Overview

10th – Moon about Mars, evening sky.

12th – Moon next to Spica, with Saturn below the pair.

25th – Moon below Venus, evening sky.

27th – Moon below Jupiter, evening sky.

29th – Leap day!

Moon Phases

There are only three moon phases this calendar month. Full Moon: 8th Last Quarter:  15th New Moon:  22nd

Planets to look for

Venus is still hanging around to the west in the evening sky but as the month goes on Jupiter will start to come into the picture as well.  They will meet up during March.  Meanwhile, on the other side of the sky Mars is now rising in the East as darkness sets in – it is getting ready for Opposition in early March.  It will gradually get brighter as the month progresses as it closes the distance.  Saturn rises a little later around 10pm. 

Mercury also makes an appearance in the evening sky during the second half of the month, but it may be difficult to see as it doesn’t move far from the Sun, setting only half an hour after sunset.  If you miss it, best to wait until April, when it will be easily seen in the morning sky for most of the month.

The morning sky is empty of planets during February. 

For small telescopes

Tau Canis Majoris

Tau Canis Majoris is a star in the tail of Canis Major, the Big Dog.  It is surrounded by a small cluster of stars that shows off the much brighter blue supergiant star Tau in front of it.  The cluster is about 5200 light years away.

This cluster is sometimes called The Spider’s Web, and Tau Canis Majoris is sometimes called the Mexican Jumping Bean star, as to some people it seems to jump around in front of the cluster. 

If you have a goto telescope, knowing that this object is also known as NGC 2362 will help you find it.

(Tau is best pronounced as t-ow, as in ow! I’ve hurt myself.)

 Image: The Tau Canis Majoris.

Featured Constellation

Lepus the Hare

Lepus the Hare is a small constellation that is found at the feet of Orion.  It was used during the time of the Ancient Greeks so it is among some of the older constellations in the sky. 

Canis Major, the Great Dog, who follows along at the Hunter’s heel, is often depicted looking hungrily in the Hare’s direction.

The brightest star in Lepus is known as Arneb, which is form the Arabic for “the hare”.  While the shape of Lepus in the stars doesn’t look much like a hare, he is a least easy to find (with a little practise).

Image: Rabbits and hares have had a long association with moon, much more so than with the stars.  Many cultures around the world have seen a rabbit in the moon.  From the southern hemisphere you can see a that rabbit looks the right way up – the ears are formed by Mare Fecundatitis and Mare Nectaris and the head by Mare Tranquilitatis.

For Casual Observers

Its 2012, a year divisible by 4, so we have a Leap Year this year, with an extra day added on to the end of February.  This is because our trip around the sun is not exactly 365 days long and without adjustment to the calendar we would gradually notice that the days were slipping back in the year, so to speak.  By using the system we have now – the Gregorian calendar, which aims to keep the equinox in March around March 21st with a leap year every four years and on the turn of the centuries divisible by four (such as was the year 2000) - we should have a relatively stable calendar for the next 8000 years.  After that an extra day again may needed to be added, but that’s for the people of the future to worry about!

Despite the extra day, there are only three moon phases for us this calendar month, with first quarter falling on the 31st January and the next first quarter moon not occurring until March 1st.

Mars is now in retrograde motion – this means it seems to moving the wrong way in the sky, back towards the west, rather than on towards the east against the stars.  This is just an optical illusion, caused by the Earth overtaking the red plant on the inside of its orbit.  Mars will be retrograde until mid-April this year.  You can judge it’s progress by comparing how close it is to Regulus, the brightest star in Leo the Lion.

Featured article

John Glenn and the City of Lights

February 20th sees the 50th anniversary of John Glenn’s historic flight around the globe, in which our own city, Perth, is part of the story. 

Glenn was the first American astronaut to orbit the earth.  The flight was part of Project Mercury, which saw the Americans venture into space for the first time.  Alan Shepard took the very first flight up, but he didn’t go all the way around the globe.  Glenn made three orbits of the Earth before returning to the surface. 

Glenn’s first orbit took him over Perth.  This was known in advance and many people lit up their backyards to make Perth look as bright as possible for him as he went by.  It worked, and Glenn commented to fellow astronaut Gordon Cooper, who at the tracking station at Muchea, just north of Perth, that he could see the outline of a city as he came over.  Perth has always been an isolated city so it would have stood out in the very well darkness.

Glenn repeated the flyover in 1998 when he was aboard space shuttle Discovery’s STS 95 mission, on 29th October.  Perth was much bigger then, but still made an effort to say ‘hello’ to Glenn high above them once again.

If you weren’t around back in 1962 perhaps you know a family member or older person who was in Perth that night and can tell you what they did to light the way for Glenn.  And if you were there, share it with a youngster!  You can also head up to Muchea and visit the park where the tracking station stood, next to the Brand Highway.  The tracking station is no longer there but there is a display of historical information there to let everyone know what happen there on the night of 20th February, fifty years ago.

Image: A camera aboard the "Friendship 7" Mercury spacecraft photographs Astronaut John H. Glenn Jr. during the Mercury-Atlas 6 spaceflight (00302-3); Photographs Glenn as he uses a photometer to view the sun during sunsent on the MA-6 space flight (00304).n the MA-6 space flight (00304). Credit: Wikimedia Commons.