February continues with the long dark nights in the Northern Hemisphere. In Chicago, for example, the sun rises at 7:03 a.m. and sets at 5:06 p.m. at the beginning of the month, and by February 28 sunrise is at 6:28 a.m. and sunset is at 5:40 p.m., with darkness still dominating the majority of a 24-hour span. It won't be until after the equinox in the second half of March that daylight will gain on the darkness.
The Planets in February 2011
Jupiter is the planet to watch after sunset on February evenings, with Saturn taking over as the most visible evening planet after Jupiter sets. Jupiter should be one of the first points of light to shine through the twilight glow, appearing in the southwest at magnitude -2.2. The planet sets about four hours after the sun at the beginning of the month to about two and a half hours after the sun by month's end.
Jupiter pairs with the 14-percent lit crescent moon on February 6. Jupiter is about four degrees to Uranus's upper left in the constellation Pisces in early February, but the two grow farther apart by the end of the month. Jupiter is also closely to the left of the circlet of Pisces and then climbs upward later in the month. Jupiter has one more month in the evening sky before it becomes a morning object.
Saturn waits until Jupiter has set before it makes its quiet entrance. Saturn shines at magnitude 0.6, making it the brightest point of light in Virgo, with Virgo's brightest star, Spica (magnitude 1.06), a bit below it. Unlike Jupiter, however, Saturn is not bright enough to be the brightest point of light in the night sky. Sirius, the brightest star, shines at magnitude -1.44 in the south, while Saturn lights up the eastern sky. The 87-percent lit waning moon forms a triangle with Saturn and Spica on February 20. Spica will be the point of light at the bottom and Saturn will be at the top. Another bright star farther east of Saturn and Spica that outshines them both is Arcturus in the constellation Bootes. Arcturus is magnitude 0.16.
Early risers can catch Venus shining brightly in the southeast. At magnitude -4.3, Venus is unmistakable as the brightest planet in the heavens. Venus spends the month gliding through the constellation Sagittarius, and on February 28, a crescent moon pairs up with the Goddess of Love.
The Moon in February
The moon frequently passes close to beautiful objects in the night sky, and on Friday, February 11, the moon is just to the southwest of the Pleiades star cluster in Taurus. The moon is a bit more than 50-percent lit on that night, and one week later it reaches full phase. The full moon, sometimes called the Snow Moon in February, occurs at 3:36 a.m. EST on February 18.
The evening before, on February 17, the moon rises just a bit before the sun sets. At this time the moon will be 99.7-percent lit, on its way to 100 percent in a few hours' time. So by the next evening, on February 18, when the moon rises it will be less full than it was the night before, even though that day is technically the date of the full moon. Granted, the rising moon will still be more than 99-percent lit (at approximately 99.0 percent).
Source: CyberSky 4 Software
Kelly Whitt - I have been a professional writer for more than a decade, covering many topics from science-based articles to do-it-yourself home ...
