February Night Skies

A brief overview of what to see in the night sky with the unaided eye during February evenings:

Stars and Constellations

Some prominent constellations visible in the evening sky are Leo and Ursa Major (containing the Big Dipper star group)

● Leo, rising higher in the southeastern sky, is dominated by the bright star Regulus

● The Big Dipper and Ursa Major are rising high in the northeastern sky

● Two bright stars in Leo are Regulus, at the western end (and at the base of the backward “question mark”), and Denebola, at the eastern end of Leo

● South of Regulus is the red star Alphard, in the less prominent constellation Hydra

Planets

●   Mercury becomes visible low in the western evening sky during mid and late February and reaches greatest eastern elongation from the sun February 19

●   Venus becomes visible low in the western sky following sunset around mid-February

●   Mars is not practically visible and remains close to the sun’s position

●   Jupiter shines brightly in the southeastern sky during early evening during early February and high in the southern sky later in the month in the Gemini constellation

●   Saturn is briefly visible low in the west-southwestern sky after sunset in the Pisces constellation

Moon Phases

●   Full Moon February 1, 17:09 EST

●   Last Quarter Moon February 9, 07:43 EST

●   New Moon February 17, 07:01 EST

●   First Quarter Moon February 24, 07:27 EST

Sky Resources Online

Some web resources for sky charts, weekly sky events, and more info:

●    astrogeo.ca/skylights

●    www.heavens-above.com

●    In-the-sky.org

●    www.skyandtelescope.org

●    www.skymaps.com

Noteworthy Sky Events

●   Feb. 2: full moon occults the bright star Regulus in the Leo constellation

●   Feb. 18: Venus, Mercury and very thin crescent moon close together low in the western sky after sunset

Monthly Sky Chart for mid-February, mid-evening (courtesy of www.heavens-above.com):