Friday, February 1: Venus will be 0.6 degrees North of Jupiter in the early morning sky. This is the closest observable conjunction of these planets since 2004.
Saturday, February 2: Groundhog's Day. The Cross Quarter Day between the Winter Solstice and Spring Equinox.
Monday, February 4: Moon 4.0 degrees south of Jupiter and 4.2 degrees south of Venus. The Moon appears as a thin sliver. Beautiful gathering of worlds.
Wednesday, February 6: Mercury at inferior conjunction. Yes, you may question the logic of including an event that no Earth bound person can see. However, it is an astronomical event and deserves inclusion.
Wednesday, February 6: NEW MOON. Beginning of Lunation Cycle 1053.
Monday, February 11: Neptune in conjunction. Again, this event will not be visible, but, then again, Neptune isn't visible to the unaided eye, anyway.
Wednesday, February 13: First Quarter Moon
Wednesday, February 13: Monthly meeting of the Greater Portland Astronomical Society. 7:00 p.m.
Thursday, February 14: Moon 1.2 degrees N of the Pleiades, the star cluster in Taurus. The Waxing Gibbous Moon will not completely wash out the cluster.
Sunday, February 17: The Sun enters Aquarius, after having spent time in Capricornus
Tuesday, February 19: Moon 0.6 degrees north of Praesepe, the Beehive Star Cluster. This cluster is fainter than the Pleiades. The Moon is almost full and thus the cluster will be washed out. Still, we mentioned it for purposes of completeness.
Wednesday, February 20: *****
TOTAL LUNAR ECLIPSE
(Have we mentioned this, yet?)
The Full Moon moves into Earth's shadow. This will be the last total lunar eclipse that we'll see until December 21, 2010.
The timetable:
The umbral part of the eclipse begins at 8:43 p.m.
Totality (when the Moon is completely in Earth's shadow) starts at 10:01 p.m.
Totality ends at 10:41 p.m.
Umbral eclipse ends at 12:09 a.m.
Thursday, February 21: Moon will be 2.5 degrees SSW of Saturn.
Sunday, February 24: Saturn at Opposition. This magnificent ringed world will be visible throughout the night.
Wednesday, February 27: Mercury 1.1 degrees NNW of Venus in the early morning sky.
Get out and enjoy the Universe!