SkyEye

The Calendar

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. Dwarf planets and small solar-system bodies, including comets, are not so constrained, often moving far above or below the ecliptic.

Sun Capricornus → Aquarius

The equation of time is at its absolute minimum on 11 February. Local noon as defined by the clock occurs over 14 minutes before the Sun crosses the meridian.

Mercury Sagittarius → Capricornus

For observers in southern latitudes, this is the best time to observe Mercury. It vaults above the eastern horizon just before sunrise, reaching greatest elongation west on 7 February. The views from the northern hemisphere are not as good, with the tiny planet only slowly gaining altitude until around mid-month.

Venus Sagittarius → Capricornus

The morning star continues its slow descent towards the horizon but it is still well-placed for viewing from southern locations. For the first time since 2005, all five bright planets are visible in the sky at the same time. Mercury begins the show, low in the east, with brilliant Venus not far away. Dimmer Saturn and Mars follow the path of the ecliptic to bright Jupiter in the west. Try to catch this spectacle early in the month before Mercury gets too close to the horizon.

Mars Libra

Steadily brightening from first magnitude, this reddish object is at west quadrature on 7 February and rises around midnight.

Jupiter Leo

With opposition next month, the largest planet in the solar system rises soon after sunset and is aloft most of the night.

Saturn Ophiuchus

You will have to get up early to spot the ringed planet. It is a morning sky object and doesn't rise until after midnight.

Uranus Pisces

This green-coloured ice giant is getting increasingly difficult to see in the evening twilight as it approaches conjunction with the Sun in early April. Look for it in the west after sunset.

Neptune Aquarius

At solar conjunction on 28 February, the most distant planet in the solar system is unobservable this month.