Here’s a look at the sky events for Arizona in February
Jan 30, 2019, 2:00 PM
(Flickr/Oleksii Leonov)
(Flickr/Oleksii Leonov)
The weather in February is just ideal and what a great time to look and explore our Arizona skies!
February, the month of love, provides an amazing conjunction with the goddess of love, Venus and her partner, Saturn, as we get into the month.
The shortest month of the year provides locals and winter visitors with some of the most interesting sights to see.
We begin our journey with the moon, our nearest neighbor.
As the month opens up, the moon appears new its new phase. This is the best time of the month to view faint celestial objects.
The dark of the moon, also known as the new moon, occurs on the 4th. This is also the time of year for Chinese New Year. This event is set for Feb. 5, and is known as the year of the pig!
The moon then appears in the southwest sky as a thin crescent and moves on to first quarter on Feb. 12, just in time for Valentine’s Day.
The moon then changes its face and turns gibbous and on to the full Snow Moon on the 19th.
As things change, the moon then goes to its waning cycle, with last quarter on the 26th.
Pay attention to a close conjunction of the moon and Jupiter on the morning of the 27th, low in the southeast sky, just before dawn.
For planets; Mars is still high in the south at sunset, faint to the eye and moving into the star fields of Aries the Ram.
Mercury appears some 18 degrees high in the western sky around the 26th.
The remainder of the planetary activity occurs in the morning sky, with a great close conjunction of both Venus and Saturn.
Set your alarm clock for around 5 a.m. on the 18th, as these two planets will conjunct within a degree of separation in the sky.
The full moon in the sky is a half a degree in size, so this conjunction is within two full moon diameters apart, very close!
This is a great opportunity to capture this event with a smart phone or other type of camera system.
Another great sight to see in our Arizona skies, is the band of pinkish light that appears just after sunset and before sunrise in the eastern sky. This band of light is known as the “Belt of Venus.” The “belt” is an anti-twilight arch visible before or after sunset during civil twilight. It appears some 10 to 20 degrees high in the sky.
February offers something for everyone in our Arizona skies!
To print your own monthly star chart, click here.
To view satellites/dates/times of passage, click here.
Listen to the Dr. Sky Show on KTAR News 92.3 FM every Saturday morning at 3 a.m.
