{"id":616,"date":"2021-01-29T02:29:31","date_gmt":"2021-01-29T02:29:31","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.skycaramba.com\/monthly\/?p=616"},"modified":"2022-08-01T02:45:19","modified_gmt":"2022-08-01T02:45:19","slug":"february-2021","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.skycaramba.com\/monthly\/february-2021\/","title":{"rendered":"February 2021"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Mercury\nstarts the month as an evening object. If you can see it after sunset\nin February, that&#8217;s impressive. True to its reputation, the planet is\nheading sunward quickly. From around 13\u00b0 north latitude, the planet\nsets an hour after sunset on the 1<sup>st<\/sup>..\nThat&#8217;s where the best viewing is. But even there, it&#8217;s impossible to\nsee just a few days into the month. Mercury is at inferior\nconjunction on the 8<sup>th<\/sup>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"887\" height=\"649\" src=\"https:\/\/www.skycaramba.com\/monthly\/wp-content\/uploads\/Mars-positions-February-and-March-2021.jpg\" alt=\"Graphic showing where Mars will be in the sky in February and March 2021\" class=\"wp-image-617\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.skycaramba.com\/monthly\/wp-content\/uploads\/Mars-positions-February-and-March-2021.jpg 887w, https:\/\/www.skycaramba.com\/monthly\/wp-content\/uploads\/Mars-positions-February-and-March-2021-300x220.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 887px) 100vw, 887px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Mars\nis slowly moving from a place between Aries and the head of Cetus to\na place near the Pleiades. The nearly first quarter moon will pass by\nthe planet on the 18<sup>th<\/sup>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Venus\nis a morning object and is almost as much of a challenge as Mercury.\nIt rises an hour before the sun from 16\u00b0 south on the 1<sup>st<\/sup>.\nVenus and Saturn will be close on the 6<sup>th<\/sup>.\nMaybe you can pick them out from a low southern latitude with\nbinoculars, a clear horizon, and cooperative weather. On the 10<sup>th<\/sup>,\na thin waning crescent moon is near Saturn above Venus which is\ngetting close to Jupiter. Venus and Jupiter are closest the next\nmorning. But even from the ideal latitude, they will be very close to\nthe horizon while dawn&#8217;s light is obscuring many of the stars and\nplanets.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"565\" height=\"308\" src=\"https:\/\/www.skycaramba.com\/monthly\/wp-content\/uploads\/Mercury-Saturn-Jupiter-late-February-2021.gif\" alt=\"Moving graphic showing Mercury, Saturn, and Jupiter in the morning in late February 2021\" class=\"wp-image-618\"\/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">By\nthe middle of the month, Saturn is easier to spot rising before\nJupiter. And Mercury has reappeared in our morning sky. The messenger\nplanet is left of Jupiter on the 14<sup>th<\/sup>\nand seems on a fast track to meet Saturn. But about halfway between\nthe two big planets, Mercury seems to change its mind and swing back\nto Jupiter. Mercury and Jupiter will have a close call on March 5<sup>th<\/sup>.\nMercury hasn&#8217;t actually reached greatest elongation in the morning\nsky yet in February. It&#8217;s just not moving as fast westward as the\nstars behind it, so it has the appearance of retreating.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The\nmoon&#8217;s situations this month: goes south of the equator on the 2<sup>nd<\/sup>,\nlast quarter on the 4<sup>th<\/sup>,\nsouthern lunistice 25.0\u00b0 on the 8<sup>th<\/sup>,\nnew on the 11<sup>th<\/sup>,\ngoes north on the 15<sup>th<\/sup>,\nfirst quarter on the 19<sup>th<\/sup>,\nnorthern lunistice 25.1\u00b0 on the 23<sup>rd<\/sup>,\nand full on the 27<sup>th<\/sup>.\nPerigee is on the 3<sup>rd<\/sup>\nat 370,000 kilometers. Apogee is on the 18<sup>th<\/sup>\nat 404,500 kilometers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Pay\nattention to astronomy news on February 18<sup>th<\/sup>.\nThe NASA Perseverance rover is to land on Mars on that date. The\nrover will analyze pieces of rocks and dust on the red planet and\nlook for evidence of microorganisms having lived there. It will also\ncarry an experimental helicopter that engineers hope will fly in the\nMartian atmosphere.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Also, sometime\nthis month, the Chinese Tianwen-1 orbiter and rover will arrive at\nthe red planet. The mission is to look for water beneath the Martian\nsurface. Scientists know there used to be water on the planet&#8217;s\nsurface because of river channels and minerals that need water to\nform. They wonder if any still exists beneath the surface and if\nliving organisms are in it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Notable\nconjunctions in February:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">3<sup>rd<\/sup>\nMoon and Spica 6.2\u00b0<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">6<sup>th<\/sup>\nSaturn and Venus 0.4\u00b0<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">6<sup>th<\/sup>\nMoon and Antares 5.3\u00b0<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">10<sup>th<\/sup>\nMoon and Saturn 3.3\u00b0<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">10<sup>th<\/sup>\nMoon and Venus 3.1\u00b0<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">10<sup>th<\/sup>\nMoon and jupiter 3.6\u00b0<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">11<sup>th<\/sup>\nJupiter and Venus 0.4\u00b0<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">13<sup>th<\/sup>\nMercury and Venu 4.5\u00b0<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">15<sup>th<\/sup>\nMercury and Jupiter 3.8\u00b0<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">19<sup>th<\/sup>\nMoon and Mars 3.5\u00b0<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">20<sup>th<\/sup>\nMoon and Aldebaran 4.9\u00b0<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">23<sup>rd<\/sup>\nMercury and Saturn 4.0\u00b0<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">24<sup>th<\/sup>\nMoon and Pollux 3.6\u00b0<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">26<sup>th<\/sup>\nMoon and Regulus 4.3\u00b0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Mercury starts the month as an evening object. If you can see it after sunset in February, that&#8217;s impressive. True to its reputation, the planet is heading sunward quickly. From around 13\u00b0 north latitude, the planet sets an hour after sunset on the 1st.. That&#8217;s where the best viewing is. But even there, it&#8217;s impossible [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[60],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-616","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-60"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.skycaramba.com\/monthly\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/616","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.skycaramba.com\/monthly\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.skycaramba.com\/monthly\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.skycaramba.com\/monthly\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.skycaramba.com\/monthly\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=616"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.skycaramba.com\/monthly\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/616\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":619,"href":"https:\/\/www.skycaramba.com\/monthly\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/616\/revisions\/619"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.skycaramba.com\/monthly\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=616"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.skycaramba.com\/monthly\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=616"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.skycaramba.com\/monthly\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=616"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}