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What's in the Sky - February 2024

It's February and that means c-c-cold outdoor temps for those of us in mid-northern latitudes. Your comfort level for stargazing will be proportional to how well you bundle up in cold weather apparel — from head to toes. So layer up, stash a couple of hand warmers in your coat pockets, and pour yourself a thermos of hot chocolate or coffee to warm your insides, then get out there — even if for just an hour or so — and enjoy February's crisp night skies.

New Moon
February 9th is New Moon. On this night, and for a few nights before and after when the Moon is thin and out of the way, the sky will be nice and dark for viewing and photographing fainter deep-sky objects with your telescope without moonlight interference.

Comet 12P/Pons-Brooks
The time around New Moon will be perfect for tracking down a comet that has been getting some attention in recent months. Comet 12P/Pons-Brooks is a periodic comet that has exhibited several outbursts of brightening since last summer. It is expected to reach maximum brightness in April, and may reach naked-eye visibility next month. Around the time of February's New Moon it is traveling in the constellation Cygnus and heading toward Lacerta in the evening sky, but sinking to about 20 degrees above the west-northwest horizon after evening twilight by month's end. You may even be able to distinguish its fuzzy visage with a pair of astro binoculars.

Valentine's Day Conjunction
After that romantic dinner at the fancy restaurant on Valentine's Day, February 14, take a look in the western sky to find the waxing crescent Moon and Jupiter getting kind of close themselves. Separated by only about 3-1/2 degrees, they make a pretty naked-eye pair.

Winter Star Clusters
Look east of constellation Canis Major's brightest star Sirius with a telescope to see two beautiful open star clusters, M46 and M47, in the constellation Puppis. For more star cluster observations this month, browse the constellation Auriga to go after Messier Catalog gems M36, M37, and M38.

Special Spirals
February serves up some special spiral galaxies that are worth targeting with your telescope, on evenings when the Moon is not too imposing. For starters, the Great Andromeda Galaxy, M31, glows in the northwest sky in — where else? — the constellation Andromeda, not far from the easily identifiable Great Square of Pegasus. Readily visible in binoculars, M31's glowing core and the dimmer, diffuse area around it look wonderful in even a small telescope of 4" (~100mm). The face-on spiral M51, the Whirlpool Galaxy, can also be glimpsed with a small telescope under dark skies, thanks to its relatively high surface brightness. But it will show more definition and a bit of spiral structure in an 8" or larger scope. Look for it about 3.5 degrees east of Alkaid, the star at the end of the Big Dipper's handle. And since you're in the vicinity of the Big Dipper, why not check out the oval-shaped spiral M81, Bode's Galaxy? (Actually, Johann Elert Bode described it as a nebula when he discovered it in 1774.) You'll need a star chart to locate it near the "pan" of the Dipper. With an 8" or larger telescope you will be able to detect the wispy two-arm spiral structure of M81.

February Challenge Object
In the constellation Monoceros lies the 9th-magnitude Hubble's Variable Nebula (NGC 2261), named after the astronomer Edwin Hubble (yes, the namesake of the Hubble Telescope). While small, this distant reflection nebula is bright enough to be picked out as a pin point of light with 70mm binoculars. As the name implies, it does vary in size and brightness since its glow is "powered" by a variable star buried within its nebulosity.

All objects described above can easily be seen with the suggested equipment from a dark sky site, a viewing location some distance away from city lights where light pollution and when bright moonlight does not overpower the stars.