February 2014
 

 

Moon                         

                                                                                                                           

First Quarter                                     6th 10:20  --  00:39

Full                                                   14th 17:09  --  06:41
Last Quarter                                    22nd 01:07 --  10:06

No New Moon this month

 We still haven't had winter but there's time enough yet for it. As I write this it's snowing outside and I think I can see a smirk on the face of the Cloud God, so beware.

 

Planets

Mercury should be visible on the 1st in late evening twilight, about 5:30pm, 7° below a thin crescent Moon, in the WSW. It will be sporting a 48% phase. It should continue to be available there till about the 13th, when it will present a 10arcsec disc with a 2% phase. It is on the near side of the Sun to Earth. Within two days it will have passed the Sun and be setting at the same time as the Sun, so don't try to find it with optical aid. From the 18th it will be a morning object, still close to the Sun, rising about half an hour ahead of it at mag 3.9, with a phase of 2.4% and a disc of 10arcsec. It will also be close to the Sun so beware if using optical aid. As the month progresses it will pull away from the Sun and be further along the horizon from the Sun so will be easier to see.

Venus will rise on the 1st at 5:50am with the Summer Triangle above it. It will be very much the Morning Star at mag -4.6 with an angular size of 51 arcsec and a phase of 13%, two hours before the Sun rises. Like Mercury it will be on our side of the Sun, but moving away from us so becoming a smaller object though presenting a fuller phase. By the end of the month the phase will be 36% and the angular size will have dropped to 33 arcsec, though it will still be as bright at mag -4.6, fulfilling it's role as the Morning Star all month.
Mars will rise in the east at 11:30pm on the 31st of January at mag +0.2 with a disc of 9 arcsec, and traverse the sky accompanied by blue Spica all night till dawn extinguishes them both. A week later it will rise at 11:10pm  and present a disc on 10 arcsec at mag 0.1. By month's end it will be with us all night as a 12 arcsec/mag -0.5 disc, but not getting very high. This month it'll rise no higher than 30° in the south. This is the start of the Mars apparition, which will be at its height in April.
Jupiter will be available on the 1st, in Gemini from dusk till dawn and will rise to 60° in the south. A disc of mag -2.6/45 arcsec. This will be as good as it gets for Jupiter, so make the most of it. By mid-month it will already be 35° high as dusk settles and be with us till it sets about 5am. On the 28th it will be mag -2.5/42 arcsec, setting at 4:30am.
Saturn will rise on the 1st at 2:20am, a mag 0.5/17 arcsec disc. Dawn will overtake it by the time it gets to the highest point of its arc across the sky. At 20°, not very high at all. On the 8th it will rise at 1:55pm, and a week later at 1:25pm, and by the end of the month it will rise at 12:30am, and at mag 0.4, just a little brighter. It will get about an hour past its most southerly point, before dawn fades it out.. Not a good apparition, though its rings will be wide and make a good sight.
Uranus is already on its way down as the sky darkens on the 1st. So we'll not have long to study its mag 5.9/3 arcsec disc. It will not change much through the month, except to get a bit later each day.
Not a good month for Neptune as it will be setting on the first at 6:30pm in lowering dusk, just after Mercury. And will be setting a bit earlier each day. Give Neptune a miss this month.

 

Meteor Showers. Three peak this month but none is worth going out for, as the best has only a 7 Zenith hourly rate.

 

Comets. Two could be seen in a reasonably sized telescope early in the mornings all this month. C/2013 R1 (Lovejoy), fading from 11.1 to 12.4, not easy visually but possible photographically and C/2012 X1 (LINEAR), brightening from 11.7 to 11.6. They are fairly close to each other in the Ophiuchus/Aquila region. Email me at the observatory for more details if needed..