Transient Events That Can Give Us a Good Enough Reason to Get Outside and Do a Little Observing
All month: the planets have abandoned the morning sky. In the evening, Jupiter continues to dominate the scene like a playground bully, overpowering Uranus (who hides behind The Pleiades like a frightened toddler), while Saturn and Neptune join Venus and Mercury cowering near the sunset horizon, and Mars remains out of sight in the solar glare. Mercury and Venus begin the month too close to the Sun to observe them safely, but the ecliptic is beginning to rise more steeply from the sunset horizon as we push towards springtime, so their separation from the Sun translates into elevation fairly quickly. Venus sets first, sliding under the horizon 34 minutes after the Sun on Feb 10 and 57 minutes after sunset at month’s end. It spends the month at mag -3.9 with a disk 10 arcseconds wide and more than 98% illuminated. Mercury follows, setting 66 minutes after the Sun on Feb 10 and 28, but 89 minutes after sunset when it reaches greatest eastern elongation 18° from the Sun on Feb 19. During that period, its disk grows from 5.7 to 9.2 arcseconds as it dims from mag -1.1 to +1.7 and its shape progresses from gibbous to crescent. Saturn and Neptune are not far behind, and remain within 2° of each other all month. The pair set just about 9 pm as February begins but before 7:30 when it ends, as they both head towards solar conjunction in late March. They’ll become poor targets after mid-month as they descend into the turbulent air near the horizon. The 16 arcsecond disk of Saturn fades imperceptibly from mag +1.0 to +1.1 as its rings slowly continue to open, while Neptune glows softly at mag 7.9 with a 2 arcsecond disk. Uranus is next to set, just before 2 am on Feb 1 and shortly after midnight on Feb 28. Its mag 5.7 disk is 3½ arcseconds wide. The rest of the night belongs exclusively to Jupiter: rising in the afternoon, it sets shortly before 6 am as the month opens, and two hours earlier as it ends. It dims slightly, from mag -2.6 to -2.5 over the course of the month, as its disk shrinks from 46 to 43 arcseconds. Among the asteroids, 7 Iris reaches opposition on Feb 27 at a binocular-friendly mag 8.9. This month’s charts will show you where to find both Iris and Uranus.
Feb 1: start the month with an early-evening show by Europa as it marches across the face of Jupiter from 6:37 to 9:27 pm CST, followed by its shadow from 7:37 to 10:35 pm.
Feb 2: mag 1.4 Regulus (Alpha [] Leonis) slowly slips behind the bottom edge of the almost-full Moon at 7:45 pm CST, just 15° above the east horizon. Be sure to start watching several minutes before that to be sure you don’t miss it. The star will just as slowly re-emerge from the Moon’s top right edge at 8:41 pm.
Feb 3: Callisto, the most distant Galilean moon, normally appears to pass above or below Jupiter from our perspective as a result of its large orbit – but tonight, it will pass behind the planet, slowly disappearing from 8:28 to 8:37 pm CST. It will reappear from behind the disk over a similar period, from 12:25 to 12:35 am.
Feb 7: variable star fans celebrate as Mira (Omicron [o] Ceti) is expected to reach maximum brightness for this cycle at mag 3.4. It was the first star whose brightness was observed to change over time, leading Hevelius to name it Mira (“the wonderful one”) in 1662.
Feb 8: Europa transits again tonight, crossing the face of Jupiter from 8:55 to 11:45 pm CST, followed by its shadow from 10:20 pm to 1:11 am.
Feb 11: night owls and early risers get a nice view this morning as the crescent Moon rises less than 4° lower left of ruddy Antares (Alpha [] Scorpii) just after 3 am CST. Binoculars will bring out the color contrast between Earth’s gray companion and the reddish star, until morning twilight washes out the scene around 6:30 am.
Feb 18: it’s a busy night for transits on Jupiter tonight, as Ganymede strolls across the planet from before sunset until 7:39 pm CST, followed by its shadow from 7:58 to 11:19 pm. If you’re up late, you can watch Io follow a similar path from 12:54 to 3:09 am, followed by its shadow from 1:47 to 4:03 am.
Feb 18 and 19: new Moon arrived Feb 17 at 6:01 am CST, so at 5:58 pm on the 18th (a half hour after sunset) it will be 36 hours old, 2.5% illuminated, 11° above the horizon, and almost directly above the spot where the Sun went down. It will be a quarter-degree below and slightly left of mag -0.6 Mercury, which will be roughly half lit. A fully-lit Venus (mag -3.9) sits 8° lower, just 3° above the horizon, and mag +1.1 Saturn follows 12° above left of the paper-thin crescent. You’ll have to work fast to catch Venus – it sets by 6:15 pm – but you’ll have a little longer to spot the Moon and Mercury, which set together just about 7:00 pm. If you let it get a little darker, or if you’re using a telescope, see if you can spot mag 7.9 Neptune hiding less than a degree to the upper right of Saturn. If you miss the show, it plays again on Feb 19: Mercury and Venus are in about the same spots, but the slightly thicker crescent Moon (7% lit) rides higher, 23° above the horizon and 4° above right of Saturn.
Feb 20: watch Io, the innermost Galilean moon, transit the disk of Jupiter from 7:20 to 9:36 pm CST, followed by its shadow from 8:16 to 10:32 pm. While that’s happening, the outermost Galilean moon, Callisto, disappears into Jupiter’s shadow to the planet’s left, while Europa and Ganymede distract us to its right. The timing of the eclipse is a little unclear: RASC says it’ll happen at 8:18 pm, but Stellarium shows it 5 minutes earlier, so start watching shortly after 8 pm to be sure you don’t miss it. Callisto will reappear, still to the left of Jupiter but farther away, at 12:28 am if RASC is on the money, or 12:31 am if Stellarium gets it right.
Feb 23: look just above the western horizon around 6:04 pm CST (30 minutes after sunset) to spot bright Venus, mag -3.9, just 4° above the horizon and directly above the spot where the Sun went down – then look 6° higher and very slightly to the right to find a fat crescent Mercury, 30% illuminated, glowing at mag 0.0. You’ll have to be quick to spot Venus before it sets around 6:30, but you can take a little more time with Mercury, which sets at 7 pm. Later , watch tonight’s 45% lit Moon cross the sky on the outskirts of The Pleiades (M45), perched at the lip of the dipper, while powder blue Uranus follows along like a stalker 5½° to the lower left. You’ll need at least binoculars to spot either the planet or the cluster’s stars. Pay special attention in the minutes leading up to 9:14 pm, when an outlying cluster member – mag 5.7 star 18 Tauri – slips behind the Moon’s dark limb.
Feb 28 : Venus has been climbing up in the sunset sky while Mercury has been slipping lower, and tonight they end the month neck-and-neck: at 6:10 pm CST (a half hour after sunset), mag -3.9 Venus will be almost 6° above the horizon, directly above the spot where the Sun went down, with mag +2.0 Mercury presenting a nice crescent (11% illuminated) at the same elevation, but nearly 5° to the right and much fainter. If you want to end the month with an observing challenge, find mag +1.0 Saturn 8½° above left of Venus, then see if you can spot mag 7.9 Neptune slightly lower and 1° to the right – binoculars first, then try it with a telescope. Reward yourself later with a view of Callisto transiting Jupiter from 9:19 pm to 1:12 am: its low albedo makes it look almost as dark as other moons’ shadows, so it’s relatively easy to pick out against the Jovian cloudtops. Rick Gering – February 2026