Observing With Webb

February 2020

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         Welcome to Observing With Webb, where a high school astronomy teacher tells you what you’re looking at, why it’s so cool, and what you should check out later this month…at night. 

February starts out slow, but picks up speed as the dawn skies get crowded with some favorite planets, a lunar flyby, an occultation of Mars for some, Venus shining bright all month, and all naked eye planets visible at some point.

 

EVENTS...

First Quarter Moon – 1^st (Visible until midnight)

Full Moon – 9^th (Visible all night)

Last Quarter Moon – 15^th (Visible from midnight into the morning)

New Moon – 23^rd (darkest skies) 

18^th – Moon Occults Mars – The planets, Sun, and Moon all pretty much follow a path in the sky called the ecliptic, varying only a few degrees. That variation makes it uncommon, but not unusual, for the Moon to pass in front planets and completely block, or occult, the planet.  This happens in the morning hours of February 18^th. It’ll be tough to spot, as you’ll need a small telescope in order to find Mars in the twilight.  However, whether you see it or not, Mars will disappear behind the Moon at 7:30am and reappear at 9:00am.  If you have a tracking scope, set it up to track Mars in the early morning, then keep watching until it reappears. REALLY want to see it? Go further West, past the Mississippi River to witness it in night skies.

17^th – 20^th – Close Encounter – Moon, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn – This is the best week of the month to get out there!!!  Get out after 6:00am each morning this Mon - Thurs and enjoy the lineup, moving up and to the right, of Saturn, Jupiter, and Mars in the SE, but also enjoy the Moon joining the party. The Moon will be up and to the right of Mars on the 17^th, RIGHT next to, and occults, Mars on the 18^th, less than 5˚ to the right of Jupiter on the 19^th, and less than 3˚ down and to the left of Saturn on the 20^th. 

26^th – 28^th – Close Encounter – Moon, Venus – Get out after sunset and watch the SW sky. On the 26^th the Moon will be a young, thin crescent about a fist-width below bright Venus.  The next night the Moon moves to just 6˚ to the left of Venus, a little thicker and higher. Then on the 28^th, the Moon is about 14˚ up and to the left of Venus, thicker and higher yet again.

 

Naked-eye PLANETS...

• Around Sunset – Venus (SW), Mercury (first 2 weeks)
• Throughout the night – None
• Morning – Mars (SE), Jupiter(SE), Saturn (SE – last 2 weeks)

Mercury

• MIGHT catch it during the first two weeks of February, when it’s about 10˚ above the SW horizon by around 6pm. Look for the dot that’s brighter than the stars, but dimmer than Venus.

Venus

• Venus will spend the month climbing to about 40˚ above the WSW horizon. Find a great view of the Western sky and watch the sunset. Venus will be the brightest light and first object you see off in that direction.

Mars

• Get out after 4:30am, but before sunrise, and look SE to find the ruddy red point of light that is Mars between Sagittarius and Scorpius in the beginning of the month and right above the teapot lid of Sagittarius by the end.

Jupiter

• Jupiter will trail Mars by about 25˚ and 2 hours at the start of February, rising around 6am. By the end of the month, it will only be about 10˚ or one fist-width from Mars, and rising around 4:30

Saturn

• Saturn makes its appearance known yet again for another season in the mornings. About two weeks into the month you should be able to find Saturn less than 10˚ down and to the left of Jupiter in the SE. More importantly, however, this starts Saturn’s long, slow slog to catch up to Jupiter for a Winter Solstice conjunction of less than 1/10^th of 1˚

 

CONSTELLATIONS...

Use a sky map from www.skymaps.com to help you out.

After Dinner:

Orion & his winter companions – By 7pm, Orion is about as high as it will get for the night about halfway up the southern sky, tempting us to tour the winter constellations. Begin by finding Orion by looking for three stars in almost a straight line and close to each other, Orion’s Belt, which is surrounded by a bigger, vertical, almost rectangle of stars. Orion will be our guidepost for the other winter constellations. Start at the left belt star and draw a straight line connecting them, then continue that line far past the last belt star about 20˚ or two fist-widths held at arm’s length. There you’ll find the V constellation Taurus, with bright red Aldebaran at the top left of the V. Taurus is part of a big cluster of stars known as the Hyades.  Remember that line you just made? Follow it just 10˚ further (one fist-width) and you’ll find a mini-mini-dipper of stars call the Pleiades, which is another open cluster of stars within our Milky Way Galaxy. Let’s go back to the belt, but draw the connecting line from right to left, and continue about 20˚ past the belt, where you’ll find the brightest star in the sky, Sirius. Perhaps you can also see the constellation Canis Major, known as the big dog. We’ll stop there for this month, and pick up next month with Gemini, Auriga, and Canis Minor.

Before Bed:

Auriga, Gemini – Look almost straight up, and you’ll find a pentagon shaped constellation which is the Charioteer Auriga, with its brightest star Capella. Gemini, the twins, will be to the left of Auriga, with bright Castor and Pollux heading them up. For reference, Orion will be below both of them.

Before Work:

Leo, Big Dipper – Leo will be more to the West than before, but the Big Dipper will be super big and bright above Leo’s backward question mark.

Don’t forget to check out my Podbean page, YouTube Channel, and Twitter feed, or get my podcast feed on Stitcher, or iTunes.

December 2016

To see a video of this information, go to my YouTube Channel

 

         Welcome to Observing With Webb, where the armchair astronomer figures out what they’re looking at, why it’s so cool, and what they should check out next.  Don’t forget to check out my Podbean page, YouTube Channel, and Twitter feed.

