SkyEye

Welcome to SkyEye, your guide to this month's celestial events.

February 2009

All times and dates are given in Universal Time (UT).
Nightly darkness estimates are calculated for 45° N and 30° S.
Like total solar eclipses, lunar occultation events can be seen only from limited regions on Earth (and sometimes not at all if the occultation takes place during daylight hours). However, the Moon will appear close in the sky to its "target" for some hours either side of the actual occultation, regardless of where you are.

Date		Event
1	Sun
2	Mon	First Quarter Moon
3	Tue
4	Wed	Moon occults the Pleiades: visible from about 0100 UT in Alaska, northern Canada, Greenland, Iceland and northern Europe.
5	Thu
6	Fri
7	Sat	Moon at perigee
7	Sat	The nearly Full Moon washes out the Alpha Centaurids.
8	Sun
9	Mon	Most of Asia as well as Australia and New Zealand is able to see the best of this year's three penumbral lunar eclipses.
9	Mon	Full Moon
10	Tue
11	Wed
12	Thu	Neptune at conjunction
13	Fri	Mercury at greatest elongation west
14	Sat
15	Sun
16	Mon	Last Quarter Moon
17	Tue	Moon occults Antares: visible from about1900 UT in southeastern Asia and the western half of Australia.
18	Wed
19	Thu	Moon at apogee
20	Fri	Venus at its brightest
21	Sat
22	Sun	Moon occults Mercury: visible from about 2000 UT in Korea, Japan and northern Alaska.
23	Mon	Moon occults Jupiter: visible just after the Mercury occultation in northeastern Russia, China, Korea and Japan.
24	Tue
25	Wed	New Moon
25	Wed	Ceres at opposition
26	Thu
27	Fri	Moon occults Venus: visible from about 2300 UT in parts of Antarctica.
28	Sat

The Solar System

The word planet is derived from the Greek word for "wanderer." Unlike the background stars, planets seem to move around the sky, keeping mostly to a narrow track called the ecliptic, the path of the Sun across the stars. Dwarf planets and small solar-system bodies including comets, are not so constrained, often moving far above or below the ecliptic.

Sun: Capricornus -> Aquarius
Mercury: Sagittarius -> Capricornus
This tiny planet reaches greatest elongation west on 13 February. It is best seen from the southern hemisphere as it rises high in the eastern sky before sunrise. It appears in a close-packed group with Mars and Jupiter late in the month and is occulted (along with Jupiter) on 22-23 February. Northern hemisphere observers have a much more difficult time seeing this elusive object.
Venus: Pisces
The "evening star" is at its brightest this year on 20 February. It is best seen from the northern hemisphere where it stays quite high above the western horizon but it is much lower as observed from southern latitudes and descending quickly as the month wears on.
Comet C/2007 N3 Lulin: Libra -> Virgo -> Leo
In July 2007, university student Quanzhi Ye discovered this comet from images taken at Lulin Observatory in Taiwan. Comet C/2007 N3 Lulin may be visible to the naked eye as it makes its closest approach to Earth on 24 February. Look for it near Saturn on that date and even closer to the first-magnitude star Regulus at the end of the month.
Mars: Capricornus
The red planet rises just ahead of Jupiter in the morning sky for the first half of the month and just after the gas giant during the last half. It is the dimmest of the three planets, Mercury, Mars and Jupiter, which appear together just before sunrise during the last week of the month.
Ceres: Leo
The only dwarf planet to be identified in the main asteroid belt reaches opposition on 25 February. Binoculars or a small telescope will be necessary to see it as it only reaches seventh magnitude. This is its closest approach to Earth since 1867 and it won't be this close again for at least 2000 years.
Jupiter: Capricornus
At conjunction late last month, the largest planet in the solar system is now a morning sky object, appearing just ahead of the Sun in the east. Early-rising southern hemisphere observers will be treated to the spectacle of Mercury, Mars and Jupiter grouped tightly together in the sky late in the month. The Moon occults both Mercury and Jupiter on 22-23 February.
Saturn: Leo
With opposition approaching next month, the ringed planet is rising ever earlier in the evening hours.
Uranus: Aquarius
This distant gas giant is approaching conjunction next month and is probably lost in the solar glare.
Neptune: Capricornus
A small telescope is usually necessary to view the most distant planet in the solar system but observations are impossible this month because Neptune is at conjunction on 12 February.

The Celestial Sphere

Constellations are patterns of stars in the sky. The International Astronomical Union (IAU) recognises 88 different constellations. The brightest stars as seen from the Earth are easy to spot but do you know their proper names? With a set of binoculars you can look for fainter objects such as nebulae and galaxies or some of the closest stars to the Sun.

Descriptions of the sky for observers in both the northern and southern hemispheres are available for the following times this month. Subtract one hour from your local time if summer (daylight savings) time is in effect.

Local Time	Northern Hemisphere	Southern Hemisphere
1730 hours (1830 hours summer time)	45° N	30° S
1930 hours (2030 hours summer time)	45° N	30° S
2130 hours (2230 hours summer time)	45° N	30° S
2330 hours (0030 hours summer time)	45° N	30° S
0130 hours (0230 hours summer time)	45° N	30° S
0330 hours (0430 hours summer time)	45° N	30° S
0530 hours (0630 hours summer time)	45° N	30° S

For More Information...

Consult our online glossary for non-technical explanations of many of the astronomical terms used in these pages.
Blue moons, eclipses, the dates of Easter and much more can be found at the Interactive Astronomy Pages.
For more information about the objects and events described in SkyEye, visit these astronomy-related sites.

Credits

Much of this information can be found in this month's issue of your favourite amateur astronomy magazine available in your local bookshop. Another excellent source is the current edition of the Astronomical Calendar by Guy Ottewell and published by the Universal Workshop at Furman University.

The SkyEye banner features a view of Saturn from its satellite Iapetus and is courtesy of NASA/JPL/Space Science Institute. Of all the major satellites of Saturn, Iapetus is the only one with a significant orbital inclination. Thus, whilst the rings appear nearly edge-on from all of the other major satellites, from Iapetus they are usually seen at a tilt. This image was taken during the Cassini-Huygens mission on 10 September 2007 and consists of 15 red, green and blue spectral filter images.