Sky Watching

Look Up! This Month in the Sky: February

An ultraviolet image of Venus' clouds (Courtesy of NASA, Pioneer Venus Orbiter)

Venus and Jupiter, the brightest objects (except the Moon and occasionally some satellites) in the night sky, will look as though they are moving closer together this month. Keep in mind that, even though they may look close in the night sky, they are in reality about 500 million miles apart. Their comparative brightnesses are due to their distances from the Earth and their actual sizes. Venus is the closest planet to Earth; it’s slightly smaller than Earth, and its orbit is closer to the Sun. Jupiter is many times the size of the Earth, and its orbit around the Sun is further out than the orbit of the Earth.

Evenings this month, the bright planets Venus and Jupiter outshine the stars in the southwest skies. Venus is lower in the sky but the brighter of the two planets. A waxing crescent Moon is near Venus the evening of the 25th and near Jupiter the evening of the 26th. At the start of the month, the two planets appear to be about 40 degrees apart; but as the evenings pass, they seem to move closer together. By month’s end, they appear only 12 degrees apart.

Mars taken by Hubble Telescope (NASA/J. Bell, Cornell U. and M. Wolff, SSI)

The planet Mars rises in the east about 9:00 p.m. Central time at the start of the month, and by 6:30 p.m. by month’s end. It’s about 20 degrees east of the “Sickle”- shaped asterism in the constellation LEO. Mars crosses the southern skies each night and sets in the west as dawn is brightening the sky.

TA natural-color image of Saturn taken by Cassini (NASA/JPL/Space Science Institute)

The planet Saturn rises in the east-southeast around midnight at the start of the month, around 10:00 p.m. by month’s end. Before dawn on the 12th, the bright star SPICA, in the constellation Virgo, appears between Saturn and a waning gibbous Moon.

The last week of this month offers some of the year’s best evening viewing of the hard-to-spot planet Mercury. It’s very low in the west-southwest and sets only about one hour after the Sun.

Download this month's Adler NightWatch (PDF)

Download the Sky Watching Guide for 2012 (PDF)

All times are given in Central Time (CT).

Night Sky Observation Group on Flickr

Share your night sky photos with our Night Sky Observation Flickr group

The Moon in 2012

Dates are calculated based on Central Time (CT).

Adler Night and Day Podcast

Check out our bi-weekly podcast, Adler Night and Day, to find out more about what is going on in the night sky including solar weather, tips for viewing, and a new space science expert each week!

Learn more about Adler Night and Day.

Other Sky Watching Resources

• The Adler provides periodic sky watching information on its Twitter feed and Facebook page. Follow the Adler via @adlerskywatch on Twitter or adlerplanetarium on Facebook.
• The U.S. Naval Observatory
• Sky and Telescope
• NASA Sightings
• Space Weather