What’s Up in the Night Sky? – February 2023

Fred Barrett | Feb 01, 2023

Snow, snow snow! It sure would be nice to have lots of starry light falling from a clear sky instead. There are no meteor showers to speak of this month except for the unexpected and random streaks of sporadic background meteors. We do have the Zodiacal light making its spring equinox appearance about the 11th as a bit of eye magic to enjoy.

To review for you, the Zodiacal light is a diffuse cone or triangle of light that rises up from the western horizon as spring approaches. It is a radiant light reflecting off particles in the thin disk of debris that ranges through the inner solar system and extends out to the orbit of Jupiter. The debris originates from tiny materials boiling off comets and material thrown off by asteroid collisions. The small particles can range in size from about a few micrometers to a centimeter or 2. This ring orbits in the ecliptic plane – the plane in which the planets travel around the solar system. Thus, the best time to observe its glow is when the axis of the Earth’s rotation is at a maximum to the ecliptic plane - perpendicular to the horizon. This occurs around the time of the spring and autumnal equinoxes. At the spring equinox (February-March), it will appear about an hour after sunset on the western horizon. During the time of the autumnal equinox, it shows itself on the eastern horizon before dawn.

Start looking for it soon after sunset on the 11th. It will last for about 2 hours before it sinks below the horizon. Go to the darkest place you can find, which shouldn’t be hard out here, dark adapt your eyes and scan the west slowly. I find binoculars help spot the transition between normal dark space and the glow of the cone rising from the horizon. You can try again each night for the roughly 2 weeks that it lasts.

While you are viewing west, look for the 3 planets that will share the sky there every evening in February. They are Mars, Venus and Jupiter. Make sure to look early in the evening because Venus and Jupiter will set pretty quickly. Mars will hang around until after midnight. They can be seen by eye but binoculars are a help. A telescope is the gold standard to bring out details on Jupiter and Mars. I needn’t have to remind you that the easily viewable Galilean moons are always fascinating in their dance around Jupiter.

Uranus, pronounced URAH -NUS (and not the other tiresome and rude way), is an easy binocular sight in the relatively starless south part of the constellation Aries. Towards the end of the month, it is down near the western horizon below the Pleiades. A star map from the internet is a great help.

The James Webb Space Telescope has more than lived up to its expectations. The incredibly complicated opening up and placement in its orbital position, was a complete success. Everything works better than was thought possible! Just check the internet for pictures and discussion of the new discoveries that are occurring daily. There’s enough fuel to last more than 10 years and that’s twice its design life of 5 years.

Here’s a head’s up for viewing a comet. Check Mars through your binoculars on the 10th and 11th. You might possibly be able to see Comet C/2022 E3 [ZTF] near Mars. It would appear as a faint furry ball 1.5 degrees northeast of the red planet on the 10th and 2 degrees south of it on the 11th. Good hunting!

February is a bit of a slow month for exciting events but there’s so much up in the night sky that you’re bound to stumble on something eye catching with your binoculars. Start with the Orion nebula in the majestic constellation Orion up in the south. Look above it to Auriga with its many DSO’s. Auriga has the shape of a house with the bright star Capella at its upper right near the open cluster NGC 1664. Make side trips to other areas of the sky while you’re up there, and investigate!

Here’s a brief summary for February:

Feb. 4: the Moon is at apogee – 404,117 Kms. Feb. 5: Full Moon at 1:29 EST. This full moon is called the Snow Moon for obvious reasons. It’s also named the Full Storm Moon and the Full Hunger Moon – the time of year when food starts to run short in the depth of winter. Of course, in our modern society, we might call it the Full Runaway Inflation Moon which also causes hunger among other things! Feb. 13: Last quarter moon. Feb.14: Valentine’s day –better not forget!! Feb. 15: Venus passes 0.01 degrees south of Neptune at 7 am. It’s a tough one to catch. Feb. 19: The moon is at perigee – 356,187 Kms. Feb. 20: New moon. Feb.21: At dusk, the thin crescent moon is 6 degrees below Venus. Feb. 22: The crescent moon is 2 degrees south of Venus at 3 am EST and 1.2 degrees left of Jupiter at 5 pm EST. Feb. 27: First quarter moon. Moon passes 1.1 degrees north of Mars at midnight. Feb. 28: Jupiter and Venus are 1.5 degrees apart at dusk.

Watch for spring in March. I wouldn’t want to miss it. Hope it shows up!

Follow the links below for information and upcoming events at the North Frontenac Dark Sky Preserve:

www.northfrontenac.com/en/open-for-business/dark-sky-preserve.aspx

www.visitfrontenac.ca/en/explore-and-do/dark-sky-preserve.aspx

Also check https://rasc.ca/ottawa-centre for area news and events.

Useful books, star charts and related items for beginners and through to advanced amateurs can be ordered from the Royal Astronomical Society of Canada at www.rasc.ca/publications. A subscription to our very own excellent Canadian astronomy magazine “SkyNews” can be arranged at the RASC website.

Fill me in on your observations and send me your questions. I welcome emails and all feedback. You can contact me through this paper or email me at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. Clear Skies!