BLOOMINGTON, Ind. – Jupiter will be a stunning object 60 degrees high in the southern sky as February begins. Start your observing as evening twilight falls. The planet's four bright Galilean moons can be seen with any telescope and even with binoculars. Jupiter will set by 12:30 a.m. local time on Feb. 1 and two hours earlier by Feb. 29.
Early on Feb. 1, Mercury, Mars, and Venus will be spread out over 13 degrees along the ecliptic in morning twilight. Mercury and Mars will be 3.5 degrees apart.
Mercury will be only 3 degrees high in the southeast 30 minutes before sunrise, and it will be lost in the first few days of the month as it heads for conjunction with the sun.
Fainter Mars will rise 10 minutes before Mercury and gain altitude during February while Venus sinks. The two planets will meet on Feb. 22, with Mars south of Venus. The pair will stand 3 degrees high in the southeast 45 minutes before sunrise. By the end of the month, the two planets will be more than 3 degrees apart with Venus getting lower while Mars continues on a long, slow increase in altitude.
Saturn will be visible 45 minutes after sunset on Feb. 1, when it will be 12 degrees high in the west. It will be lost in twilight after the second week of the month. Saturn will reappear in the morning sky in late March.
Zodiacal light
If you live in an area that is dark enough for you to see the Milky Way sprawling across the night sky, you also have a chance of seeing the interplanetary dust in the plane of our solar system. Moonless evenings in late winter and early spring are the best time to see this dust. As darkness falls, look for a faint pyramid of light spreading upward from the western horizon over a large area of the sky. This is the zodiacal light, which is sunlight reflected from trillions of dust particles left behind in space by comets and asteroids that orbit the sun in the same plane as the planets.
Moon phases
The moon will be at last quarter on Feb. 2, new on Feb 9, at first quarter on Feb. 16, and full on Feb. 24.
Author: Hal Kibbey Email: hkibbey [at] gmail.com
The College of Arts