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Astronomy, Southern Sky News.
Published:
2010 February 01
Southern Sky News for 2010 February
After months of dominating the evening sky, Jupiter disappears in the glow of the setting Sun. The giant planet, with its famous storm belts and four rapidly-moving moons, is a favourite telescopic view, so its somewhat of a sad farewell as Jupiter goes into siesta behind the Sun.
As if to make up for Jupiter's absence, this month two bright planets can be seen each night in the evening sky: Mars and Saturn.
The Red Planet is already well-placed in the northeast when the Sun disappears, and its bright, orange-red light is unmistakable. Seen through binoculars Mars is likely to disappoint - it appears exactly like a reddish star. Through a mid-sized telescope, however, details on its surface can be made out.
The evening of February 25 Mars is below-right of the Moon (the two prominent stars to the left are Castor and Pollux in Gemini the Twins). The next evening the Moon lies to the right of Mars.
The splendid planet Saturn, with its delightful rings, rise shortly after nightfall. With the naked eye, Saturn (as all other planets) looks just like a star, but even a small telescope will show its famous rings. Saturn spends the month to the left of the star Spica (in Virgo). These two are equally bright, but with attention their colour difference becomes apparnt: Spica is white with a blue tinge, while Saturn is white with a yellow tinge.
On the last day of February the Moon lies between Mars and Saturn. Two evenings later, the Moon is directly above the Ring Planet.
In the morning sky shortly before sunrise this month, Mercury can be seen. This small, rapidly-moving planet is usually tricky to spot as it is usually close to the Sun, but this month it will be readily visible in the east, low above the horizon, before the Sun interferes. On the morning of the 11th a beautiful crescent Moon lies just above Mercury, and the next morning the duo lie side-by-side at dawn.
In the starry sky the famous hunter Orion and his two dogs (Canis Major the Big Hond, and Canis Minor the Smaller Dog) shine brightly in the north-east after sunset. The Southern Cross with its pair of Pointers may be seen low in the south. Search along the milky way, between these two stellar groupings, for the False Cross, four prominent stars that mimic a dimmer but larger version of the true Cross - just don't try to determine south using them!
As the month progresses, Orion sits a bit higher and further north each day. The Southern Cross, too, is higher above the horizon each night. This is an excellent time to explore the region betwee Orion and the Southern Cross in binoculars, which will reveal dozens of star clusters and nebulae in the area.
Don't forget to take a long look at the Pleiades (Seven Sisters), a famous star cluster visible to the left of Orion. Even the most modest binoculars will show dozens of stars here (even though the unaided eye usually sees just six or seven stars). Make a special note to have a look on the evening of February 21 when the Moon lies, almost touching, up against the Pleiades.
They may appear close together, but in reality the two are very far apart: the star cluster is 10 thousand millions times further away from us than the Moon (380,000 km vs. 4,000,000,000,000,000 km)!
It is New Moon on the 14th, and Full Moon on the last day of the month. Make a note to look out for the Moon starting on the 27th, low in the east, as the Sun is setting. The sky will still be bright as the Moon looms large on the horizon, making for a dramatic photo-opportunity.
Happy star-gazing!
/ph
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February skies
- Find out about the Moon, stars, planets and constellations visible in the southern skies this month in Southern Sky News for 2010 February.
ASSA Symposium
- Eighth Biennial ASSA Symposium will be held in Pretoria on 2010 October 07/08.
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