away, 32.64 arc-minutes across, 92.02% sunlit, and 20.7 degrees beneath the NNW horizon.
Feb. 28 (Weds.): If you have binoculars or field glasses, an unobstructed view of the WSW-W skyline, and the weather cooperates, you might spot the two innermost planets of the solar system at 6:50 p.m., only a half-hour after sunset. At that time dazzling white Venus (mag. –3.9) will be elevated 4.63 degrees, and its brilliance might cut through the twilight haze. Tougher to see will be yellow-orange Mercury (mag. –1.4), 10 times fainter than Venus and 2.27 degrees to the lower right of its neighbor. At this time Mercury will be 5.32 arc-seconds across (smaller than Mars appears now), 93.2% illuminated, 117,608,691 miles from Earth, and 31,069,828 miles from the Sun. Venus will be 10.03 arc-seconds in span, 97.9% lighted, 154,605,168 miles from the Earth, and 67,482,402 miles from the solar orb. Both worlds will become easier to see in March.
Feb. 28-March 1 (Weds.-Thurs.): Tonight’s major event takes place just after midnight on March 1st, but I’m including it here. At 12:15 a.m. on March 1, the Moon will just miss Regulus (Alpha Leonis, mag. 1.35), the dominant blue-white star at the base of the “Sickle” or reversed “Question Mark” of the Lion. At that time the nearly full Moon will be 55.2 degrees above the southern horizon, 99 1/6% lit, and 227,311 miles distant. It will be passing then just 28 minutes of arc (.467 degree) above Regulus. Observers in eastern Canada and Maine, where the Moon will be displaced toward the south, will see Luna occult the star.
Even if the night sky has few presents to offer this month, I hope that you will have a Happy Valentine’s Day!
