These notes are intended to provide a casual skywatcher or someone already into amateur astronomy living on the East Coast of Australia with a short summary of what is happening in the night sky in February 2011. Instructions on how to obtain customised satellite viewing information for your location can be found here. If you find this page of interest, you may wish to follow this website automatically using Twitter and the sites RSS Feed.
Planets this month (February 2011)
Mercury is briefly visible above the Eastern horizon in the morning predawn sky. By mid-month, it has moved too close to the Sun to be viewed.
Venus will be visible all month above the Eastern horizon in the pre-dawn sky.
Mars is in conjunction with the Sun on the 5th. It remains too close to the Sun to be seen until April when it reappears in the morning sky.
Jupiter is visible low above the Western horizon at the end of evening twilight. It is too low above the horizon to be of any use for telescopic observation. However, you can impress your friends with your astronomical knowledge by pointing at the bright star on the horizon and telling them it is Jupiter! Uranus is also in that part of the sky (to the left of and below Jupiter) but is definitely too low and too faint to bother getting your telescope out for.
Saturn rises late evening and is visible as a pale yellow star to the left of the bright star Spica (the brightest star in the ancient Greek constellation Virgo The Virgin). It is visible for the remainder of the night.
Neptune is in conjunction with the Sun and not visible this month. It will reappear in the morning sky in mid-March 2011.
Individual sky events (February 2011)
All times listed for the AEST time zone (U.T. plus 10 hours). Add one hour to times listed if your state or territory follows daylight savings time.
February 1: Jupiter at greatest latitude South
February 2: Very slim Waning Crescent Moon and Mercury close in the dawn morning sky. Look above the Eastern horizon. Binoculars may be required to locate the Moon.
February 3: New Moon 12.31 pm
February 5: Mars in conjunction with Sun 3 am
February 7: Moon at apogee (furthest from Earth at 405, 924 km). 9 am
February 7: Slim crescent Moon located below Jupiter. Evening twilight.
February 9: Venus and asteroid Vesta close at 0.5 degrees (One moon width) Minimum of binoculars will be required to see asteroid Vesta. Morning sky.
February 11: Mars at greatest latitude South
February 11: First Quarter Moon 5.18 pm
February 14: NASA’s Stardust-NExT spacecraft passes Comet Tempel 1 at a planned distance of 200 kilometers. This is the second time that this comet has been visited by a spacecraft. The first was in July 2005 when NASA’s Deep Impact Spacecraft passes the comet. No exact time of closest approach has been provided on the Stardust-NExT website at the time of preparing this monthly summary of astronomy and space events. Check the Stardust-NExT website closer to February 14 (http://stardustnext.jpl.nasa.gov/index.html).
February 17: Neptune in conjunction with Sun 8 pm
February 18: Full Moon 6.36 pm
February 19: Moon at perigee (closest to Earth at 358,247 km)
February 21: Wanning Gibbous Moon located to right of and above the planet Saturn.
February 22: Saturn, the waning gibbous Moon and Spica (the brightest star in the ancient Greek constellation Virgo The Virgin) make a temporary triangle in the morning sky.
February 25: Last Quarter Moon 9.26 pm
February 25: Mercury in superior conjunction with the Sun 7pm
February 28: Waning Crescent Moon, the asteroid Vesta (requires binoculars to see) and Venus visible in the morning pre-dawn sky.
For Further Information
Planet and Moon Rise/Set Times
Planet and Moon rise/set times for 2011 can be found here on this website.
Customised Astronomy & Satellite Viewing information
Information on how to obtain customised astronomy & satellite viewing information for your location can be found here on this website.
