Binoculars provide wonderful close-up views of the sky this month!
In February at nightfall, aim them high above bright Jupiter to enjoy the compact dipper-shaped Pleiades, or Seven Sisters star cluster. Some 14 degrees to the upper left, note the bright star Aldebaran, Follower of the Pleiades. In the same binocular field with Aldebaran, find other more distant background stars, belonging to the Hyades cluster and completing a letter “V,” the head of Taurus, the Bull.
The Great Nebula in Orion’s sword and the Beehive Cluster in Cancer are among February’s favorites. Locate the Beehive by aiming your binoculars at fourth-magnitude Delta in Cancer, Asellus Australis, the southern of the two donkeys feeding from Praesepe, the Manger, an older name for the Beehive. Delta Cancri is the brightest star near the center of the triangle formed by Procyon, Pollux and Regulus.
The Andromeda Galaxy is still well up in the west-northwest at nightfall in February. Use the brighter half of the “W” of Cassiopeia—the second-magnitude stars Beta, Alpha and Gamma—as an arrowhead pointing southward to the second-magnitude star Beta in Andromeda. Then, using binoculars, short star hops northward past fainter Mu and Nu Andromedae will bring you to a fuzzy spot—the Andromeda Galaxy!
The Canopus challenge: From the Coachella Valley, the star Canopus, of magnitude -0.7, attains its highest altitude, due south, 3-4° above the horizon. Throughout February, this passage occurs in a dark sky, after the end of twilight. Catch the star’s transit across the meridian four hours after sunset on Feb. 2, to two hours after sunset on Feb. 27. With each passing day, the star reaches its high point four minutes earlier, while the sun sets one minute later—so each day, the time of Canopus’s transit moves five minutes closer to the time of sunset. By March 7, this passage will occur in twilight, and after another week or so, the sky will be too bright to see the star at the time it passes due south.
Canopus ranks next in brightness after Sirius, the brightest star, of magnitude -1.5. From the Coachella Valley, Sirius passes 39-40° up, due south, 22 minutes after Canopus reaches its high point. From the outdoor walkway of my second-floor apartment just south of downtown Palm Springs, I have often observed Canopus, even with the Santa Rosa Mountains to my south. Binoculars help compensate for the star’s dimming (due to the much longer path of its light through Earth’s atmosphere). One quirk from my location is that I must look a few minutes before Canopus reaches its high point, because the low spot of Palm Canyon I’m looking through is a few degrees east of due south. I have often followed the star through binoculars until it disappeared behind the rocky slope west of the canyon a few minutes before its transit.
There are plenty of better vantage points in our valley to catch views of Canopus. Pick a spot where the mountains to your south stand no more than three degrees above the horizon.
In the evening sky, Jupiter, at magnitude- 2.4 to -2.2, is high in the southwest to west-southwest at nightfall. Early in the month, Jupiter passes 11° south-southeast of 2-magnitude Hamal, Aries’ brightest star. Uranus, of magnitude. 5.7 to 5.8, is 12 to 8° east-northeast (to the upper left) of Jupiter in February. To home in on the planet, aim your binoculars at 4.3-magnitude Delta in Aries, the brightest star between Jupiter and the Pleiades cluster. Three nearby stars—Zeta, Tau and 63 Ari, of magnitude 4.8., 5.3 and 5.1 respectively—complete a distinctive quadrilateral with Delta. February opens with Uranus 3° south-southwest (to the lower left) of Delta Ari. Closer to Delta’s southwest and south-southwest, by 1.2 and 2.1° respectively, are the stars 54 Ari (of magnitude 6.3) and 53 Ari (of magnitude 6.1). Around Feb. 22, a line from 54 to 53, 0.9° long and extended 0.7°, locates Uranus. For a chart of the star field, visit www.abramsplanetarium.org/msta.
Saturn (magnitude 1.0) is only 4° up in the west-southwest as evening twilight ends on Feb. 1. Saturn sets in twilight within a week, but binoculars will enable you to follow it until mid-month if you have an unobstructed view of the horizon.
