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ASTRONOMY
February
Constellation
February 15, 2012 at 7:15 pm CST
Morning Stars
Mars rises shortly after sunset, but is still best seen before sunrise. Look for a pale reddish “star” shining roughly 25 degrees above the west-southwestern horizon an hour before sunrise. Saturn can be seen at the same time, although it is perched 30 degrees above the south-southwestern horizon.
Planet Mercury: Mid-Evening Twilight
Although planet Mercury will make brief appearances in the evening sky three times this year, this apparition will provide the best viewing opportunities. Mercury will be easy to see, appearing roughly five degrees above the western horizon 45 minutes after sunset during the last week of February and the first two weeks of March.
Evening Stars
Mercury enters the evening sky early this month, but is too close to the Sun to observe until the last few days. To see it then, look five degrees above the western horizon 45 minutes after sunset. Dazzling Venus remains above the horizon for more than three and a half hours. It is located between 24 and 30 degrees above the west-southwest horizon an hour after sunset. Jupiter appears above and to the left of Venus. Keep an eye on both of the latter planets; the gap between them decreases dramatically in February, dwindling from 40 to 12 degrees.
PHENOMENA
7th, 3:54 pm: Full Moon
8th, 6:26 am: Saturn stationary; retrograde motion begins
9th, 9:17 pm: Mars 9.4 degrees north of Moon
11th, 12:59 pm: Moon at perigee: distance = 228,624 miles
12th, 5:55 am: Spica 2.5 degrees north of Moon
14th, 11:04 am: Last Quarter Moon
21st, 4:35 pm: New Moon
27th, 7:36 am: Moon at apogee: distance = 251,576 miles
28th, 9:32 pm: Pleiades 3.7 degrees north of Moon
29th, 6:45 pm: Aldebaran 5.0 degrees south of Moon
29th, 7:21 pm: First Quarter Moon