This year, December brings us good views of Venus, Mars, and Jupiter, maybe some Geminid Meteors, a good Lunar occultation of Aldebaran, and hopefully good news for the Pequea Valley Planetarium.

Regarding the Planetarium grant competition…as of this recording, we still haven’t heard results.  If you recall, the 6 proposals that get the most votes will each get $100,000.  We got rankings at both 2 weeks and 3 weeks into the month-long voting, and we were in 3^rd place out of 15 both times!  That makes me fairly confident that you, the astronomy community made this happen, but I do NOT have official word yet.  It sounds like they are going to do the job of notification a la Publisher’s Clearinghouse, so you’ll know when I know.

 

PLANETS...well, the ones visible with your naked eye

Planets you can see around Sunset – Venus (SW), Mars (S), Mercury? (SW)

Planets you can see throughout the night – None

Planets you can see in the Morning – Jupiter (E)

 

Mercury – VERY low – 10˚above the horizon at sunset for about the first two weeks of December

Venus – Look SW after sunset, and Venus will be about 20˚ above the horizon, very bright, and will set by 8:00pm. If you have a telescope, check out how it changes from a gibbous phase to a larger half Venus.

Mars – Look SSW after sunset and bring a sky map of Capricornus.  Mars will be the ruddy red object moving away from the Capricornus triangle and into Aquarius.  Visible until about 9:00pm, when it sets in the SW.

Saturn – Not visible this month

Jupiter – Catch Jupiter in the eastern sky in the morning after 3:30am in the beginning of the month, and 2am by the end of the month.  Just look for the very bright object in that direction in the morning.  You should notice it easily and watch it get higher and higher each morning.

 

EVENTS...

2^nd–3^rd – Close Encounter – Moon, Venus – Look to the SW between 5pm and 7pm and you can catch a thin crescent Moon only 8˚ to the right of bright Venus on the 2^nd, a brilliant pair!  On the 3^rd, the Moon moves to about 7˚ ABOVE Venus, again a brilliant pair.

4^th–5^th – Close Encounter – Moon, Mars – Look SW once the sky is starting to get dark, and find a nice crescent Moon.  On the 4^th, Mars will be about 6˚ to the left of the Moon.  The following night, the Moon will have moved to be about 7˚ up and to the left of Mars.

First Quarter Moon – 7^th (Visible until midnight)

Lunar Occultation – night of the 12^th – The Moon will pass in front of the bright red star Aldebaran. Times vary by location, but D.C. will witness disappearance at 11:07pm and reappearance at 12:21am.  See https://is.gd/occndec2016 for more info.

Full Moon – 13^th (Visible all night)

13^th, 14^th – Geminid Meteor Shower – It’s NOT a good year for the Geminids, given the Full Moon on that night, but you should still see some of the best and brightest meteors. Keep a wide eye and try to take in the whole sky, but don’t stare at the Moon.

Last Quarter Moon – 20^th (Visible from midnight into the morning)

21^st – Winter Solstice - The longest night and shortest day of the year for the Northern Hemisphere. More info here: http://www.timeanddate.com/calendar/december-solstice.html

22^nd – Close Encounter – Moon, Jupiter – Look SE after 2:00am and before sunrise (7:24am).  Look for a thin crescent Moon rising up from the horizon, with Jupiter just 4˚ down and to the left.

New Moon – 29^th (darkest skies)

 

CONSTELLATIONS... (see sky map link at the bottom for a Star Map for this month – or ask Mr. Webb)    Look straight up and you'll see...

After Sunset (sunset is around 5:00pm) – Pegasus, Andromeda - Extra Challenge!  Using your naked eye (dark-adapted and in a dark area) or binoculars under normal conditions and a star chart, try finding our neighboring Andromeda Galaxy.  It’ll be a faint, but bigger, fuzzy in the constellation Andromeda.

Between Sunset and Midnight – Perseus, Andromeda, Cassiopeia

Midnight – Auriga, Taurus, Gemini

Early Morning – Ursa Major’s legs, Leo Minor

GENERAL CONSTELLATION FINDING TIPS: 

Fall Constellations: Andromeda, Pegasus

If you can find the Summer Triangle and Delphinus in the West, about 40˚ to the East (leftish – pretty much straight above you) will be the Great Square of the fall constellation Pegasus.  Perhaps you’ll even see the two curves of Andromeda off of one side, with the Andromeda Galaxy as a small, faint fuzzy nearby (you’ll need dark skies to see it).  A sky map will help you tremendously in finding these. 

Winter constellations:  Orion is easy to spot as he is rising in the East around 7:30pm.  You can use Orion to find many other winter constellations.

Using Orion:  Find Orion by looking for the three stars in a row that make up Orion’s belt in the East around 7:30pm.  If you draw a line from the left (bottom) star to the right (top) star and keep going right about 20 degrees (about 2 fists at arm’s length) until you reach another very bright star, you will have reached the star Aldebaron in Taurus (the V).  Follow that line a little more (about another fist) and you’ll find the Pleiades.

Draw a line from the right (top) star in Orion’s belt to the left (bottom) star, and keep going left about 20 degrees (2 fists again), you’ll come to the brightest star in the sky – Sirius – part of Canis Major.

Above these three constellations are Gemini and Auriga.  The brightest stars in each of these constellations form a circle in the sky.  Going clockwise - Aldebaron (Taurus) – Rigel (Orion – bottom right foot) – Sirius (Canis Major) – Procyon (Canis Minor) – Castor & Pollux (Gemini) – Capella (Auriga).  It makes for great stargazing in the winter sky.

Use a sky map from www.skymaps.com to help you out.