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TONIGHT'S SKY |
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Tonight's Sky |
The sky is not a painting, it's a movie. Stars pulse, flare, some explode as supernova, asteroids whiz by the earth, new comets appear in the sky, Aurora sets the northern skies ablaze and meteors streak through Earth's atmosphere.
The Full Moon for February The Full Snow Moon – The heaviest snow usually falls during this month, native tribes of the north and east most often called February’s full Moon the Full Snow Moon. Some tribes also referred to this Moon as the Full Hunger Moon, since harsh weather conditions in their areas made hunting very difficult.
The Planets Visibility for February On February 22nd in the western evening sky will be a crescent Moon, Mercury ,Uranus, Venus and Jupiter. Mercury Mercury will become visible again late February and remain visible for the rest of February. On February 22nd the crescent Moon will be just to the right of Mercury at 05°36'06" apart. On the 22nd Mercury will be -1.2 magnitude at a phase of 87.59%. Venus Venus midmonth at -4.1 magnitude, diameter 17.0", illumination 69.16%. Venus, the brightest planet, is bright in the west southwest sky after sunset. Venus is located in the constellation Pisces and sets at about 9:14 p.m. Venus continues its climb higher in the sky towards Jupiter appearing only 3 degrees from each other on March 13th. Mars Mars at midmonth at magnitude -0.9, diameter 13.0" in the constellation Leo the Lion in the east rising around 7:30 pm. The best time this month to view Mars is around midnight as it is higher in the sky without a lot of air mass to look through. Mars appears over 13 arc-seconds across, just large enough to see the planet’s north polar cap and dark markings scattered across its rust-hued deserts through a telescope of 8 inches or greater diameter. To see which part of the surface is visible at any time, check out the Mars Profiler at Sky & Telescope Magazine's web page. JUPITER Jupiter midmonth at magnitude -2.3, diameter 37.0" located in the constellation Aries. Jupiter shines bright high in west after sunset and sets at 11:30 p.m. Watch week after week as Jupiter become lower in the evening sky and Venus climbs higher in the sky and the two planets slowly draws closer to each other in March. A small telescope will easily reveal four of Jupiter's largest and brightest moons. Jupiter the largest planet in our solar system. Check out Sky & Telescope's Jupiter Moons Utility for other configurations. Sky and Telescope Red Spot Calculator SATURN Saturn at midmonth is magnitude +0.5, diameter 18.0", located in the constellation Virgo and is near the bright star (About 7 degrees) from Spica all month long. Saturn rises midmonth around 11 p.m. Saturn begins retrograde motion on the 8th.The planet is best viewed this month in the early morning hours. A small telescope will reveal the famous rings of the planet. URANUS Uranus midmonth is magnitude +5.9, diameter 3.4", located in the constellation Pisces in the west after sunset. Uranus will be close to Venus on the 9th, when the two planets are only about ⅓° or 00°18'00" apart near 7:00 pm of the 9th. NEPTUNE Neptune at midmonth is magnitude +8.0, diameter 2.2", located in the constellation Aquarius low in the west after sunset. Neptune will be too close to the Sun to see and will be in conjunction with the Sun on the 19th. Bright Minor Planets 433 Eros draws closer to Earth and made its closest pass to Earth approaching to 0.1787 AU (16.6 million miles) from Earth on 2012 JAN 31 at magnitude +8.6. Visible Dwarf Planets Pluto Pluto at magnitude +14.1, diameter 0.1" is in Sagittarius, too near the Sun to be seen. COMETS Comets brighter than 8th magnitude based on current estimates for northern hemisphere observers C/2009P1 (Garradd) Comet Garradd this month is at estimated 6.1 magnitude visible in the morning sky in the constellation Hercules for beginning of February. On February 14th it moves into Draco then on February 29th/March 1st it is in Ursa Minor then crosses into Draco again and then into Ursa Major, the Big Dipper on March 17/18th. The comet will be closest to Earth on 2012 March 5 (1.27 AU). only 05°18'33.215" from Kochab, a second magnitude star in the bowl of the Little Dipper. Seeky Map for March 5th: Sky Map. See: Orbit view. For more on Comets and locations see: Seiichi Yoshida web site here. METEORS No major meteor showers this month Some local links below to Heavens Above satellite information website. Satellites visible from Hanover Satellites visible from Gettysburg Satellites visible from Lancaster Satellites visible from Baltimore Satellites visible from Harrisburg Also see: Spaceflight NASA The Sun Real time solar wind dials are linked live to the ACE Spacecraft. If the dial on the left (Magnetic Field) has dipped below zero, the speed is high and the dial dynamic pressure is in the yellow/red, be alert for Aurora. Anytime the gauges are in the Red and the dial on the left, the Magnetic Field BZ has dipped to the yellow-red... Aurora will be occurring in our area. See link to solar wind gauge here: REAL TIME SOLAR WIND See explanation of solar wind dials below by clicking on photo of dials
Solar Wind Dials
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