The new month starts with a full moon. In most months, when the moon’s full on the first day, it’s full again late in the month. But not with February. With 29.5 days on average between full moons, an ordinary February isn’t long enough for a second full moon. For two in one month, we have to wait until May.
Jupiter shines bright above that full moon in the east at dusk. The big planet marches into the middle of Gemini this month. The moon moves on to pass Regulus on the 3rd. Observers in much of the United States and Canada get an occultation. So does the far southern tip of Greenland, much of the northern Atlantic Ocean, and northwestern Africa. After the moon goes south of the equator on the 5th, it passes close to Spica on the 7th.
Last quarter is on the 9th. Lunar apogee is the next day at 404,500 kilometers away. And Luna passes near Antares on the 11th. Southern lunistice happens on the 12th at 28.4 degrees south. Then the waning lunar crescent delights morning observers as it crosses Sagittarius before new moon on the 17th. Just before new moon, the lunar disk passes close to Mars. The red planet is invisible in the sun’s glow.
Evening sky watchers will have an easier time spotting Venus as a waxing crescent moon passes by on the 18th. Mercury is also nearby and the moon passes very close for observers in North America. Some in eastern Texas and parts of Mexico get a twilight occultation of the planet. Above them, the moon passes Saturn the next evening. On the 19th, the moon goes north over the equator. First quarter is on the 24th when the moon is also at perihelion 370,100 kilometers away. Northern lunistice follows on the 25th at 28.4 degrees. On the 27th, the moon is almost back where it started the month, in Gemini.
Venus climbs into the evening sky and meets Mercury in the second half of the month. Mercury reaches greatest elongation at 18.1 degrees east of the sun on the 19th. It’s at perihelion, 0.307 astronomical units from the sun, on the same day. Venus is closest to Mercury in the sky on the 27th, having climbed up to it.
Annular solar eclipse
On the 17th, there’s an annular solar eclipse. For up to two minutes, 20 seconds, the moon will be in front of the sun with a ring of the sun’s disk shining around the moon’s silhouette. There won’t be a lot of people seeing that though. The annularity path goes from the far southern Indian Ocean to Antarctica. A partial eclipse is visible across most of the continent and also southeast Africa, plus ocean areas in those regions. No part of this eclipse is safe for viewing with the naked eye. So use filters made specifically for safe solar viewing or use a method of projecting the sun’s image. For a clickable map that provides the eclipse’s local circumstances in the local time zone, go to the solar eclipse maps index. (There isn’t much there yet, but more maps are in the making.)
Mira
Mira, the variable star with an 11-month period in Cetus, is expected to brighten up to maximum light in early March. It should be at naked eye brightness this month. You’ll find it in the evening sky, setting somewhat after Saturn. It has been about three years since anyone could have easy naked eye observations of Mira. The star has been too close to conjunction with the sun to be seen during its last two peaks.
Alpha Centaurid shower
The Alpha Centaurid meteor shower peaks on February 8. This isn’t a major shower. At maximum, you can expect up to six meteors per hour. But occasionally, there could be enough meteors for a rate of 20 to 30 per hour, not necessarily lasting the entire hour. The parent body for this shower isn’t known yet. As Centaurus is a southern hemisphere consellation, this is primarily a southern hemisphere shower. It’s best viewed after midnight. That means the moon, almost at last quarter, will interfere some.
Pleaides occultation
The moon passes in front of the Pleiades on February 24 for northern hemisphere observers. This will be mainly an Arctic event and is the farthest north occultation of this cluster in the current series.