February 2002

By Steve Stefanik

This February you’ll still find the planet Mars high in the southwestern sky among the stars of the constellation Pisces the fish in the early evening. Although still fairly bright at +1.0 magnitude, it is only a fraction of the size and brilliance it was this past summer. It will continue to migrate westward throughout the month setting by 10:00 p.m. each night.

Orion the hunter, the familiar wintertime constellation, stands tall above the southern horizon in the month of February. Taurus the bull is to it’s right (westward). Gemini the twins are to it’s left (eastward).

The giant –2.5 magnitude planet Jupiter is high overhead above Orion’s outstretched arm in the constellation Gemini. Through binoculars or a telescope you will be able to make out its four largest moons, Io, Europa, Ganymede, and Callisto. Callisto undergoes a series of occultations, transits, and eclipses this month. You can watch the action change from one night to the next.

Zero magnitude Saturn is in nearby Taurus not far from its brightest star Aldebaran, both of which are similar in color and brightness. However, upon closer inspection with binoculars or a small telescope, Saturn will reveal it rings which are tipped toward us and are more than 40 arc seconds in apparent size. The planet itself is greater than 18 arc seconds in diameter. You may also be able to make out the Cassini division, a dark band between the "A" and "B" rings.

On the evening of the 20^th, Saturn will be occulted by the waning gibbous moon. The event begins about 7:30 p.m. EST when the moon encroaches the ringed planet with its darkened edge. Looking through binoculars it will take approximately 2 minutes for the planet to be covered up and it won’t reappear again for more than an hour and fifteen minutes when it reemerges from the edge of the moon’s illuminated side at 8:45 p.m. EST. This is the last time you will be able to witness a Lunar/Saturnian occultation in the continental U.S. until 2014.

On February 21^st, the planet Mercury reaches greatest eastern elongation when it will be separated by more than 27 degrees in angular distance from the sun. As a result the tiny speedy planet makes a brief but reasonably good appearance 5 degrees above the southeastern horizon between the 18^th and 25^th.

The last planet to make an appearance this month is Venus. Look for the brilliant –3.9 magnitude planet a few degrees above the western horizon to the left of where the sun goes down.