{"id":870,"date":"2023-01-31T03:19:56","date_gmt":"2023-01-31T03:19:56","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.skycaramba.com\/monthly\/?p=870"},"modified":"2023-02-25T21:24:47","modified_gmt":"2023-02-25T21:24:47","slug":"february-2023","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.skycaramba.com\/monthly\/february-2023\/","title":{"rendered":"February 2023"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

For\ncomet watchers, the most exciting thing this month is sure to be\nC\/2022 E3 (ZTF). It will be closest to Earth on the 1st<\/sup>\nat approximately 12 hours UT at 42.47 million kilometers. That’s\n26.39 million miles or 0.284 astronomical units. Comet brightness is\nnotoriously hard to predict. It’s expected to be visible to the naked\neye in dark enough skies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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On\nthe 1st<\/sup>,\nZTF will be about 71\u00b0 north declination. So from 71\u00b0 latitude it\nwill pass directly overhead. That also means the comet’s so far\nnorth, it’s mainly a northern hemisphere object. On the 1st<\/sup>,\nit will touch the horizon from 19\u00b0 south and stay below it from\neverywhere south of that latitude. From 19\u00b0 north latitude and\nfarther north, ZTF is circumpolar. In other words, it never sets. So\nif you’re farther north of that parallel, it’ll be in your sky all\nday and night on the 1st<\/sup>.\nOf course, it needs to be dark for you to see it. But the farther\nnorth you go, the more darkness you’ll have to look for it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The comet’s long\nname tells you what kind of object it is, when it was discovered, and\nby whom. The letter C means it’s not expected to return, although\nsome sources of astronomical news say it has an orbital period of\n50,000 years. 2022 is the year of discovery. E3 means it was the\nthird comet discovered during the first half of March that year. And\nZTF stands for Zwicky Transient Facility, a Caltech observatory the\ndiscoverers used.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The\ncomet is near the Big Dipper on the 1st<\/sup>.\nIt moves fast. It’ll be near the bright star Capella in Auriga on the\n5th<\/sup>.\nThe next night, it’ll be near the star Saclateni. On the 8th<\/sup>,\nit’s near Hassaleh. Then it passes out of Auriga and by Mars on the\n10th<\/sup>\nand 11th<\/sup>.\nIt’s close to Aldebaran in the Hyades V on the 14th<\/sup>.\nAs it continues crossing the sky, it will look like Orion is reaching\nout to the comet with his shield around the 21st<\/sup>.\nFor the rest of the month, ZTF’s movement appears to be much slower.\nIt seems to be on level with Orion’s waistline near the bottom of his\nshield on the 28th<\/sup>.\nThe comet is expected to be much dimmer by that date. Perhaps it will\nrequire binoculars or a telescope to see.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Saturn\nis heading sunward, but maybe you can still see it setting in the\nevening not long after the sun when February begins. The best chance\nis from 15\u00b0 to 20\u00b0 north of the equator. If you can’t find the\nringed planet on the first few evenings of the month, you’ll have to\nwait for it to become a morning object. Saturn’s conjunction is on\nthe 16th<\/sup>\nto 17th<\/sup>.\nAs Saturn disappears, Venus continues climbing above where it was\nacross the constellation Aquarius. It’s on the way out of the\nconstellation by the 10th<\/sup>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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You\nhave a good chance to see and identify Neptune when Venus passes very\nclose to it on the 15th<\/sup>.\nAt their closest, they’ll be less than one minute of arc apart.\nViewers from a swath across central Asia from Bangladesh and\nnorth-northwestward will see them at their closest. You won’t need\nmagnification to see Venus, of course. Neptune will require it\nthough. Binoculars will usually be enough, but a telescope will be\nbetter. And definitely view it from a dark sky. The usual warnings\nabout obstructions on the horizon apply too. A hill, building, and\ndistant clouds can block the view.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A\nthin, crescent moon comes up from below Venus on the 21st<\/sup>\nas Venus continues the climb toward Jupiter. The moon is next to\nJupiter the next evening. Venus won’t be as close to Vesta on the\n24th<\/sup>\nas it was to Neptune, but it’s another object you may find with\nbinoculars. Venus and the asteroid come only as close as 4.6 degrees.\nThat’s about nine full moon widths!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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As\nthe month ends, Venus is closing in on Jupiter. They have a close\nconjunction in March 1st<\/sup>.\nIf your sky is dark enough, you can see the constellation Pisces,\nwhich Jupiter is alongside all month. Pegasus with its Great Square\nis right of it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n