What’s Up in the Night Sky? – February 2024

Fred Barrett | Jan 31, 2024

Compared to most months, this one has nothing particularly exciting, spectacular or easily available to jangle your nerves or give you that hit of adrenaline, but then again, there’s a whole universe on display every clear night just begging to be rummaged in and rambled about with trusty binoculars or modest telescope. Who knows what you might stumble on!

There are sights to see this month that will give you a good feeling of wonder and reflection. Saturn is available for viewing early in the month on the western horizon soon after sunset. On the 10th, a very new Moon is a bit south of Saturn. An added bonus that evening would be to find Neptune 15 degrees above and a bit left of Saturn. Binoculars, at least, are necessary but a modest telescope would be better.

Jupiter is a bright gem high in the south just after sunset through February and the dance of the 4 Galilean moons are easy to follow through your binoculars every night. It sets about midnight early in the month but earlier as the month progresses. The Great Red Spot storm revolves with Jupiter’s turbulent atmosphere every 10 hours and you might be out at a time to catch a glimpse of it.

On February 22, there’s a special sight to see about an hour before sunrise. Find a nice low southeast horizon and the reward will be a view of Mars a little less than a degree south of Venus.

Highlights this month: Feb. 2: Last quarter Moon. Feb. 8: The Moon passes 4 degrees south of Mars at 2 am. Feb. 9: New Moon. Feb. 10: The Moon is at perigee – 356,000 km. The Moon passes 1.8 degrees south of Saturn at 8 pm. Feb. 12: The Moon passes 0.7 degrees south of Neptune at 2 am. Feb.15: The Moon passes 3 degrees north of Jupiter at 3 am. The Moon passes 3 degrees north of Uranus at 9 pm. Feb. 16: First quarter Moon. Feb. 22: Venus is 0.8 degrees north of Mars an hour before sunrise in the southeast. Feb. 24: Full Moon. This Moon is called the Full Snow Moon since February is the snowiest month of the year. With the weather being so squirrelly in recent times, perhaps it should be renamed the Full Freezing Rain Moon! That gets my vote. Feb. 25: The Moon is at apogee – 403,952 km. Feb. 28: Saturn is in conjunction with the Sun.

Keep looking up! There are an infinite number of sights to see. And watch for those late night sporadic meteors!

Don’t forget to check out events at the North Frontenac Dark Sky site, or, as it’s known now, the North Frontenac Astronomy Park.

Also check the Lennox and Addington Dark Sky Viewing Area for observing opportunities this summer.

The Royal Astronomical Society of Canada (RASC) website https://rasc.ca has a listing of astronomy events for Ontario and the Kingston branch of the RASC website lists events happening, especially in our area.

Feel free to contact me with questions or observations at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.