February 1 – 7
The solar system’s largest asteroid is Ceres and it’s quite easy
to find on the night of the 2nd. To see it, point your binoculars at
the moon and then look ½ degree straight down the moon’s terminator, or
boundary between day and night. There will be two stars below the moon and Ceres
is the star to the right and slightly closer to the moon. Ceres was the first
asteroid discovered by astronomers (on January 1st, 1801 in fact)
and it is 590 miles across. Right now, the Dawn spacecraft is orbiting this
dwarf planet. Dawn discovered that Ceres is rich in water. Its surface has
bright patches that are the result of a briny solution welling up to the
surface. All that water means it would be a great place to put a refueling
station for spacecraft sometime in the future.
The first spacecraft to soft land on another world did so on
February 3rd, 1966. The spacecraft’s named was Luna 9 and the Soviet
space program launched it. The 218 pound spacecraft set down on the moon at a
speed of 14 mph and was cushioned from the impact with a landing bag. Luna 9 transmitted
a total of nine images from the moon. The funny thing however, is who the first
people were to release the Luna 9 images to the world. British astronomers at
the Jodrell Bank radio telescope detected transmissions from Luna 9 and
realized that the signal had the same format of a fax machine. So they attached
a fax machine to their radio telescope and were able to print images of the
lunar surface before the Soviet Union
scientists could release the images to the world. Ouch! That had to sting a
little bit.
You’ll find the first quarter moon between two nice star
clusters on the 4th. The star clusters are the Pleiades and Hyades,
which are very attractive in your binoculars. This means the moon’s presence
makes this an excellent astronomical opportunity for your binoculars.
Can you picture Orion batting a ball over his head? You
should be able to on the night of the 6th. Why? Because that’s when
the gibbous moon appears above the constellation. Be sure to spend a little
time scanning the sword of Orion, or the two stars visible below the middle of
his belt. The fuzzy cloud you’ll see is the Orion Nebula, a region of glowing
dust and gas in which new stars are forming today.
The moon passes through the feet of Gemini the Twins on the
7th. This makes the night of the 7th a great time to
learn how to identify this constellation. The brightest star in Gemini is named
Pollux and its slightly fainter twin is Castor. Pollux and Castor will appear
on the left end of the two horizontal rows of stars.
The moon rises in a weak eclipse on the 10th. By
weak eclipse, I mean a penumbral eclipse, or one in which the moon passes just
though the outer rim of Earth’s shadow. It gets dark enough to see the eclipse
by 7:00 PM and the eclipse ends at 7:30. Therefore, stargazers don’t have much
time to observe this event. Binoculars will be helpful in seeing the subtle
shading of Earth’s shadow on the upper portion of the moon.
There’s a bright star below and left of the moon on the 10th.
Can you guess which one it is? Why it’s Regulus, the brightest star in Leo the
Lion. Regulus, like Aldebaran, is a royal star. There are a total of four royal
stars, Antares and Fomalhaut being the other two. The ancient Persians regarded
these stars are guardians of their respective quadrants of the sky. One person responsible
for bringing these stars and their function to our attention was the Persian
prophet Zarathustra.
February 15 – 21
Jupiter appears as the bright star beneath the moon on the
morning of the 15th. You’ll need to go outside just after midnight if
you want to see Jupiter. However, since that’s a work day, you might prefer to
get up a few minutes earlier on the morning of the 15th instead. The
moon is nearly third quarter, meaning your binoculars will show craters along
the terminator of the moon. And of course, Jupiter's four major satellites will
be well placed for viewing. From Jupiter and going left, the satellites are Io,
Europa, Callisto, and Ganymede.
The moon’s at the last quarter phase on the
18th. That means anytime after midnight will be a good time to go
moon viewing with your binoculars. Along the terminator will be a mass of
visible craters, especially in the southern hemisphere.
John Glenn became America ’s newest hero on February
20th 1962. Glenn was the third Mercury astronaut launched and the
first to orbit Earth (three times). Unlike Shepard and Grissom before him, an
Atlas missile launched Glenn’s Mercury spacecraft into space. The more powerful
Atlas gave his capsule the speed it needed to remain in Earth orbit. His
mission lasted for five hours and showed that the United States knew how to send
humans into space. Unfortunately, we lost this American hero last December at
the age of 95.
Are you looking for Saturn? Then let the moon show you where
to look for Saturn on the morning of the 20th. Saturn appears as the
creamy yellow-white star to the lower left of the moon. You need a telescope or
at least a spotting scope to see Saturn’s rings and largest satellite, Titan. If
you have the time, scan the region left of Saturn for fuzzy star clusters and
nebulae.
Beginning the 20th is a good time to start
looking for earthshine as you drive to work. The crescent moon is visible in the
low east. Earthshine will be the faint illumination on the moon’s upper right.
February 22 – 31
Thirty years ago on
the 23rd, a blue super giant star in the Large Magellanic Cloud
collapsed. Actually, this collapse occurred 168,000 years earlier, but it took
light from the explosion that long to reach our solar system. The collapse of a
massive star is called a supernova and this one was named SN 1987A by
astronomers. SN 1987A is the brightest and closest supernova since the
invention of the telescope over 400 years ago. It‘s still the best opportunity
astronomers have to study the supernova process and its after effects. In fact,
it turns out that neutrino detectors on Earth detected a burst of 25 neutrinos from
the explosion some three hours earlier. The neutrinos, which are subatomic
particles that rarely interact with matter, were able to escape the collapse
and reach Earth hours earlier. This detection of neutrinos on Earth was the
beginning of neutron astronomy. Now, astronomers know that a burst of neutrinos
from space are the sign of an impending supernova explosion.
The moon is new on the morning of the 26th. So don’t
expect to see the moon again until the 28th.
After dark on the 26th, look in the low west for
brilliant Venus. Most stargazers will know that Mars is the dimmer
yellowish-orange star to the upper left of Venus. However, did you know the
planet Uranus is there also? To see Uranus, aim your binoculars first at Mars.
Uranus is the star ½ of a degree to the lower left of Mars. That means Uranus
is about 1/15th the distance across your binocular’s field of view.
Uranus is brighter than any star that close to Mars, so you can’t miss it.
When the moon becomes visible again on the 28th,
it will be in the presence of Venus and a comet. The comet’s name is Encke and
it orbits the sun once every three years and four months. The comet is not
known for being spectacular, but could very well be visible in binoculars. To
find it, aim your binoculars at Venus, the brightest star in the low west. Then
scan six degrees below Venus, or most of the field of view of your binoculars.
You’re looking for a hazy spot with a possible extension upwards.
This Month’s Sources
Astronomical Phenomena of the Year 2017, The Nautical
Almanac Office and Her Majesty’s Nautical Almanac Office
Astronomy Calendar of Celestial Events for Calendar Year
2017, http://www.seasky.org/astronomy/astronomy-calender-2016.html
Luna 9, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Luna_9
Night Sky Explorer
Dark Skies and Bright
Stars,
Your
Interstellar Guide