小蓝视频

The moon is joined by Saturn, Venus and Neptune on Feb. 1, while at the same time, it reaches perigee of 367,457 kilometres Feb. 5, the moon reaches first quarter, close by the Pleiades (M45), only 0.5 degrees away Feb. 6. Jupiter is five degrees south on the early morning of Feb. 7. By Feb. 9, Mars is 0.8 degrees south of our satellite.

The moon is full Feb. 12. Feb. 17, Spica, the bright star in Virgo, the Maiden, is 0.3 degrees north of the waning crescent moon. On that same day, the moon reaches apogee of 404,882 kilometres. Antares is 0.4 degrees north of the last-quarter moon on Feb. 21. New moon is Feb. 27.

Mercury is in superior conjunction, meaning it is on the far side of its orbit, behind the sun. By month-end, the speedy planet is just starting to appear after twilight.

Venus, the Evening Star, continues to blaze in the southwest, visible even in early twilight. The bright planet is among the stars of Pisces, the Fish. Venus achieves greatest illuminated extent Feb. 14. Even though the planet appears as a crescent, the square degrees of the visible portion are at their greatest amount.

Mars rises in the east in mid-afternoon, becoming visible as darkness falls in the stars of Gemini, the Twins. The waxing gibbous moon joins the crowd Feb. 9, to the east of Orion, The Hunter. The Red Planet makes a nice triangle with Castor and Pollux during the month.

Jupiter, in Taurus, the Bull, has been retrograding and is stationary Feb. 4, then slowly resuming eastward, prograde motion, just a few degrees north of Aldebaran. The end of the month sees double shadow transits across the face of the gas giant.

Saturn, at the beginning of the month, is barely visible in the southwestern evening sky, fading fast as it nears conjunction with the sun. Watch for Mercury 1.7 degrees away Feb. 25.

Uranus is in Aries, the Ram, visible in the evening sky after sundown. The blue-green planet falls into a long line of celestial objects Feb. 2, with Saturn near the sun, Venus to its northeast, then the moon, Uranus, and Jupiter.

Neptune, though barely visible even in a telescope, is clustered with the waxing crescent moon and Venus in the southwestern evening twilight.

The zodiacal light is visible in the western evening twilight for two weeks during the end of February and into March. This phenomenon is caused by dust in space along the ecliptic 小蓝视频 backlit by the sun. It’s subtle, but fun to catch a glimpse.

James Edgar has had an interest in the night sky all his life. He joined the Royal Astronomical Society of Canada in 2000, was national president for two terms, is now the editor of the Observer’s Handbook, and production manager of the bi-monthly RASC Journal. The IAU named asteroid 1995 XC5 “(22421) Jamesedgar” in his honour and he was recently awarded a Fellowship of the RASC.