Welcome to SkyEye, your guide to this month's celestial events. All times and dates are given in Universal Time (UT). Nightly darkness estimates are calculated for Greenwich, London (51.5° N, 0° W).

Calendar of Events - February 2005

Date Event
1 Tue
2 Wed Last Quarter Moon
3 Thu Neptune at conjunction
4 Fri Parts of Europe will be able to see the Moon occult the first-magnitude star Antares at around 0500.
5 Sat
6 Sun
7 Mon Dark skies will aid southern hemisphere observers as they watch this year's alpha Centaurids meteor shower.
Moon at perigee
8 Tue New Moon
9 Wed
10 Thu
11 Fri
12 Sat
13 Sun
14 Mon Mercury at superior conjunction
15 Tue
16 Wed First Quarter Moon
17 Thu
18 Fri
19 Sat
20 Sun Moon at apogee
21 Mon
22 Tue
23 Wed
24 Thu Full Moon
25 Fri Uranus at conjunction
26 Sat
27 Sun Penguins and other denizens of Antarctica will see the Moon occult Jupiter.
28 Mon

The Solar System

The word planet is derived from the Greek word for "wanderer." Unlike the background stars, planets seem to move around the sky, keeping mostly to a narrow track called the ecliptic, the path of the Sun across the stars.

Sun
Location: Capricornus -> Aquarius
Mercury
Location: Capricornus -> Aquarius
The closest planet to the Sun is a morning sky object but is getting very low and disappears by mid-month as it reaches superior conjunction on Valentine's Day. Northern hemisphere observers will get the best late-month views when Mercury reappears in the west after sunset at the end of the month.
Venus
Location: Sagittarius -> Capricornus -> Aquarius
The "morning star" is getting lower and lower in the eastern sky with southern hemisphere observers getting the best views.
Mars
Location: Sagittarius
Get up early in order to see the red planet rising before sunrise.
Jupiter
Location: Virgo
The largest planet in the solar system is getting easier to observe as it now rises before midnight.
Saturn
Location: Gemini
The lord of the rings was at opposition last month and is still visible in the sky for most of the night, setting after the red planet Mars rises.
Uranus
Location: Aquarius
Uranus reaches conjunction with the Sun on 25 February and cannot be seen this month.
Neptune
Location: Capricornus
Neptune reaches conjunction 22 days ahead of its outer solar system neighbour and thus is too close to the Sun to observe this month.
Pluto
Location: Serpens (Cauda)
With a brightness of around fourteenth magnitude, the smallest planet in the solar system can be seen only through a good-sized telescope. It rises early, before the much brighter Mars.

The Celestial Sphere

Constellations are patterns of stars in the sky. The International Astronomical Union (IAU) recognises 88 different constellations. The brightest stars as seen from the Earth are easy to spot but do you know their proper names? With a set of binoculars you can look for fainter objects such as nebulae and galaxies or some of the closest stars to the Sun.

Descriptions of the sky for observers in both the northern and southern hemispheres are available for the following times this month. Subtract one hour from your local time if summer (daylight savings) time is in effect.

Local Time Northern Hemisphere Southern Hemisphere
1730 hours (1830 hours summer time) 45° N 30° S
1930 hours (2030 hours summer time) 45° N 30° S
2130 hours (2230 hours summer time) 45° N 30° S
2330 hours (0030 hours summer time) 45° N 30° S
0130 hours (0230 hours summer time) 45° N 30° S
0330 hours (0430 hours summer time) 45° N 30° S
0530 hours (0630 hours summer time) 45° N 30° S

For More Information...

Credits

Much of this information can be found in this month's issue of your favourite amateur astronomy magazine available in your local bookshop. Another excellent source is the current edition of the Astronomical Calendar by Guy Ottewell and published by the Universal Workshop at Furman University.

The image of the Sun in the SkyEye banner is courtesy of the SOHO/EIT consortium. The composite image from May 1998 combines EIT images from three wavelengths (171Å, 195Å and 284Å) into one that reveals solar features unique to each wavelength. SOHO is a project of international cooperation between ESA and NASA.

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