February 1996

by Steve Stefanik

February begins where January left off with the planets Saturn and Venus in conjunction low in the southwest as the sun sets. The pair were within one degree on the 2nd. Venus is much brighter of the two at -4.1 magnitude. You shouldn’t miss it. Its the brightest thing in the nightsky except for the moon of course. Saturn is the dimmer of the two at +1.2 magnitude. If you’ve never seen it’s rings through binoculars or a telescope because you couldn’t find it, now is your chance. Saturn will be lower than Venus as it is on its way down as Venus is rising. It will be lost in the glare of the sun by month’s end.

Speaking of the rings, another Saturnian event happens on the night of the 11th. Earth passes through the ring-plane of the planet for the third and last time in this century. This only happens twice every thirty years and won’t happen again until 2038-39. As a result, the all familiar rings appear to disappear. This is an excellent time for astronomers to search for unknown new moons. At last count there were 18 known moons.

On the night of the 25th the first quarter moon will pass just south of Venus while Saturn will be low on the western horizon in the orange glow of sunset.

As Saturn sets in the west by the end of the month, Jupiter returns to the sky in the east in the wee hours of the morning just before sunrise. You shouldn’t have difficulty locating the bright -1.9 magnitude giant. If you do, its in the constellation Sagittarius (the hunter) not far from the bright red star Antares in the nearby constellation Scorpius (the scorpion). If you still have trouble, it will be near the waning crescent moon on the morning of the 15th.

Mercury also makes a reappearance this month. Look for the +0.4 magnitude planet lower and to the left of Jupiter before dawn.