Mornings: In the east-southeast, brilliant Venus (magnitude -3.9) sinks into bright twilight in February. Faint Mars (magnitude +1.3) can be spotted with binoculars to the lower left of Venus, by 10° on Feb. 1; 5° on Feb. 11; and 2° on Feb. 18. On Feb. 22, Mars appears closest to Venus, only 0.6° to its lower right. By Feb. 29, Mars appears 3.4° to the upper right of Venus.
The moon: Follow the waning moon an hour before sunrise Feb. 1-7, and watch it pass Spica, Antares, Venus and Mars. See the thin old crescent Moon one additional morning, Feb. 8 by looking only a half-hour before sunup,
In the early evening on Feb. 10, catch a very thin waxing crescent moon, only 27 hours after new, with Saturn 2° to its upper right, very low in the west-southwest less than an hour after sunset. On the next evening, Saturn is 14° to the moon’s lower right.
See the moon near Jupiter on Feb. 14; near the Pleiades on Feb. 16; and a wide 10-11° from Aldebaran on Feb. 16 and 17. On Feb. 18, the northernmost moon is 7° east of 1.6-magnitude Elnath, or Beta Tauri, the tip of the Bull’s northern horn. That same night, Regulus, heart of Leo, is at opposition, low in the east-northeast at dusk; high in the south in the middle of night; and low in the west-northwest at dawn. On this night, Spaceship Earth is rushing away from a point 4° south of the Pleiades in the evening sky, and heading toward a point 3° west of Beta in Scorpius, top star of the head of the Scorpion in the morning sky.
Continuing east against the stars, the moon passes closely south of Pollux on the evening of Feb. 20, and almost as closely north of Regulus on Feb. 23.
The next morning, Feb. 24, one hour before sunrise, we find the moon low in the west, 5° to the upper left of Regulus. On Feb. 28, the waning gibbous moon will be in the southwest, very close to Spica.
From dark places on the moonless mornings of Feb. 8-19, just before the onset of morning twilight, the Milky Way will be visible in the eastern sky, passing through the Summer Triangle—just as it appears in July at nightfall.
From very dark sites on moonless evenings through Feb. 10, and Feb. 27 through March 10, just after the close of twilight (about 90 minutes after sunset), look for the zodiacal light, a huge pyramid of light extending up from the western horizon and its axis along the ecliptic (or plane) of Earth’s orbit, tapering upward toward Jupiter and the Pleiades. It’s the result of the reflection of sunlight by dust particles in the inner solar system. The Milky Way and the zodiacal light are best seen from dark places such as Borrego Springs and the surrounding Anza-Borrego Desert State Park, and Joshua Tree and Death Valley national parks.
Views of the night sky in the Coachella Valley aren’t so pristine—but things could get better! For information and ideas, visit the website of DarkSky International at darksky.org.
There’s a major solar eclipse coming on Monday, April 8. It will be seen as a total eclipse within a track crossing Mexico, the United States from Texas to Maine, and eastern Canada. It will be seen as a partial solar eclipse from nearly all of the rest of North America, including here in the west. For details, including maps and information on observing the event without the risk of damage to eyesight, and weather prospects at places within the path of total eclipse, visit eclipse.aas.org/eclipse-america-2024.
The Astronomical Society of the Desert will host a star party on Saturday, Feb. 3, at the Santa Rosa and San Jacinto Mountains National Monument Visitor Center; and Saturday, Feb. 10, at Sawmill Trailhead, a site in the Santa Rosa Mountains at elevation 4,000 feet. For dates and times of these and other star parties, and maps and directions to the two sites, visit astrorx.org.
The Abrams Planetarium Sky Calendar is available by subscription from www.abramsplanetarium.org/skycalendar. Each monthly issue consists of a calendar page illustrating events such as mentioned in this article, and an evening sky map. For $12 per year, subscribers receive quarterly mailings, each containing three monthly issues.
Robert Victor originated the Abrams Planetarium monthly Sky Calendar in October 1968 and still helps to produce an occasional issue. He enjoys being outdoors sharing the beauty of the night sky and other wonders of nature. Robert Miller, who provided the evening and morning twilight charts, did graduate work in planetarium science, and later astronomy and computer science at Michigan State University, and remains active in research and public outreach in astronomy.
