February ’25 – Rick’s Picks

Transient Events That Can Give Us a Good Enough Reason to Get Outside and Do a Little Observing

All month: the solar system overwhelmingly favors evening observers again this month, but very early risers can still spend quality time with Mars, and both Saturn and Neptune will join the red planet in the morning sky soon, after reaching conjunction next month. This month, they’re both still early evening targets: Saturn sets before 8 pm on Feb 1 and before 6:30 pm on Feb 28, becoming a nearly impossible naked eye catch after Feb 22. Its 16” disk glows at an unimpressive mag +1.1 all month, as the rings flatten from 2.8° to 1.3° on their way to ring plane crossing on March 23, which will unfortunately be hidden by the solar glare just 11 days after Saturn reaches conjunction. Neptune is next, on the way to its own conjunction on March 19, setting before 9 pm on Feb 1 and just after 7 pm at month’s end, its 2” disk visible as a mag 7.9 blue gem all month. Mercury is hidden in the solar glare as February opens, but reaches superior conjunction on Feb 9 and becomes visible as an evening star around Feb 21, when it sets 42 minutes after the Sun. Its gibbous disk continues to grace the evening sky for the remainder of the month, reaching mag -1.1 and 6” diameter by month’s end. Venus also remains an evening target: as the month opens, it’s a fat crescent 32” wide and 38% illuminated, blazing at mag -4.8 and setting just before 9 pm (nearly 4 hours after the Sun). It reaches its greatest brightness on Valentine’s Day at mag -4.9, when it sets 3½ hours after sunset, and ends the month as a gorgeous narrow crescent at mag -4.8, 48” tall and only 16% illuminated, setting just before 8:30 pm. Uranus is the next planet down, its 4” disk teasing naked eye visibility (from a dark site) at mag 5.7. It sets after 1:30 am on Feb 1 but before midnight on Feb 28. Jupiter follows about 90 minutes later, its disk shrinking from 43” to 40” and fading from mag -2.5 to -2.3 over the course of the month. That leaves Mars, rapidly deteriorating from its Jan 16 opposition: its disk shrinks from 14” to only 11” during February as it fades sharply from mag -1.1 to -0.3. The red planet rises in the afternoon and sets less than an hour before sunrise on Feb 1, but disappears more than two hours before sunup by month’s end, forming a striking and slowly-shifting triangle with Castor and Pollux all month long. Among the asteroids, 29 Amphitrite reaches opposition Feb 13 at mag 9.2, easily found near The Sickle of Leo; this month’s charts will show you where to look for it each night.
Feb 1: brilliant Venus parades toward the horizon after sunset tonight 2.4° to the right and slightly above a charming 3½ day old crescent Moon, with much fainter Saturn (only 1/200 as bright as Venus) blazing the trail 10° ahead of the pair. Binoculars or a wide field eyepiece will let you capture Neptune as well, 1.1° below left of the crescent and less than 1/100,000 as bright as Venus – but you’ll have to watch for the planet’s telltale blue tint in order to tell it apart from a downward-pointing triangle of mag 8 and 9 stars that surrounds it. The sky should be dark enough for a good view by 6:07 pm CST (an hour after sunset), but you can admire the group until Neptune and Venus set shortly before 9 pm.
Feb 3: to appreciate the size of Jupiter’s moon Ganymede, watch tonight as its shadow takes almost 10 minutes to cross the edge of Jove’s disk as it begins a shadow transit at 12:40 am CST. The shadow completes its trek across the big planet at 3:01 am, preceded by Ganymede itself making the journey from 7:56 to 10:10 pm.
Feb 6: the first quarter Moon forms the upper end of a ragged line with Jupiter and Aldebaran (Alpha [] Tauri) as the trio cross the sky tonight. From now through Feb 9, the Moon will join Jupiter and Mars within the area occupied by the familiar Winter Hexagon of bright stars, making it a crowded jumble of bright lights.
Feb 7: Europa treks across Jupiter from 6:11 to 8:43 pm CST, followed by its shadow from 8:33 to 11:08 pm.
Feb 8: at 6:06 pm CST, binoculars will let you watch mag 5.3 star 49 Aurigae duck behind the dark edge of the gibbous Moon. Start watching several minutes before that to make sure you don’t miss the disappearance. Later, watch Io transit the face of Jupiter from 7:33 to 9:44 pm, followed by its shadow from 8:46 to 10:58 pm.
Feb 9: the gibbous Moon disrupts the symmetry of the triangle formed by Mars, Castor, and Pollux – but by 3:30 am CST it has swung around to form a straight line with the two stars, restoring a little order before dawn. Before that happens, though, mag 5.3 star 76 Geminorum slips behind the Moon’s narrow dark limb at 11:21 pm. You’ll need at least binoculars, and possibly a telescope, to see the star disappear.
Feb 12: the full Moon and Regulus (Alpha [] Leonis) cross the sky together just 1½° apart tonight.
Feb 14: if you’re under dark skies during the next two weeks, look west after sunset for the zodiacal light, a tall triangle of subtle light reflected off solar system debris, riding the steep spring ecliptic up from the horizon. If you’re under more mediocre skies, you can at least watch Europa march across the face of Jupiter tonight from 8:40 to 11:12 pm CST, followed by its shadow from 11:09 pm to 1:43 am.
Feb 15: Io crosses Jupiter from 9:26 to 11:37 pm CST, followed by its shadow from 10:42 pm to 12:54 am.
Feb 16: while most of the Galilean moons pass in front of or behind the huge disk of Jupiter, the outermost one, Callisto, usually passes above or below it. Watch it overfly Jove’s north pole tonight from 6:30 to 9:00 pm CST.
Feb 21 (night of Feb 20): night owls and early risers get a treat tonight as the thick crescent Moon and Antares (Alpha [] Scorpii) rise together just after 2 am CST, separated by less than 1°, and reach almost 20° elevation by 5:07 am (90 minutes before sunrise). With mag 3 stars Tau () and Sigma () Scorpii, symmetrically spaced 2° below and 2° above right of Antares, they’ll make a stunning tableau in a 5° binocular field. To cap off the show, Tau slips behind the lower limb of the Moon at 5:41 am, just about at the base of the terminator, and pops out from the dark side, just a little farther to the right, at 6:05 am – a challenging view just 32 minutes before sunup.
Feb 24: at 6:06 pm CST (a half hour after sunset), point your binoculars or telescope just 5° above the west horizon and directly above the spot where the Sun went down to catch a close pairing of dim mag +1.1 Saturn 1½° left of Mercury (8 times as bright at mag -1.1) as they cruise westward together. Brilliant Venus shines its spotlight 22° directly above them. You’ll have to be quick to get the pair in view before Mercury sets at 6:31 pm. Meanwhile, Io crosses Jupiter’s disk from 5:48 to 8:00 pm, followed by its shadow from 7:07 to 9:19 pm.
Feb 28: for a worthwhile challenge around 6:11 pm CST (a half hour after sunset), aim your binoculars or a wide field eyepiece low in the west and directly above the spot where the Sun went down – directly below Venus, blazing away 25° above the horizon. First, find mag -1.1 Mercury 8½° up, then look 5½° directly below that for much fainter mag +1.1 Saturn. Now look carefully just below a spot halfway between them, where you’ll see a vanishingly thin crescent Moon less than a day old (it was new at 6:45 pm yesterday). You’ll have to work fast before Saturn sets at 6:27, followed by the Moon at 6:39.

Rick Gering / February 2025