February 2009 astronomy

For the northern hemisphere, planet watching will be limited mostly to Venus and Saturn. Venus continues to shine bright in the west after sunset. Saturn will rise a few hours later. Venus is at perihelion on the 14th. But its retreat into the sun's glare and the later sunsets combine to give you less Venus viewing time night after night.

Things will be better in the southern hemisphere for those who want to spot Jupiter, Mars, and Mercury. They'll move around each other in Capricorn in the morning sky. Mercury is at aphelion on the 26th.

The moon passes south of Saturn on the 11th. Jupiter is a half degree north of Mars on the 17th. The moon is a degree north of Mercury on the 22nd, less than a degree north of Jupiter on the 23rd, and 1.5 degrees north of Mars on the 23rd. And the crescent moon is south of Venus on the 27th. Mercury is at its greatest elongation, 26 degrees west of the sun, on the 13th.

The moon occults Alcyone on the 4th, Al Niyat on the 17th, Antares on the 17th, Kaus Borealis on the 20th. Please see the occultations page for visibility maps.

There's a penumbral lunar eclipse on the 9th. It lasts from 12:37 to 16:40. This isn't the type of eclipse in which it looks like a chunk has been taken out of the moon. Rather, the moon will pass through the outer part of the earth's shadow. The moon will still be lit up by some sunlight, just not enough for full illumination. If you could be on the moon during the eclipse, the earth would partially eclipse the sun.

The penumbral eclipse will be visible in its entirety from the Arctic, most of Asia, Australia, most of the Pacific, and far northwestern North America. The moon will rise during the eclipse for eastern Europe and eastern Africa. It'll be setting during the eclipse for much of North America. Here's a visibility map.