{"id":534,"date":"2012-01-29T00:00:19","date_gmt":"2012-01-29T00:00:19","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.skycaramba.com\/blog\/?p=534"},"modified":"2012-01-29T03:29:59","modified_gmt":"2012-01-29T03:29:59","slug":"february-2012-astronomy-events","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.skycaramba.com\/blog\/2012\/01\/29\/february-2012-astronomy-events\/","title":{"rendered":"February 2012 astronomy events"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><em>SkyCaramba weekly astronomy blog for the week ending February 4, 2012\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n<p>This year, February evenings start with Venus bright in the west at sunset and Jupiter a bit above it. Uranus is also above Venus and much closer to it. Venus climbs upward until it and Uranus meet just 0.3\u00b0 apart on the 9<sup>th<\/sup>. From most places, you\u2019ll need a telescope or binoculars to see Uranus just to the left.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.skycaramba.com\/blog\/2012\/01\/29\/february-2012-astronomy-events\/uranus_venus_conj\/\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-537\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"alignleft size-full wp-image-537\" title=\"Venus and Uranus in conjunction, February 2012\" src=\"http:\/\/www.skycaramba.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/01\/URANUS_VENUS_CONJ.jpg\" alt=\"Two planets will be very close together in the evening skies.\" width=\"485\" height=\"536\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.skycaramba.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/01\/URANUS_VENUS_CONJ.jpg 485w, https:\/\/www.skycaramba.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/01\/URANUS_VENUS_CONJ-271x300.jpg 271w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 485px) 100vw, 485px\" \/><\/a>Venus quickly leaves Uranus behind, heading higher for a pairing with Jupiter next month. Venus and Jupiter will be close enough in late February for the moon to pass Venus on the 25<sup>th<\/sup> and Jupiter the next night.<\/p>\n<p>Mars rises late evenings in Virgo. The moon passes by it on the 9<sup>th<\/sup>. At this time, Mars is headed westward back into Leo. Mars is at aphelion (closest to the sun) on the 15<sup>th<\/sup>. It\u2019s 1.67 astronomical units from the sun on that date. That\u2019s about 249,000,000 km or 155,000,000 miles. But in just a few weeks, it will be at its closest to Earth since more than two years ago. On the 15<sup>th<\/sup>, Mars is 0.71 AU from Earth. It will be as close to us as 0.67AU on March 5<sup>th<\/sup>.<\/p>\n<p>If you have a telescope, this is a really good time to look at Mars. The views will be<a href=\"http:\/\/www.skycaramba.com\/blog\/2012\/01\/29\/february-2012-astronomy-events\/saturn_mars_feb_2012\/\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-540\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"alignright size-full wp-image-540\" title=\"Saturn and Mars in February 2012\" src=\"http:\/\/www.skycaramba.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/01\/Saturn_Mars_Feb_2012.png\" alt=\"The ringed planet and the red planet are out late in February 2012\" width=\"288\" height=\"615\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.skycaramba.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/01\/Saturn_Mars_Feb_2012.png 288w, https:\/\/www.skycaramba.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/01\/Saturn_Mars_Feb_2012-140x300.png 140w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 288px) 100vw, 288px\" \/><\/a> the biggest and best they\u2019ve been in about two years. And after the distance between us and the Red Planet begins growing again in March, it\u2019ll look progressively smaller.<\/p>\n<p>Saturn rises after midnight, practically motionless in Virgo. It\u2019s a little east of the bright star Spica. The ringed planet\u2019s retrograde (westward) motion begins on the 8<sup>th<\/sup>.<\/p>\n<p>Mercury isn\u2019t visible until late February in the west just after sunset. It\u2019s in superior conjunction on the 7<sup>th<\/sup>. That means it\u2019s on the other side of the sun.<\/p>\n<p>Neptune is also in conjunction with the sun this month. Those who have dark enough skies and good enough optics can try to find it in the west shortly after sunset early in February. On the 1<sup>st<\/sup>, it will be just 17\u00b0 east of the sun. The best chance of seeing it through the atmosphere above the horizon and the light wash from the sun is at about 14\u00b0 north latitude. Dark sites in Nicaragua and the Philippines are in just the right place.<\/p>\n<p>Neptune will be in conjunction on the 19<sup>th<\/sup>. If you could be in orbit around Neptune looking back at Earth at that time, you\u2019d see Earth and the sun close to Regulus in Leo.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Venus, Jupiter, and Uranus in close quarters. Saturn remains near Spica. Mars is getting closer.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[150,29,5,25,4,142,614,78,66,17],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.skycaramba.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/534"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.skycaramba.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.skycaramba.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.skycaramba.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.skycaramba.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=534"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/www.skycaramba.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/534\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":545,"href":"https:\/\/www.skycaramba.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/534\/revisions\/545"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.skycaramba.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=534"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.skycaramba.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=534"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.skycaramba.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=534"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}