The new moon arrives just after Valentine’s Day, on Feb. 15. For people in the Northern Hemisphere, the summer stars will make their last appearance in the evening sky, and planets will be rising after midnight.
A new moon is, officially, when the moon is at the same celestial longitude as the sun. That means both the sun and the moon are on the same north-south line from near Polaris, the North Star , so the sun is directly behind the moon and the Earth-facing side of the moon is completely in shadow. This, of course, means the moon isn’t visible in the sky, and it rises and sets at approximately the same time as the sun. It also means that there’s no bright light in the sky washing out fainter objects. This is good for observing binocular-friendly nebulas and spotting fainter stars.
February moon reaches peak “newness” at 4:05 p.m. EST (2105 GMT) on Feb. 15. A day or two later, a tiny sliver of the moon should be visible, just after the sun sets. For observers in New York City, the sun sets at 5:33 p.m. on Feb. 17, and the moon sets just about 2 hours later, at 7:27 p.m. , according to timeanddate.com. (All additional times listed below for are for New York City.) [Moon Phase Mysteries: Some Common Questions Answered ]
Something else to look for in the February sky: Venus makes its appearance as the evening star.The planet will rise on the day of the new moon at 7:20 a.m., about a half-hour after the sun does. The sun sets at 5:40 p.m. on Feb. 15, and about a half-hour later, Venus will still be out, about 13 degrees above the horizon. (Your fist held at arm’s length takes up about 10 degrees. You can read more about measuring distances on the sky here .) The planet sets at about 6:12 p.m., according to the U.S. Naval Observatory website. As the month passes, Venus will set a couple of minutes later each day. The sun will do the same, but Venus will be moving farther away from the sun from the perspective of Earth, and will become more easily visible. (A good exercise is to see how close to sunset you can spot the planet; sharp-eyed observers can even catch it while the sky is still quite light.)
This illustration (made using real images and data) shows the moon in shadow during the “new moon” lunar phase.
Credit: NASA Earth Observatory
Mercury is hard to spot, but it will also be an evening “star.” By Feb. 19, it sets at 5:41 p.m., just 6 minutes after the sun does. (Use caution when looking for Mercury when it appears so close to the sun. It is NEVER safe look directly at any portion of the sun’s disk without using solar viewing glasses , which will render Mercury invisible.) You likely won’t be able to see it, as the sky will still be light even after the sun dips below the horizon. But by month’s end, the planet will be approaching Venus, though it will still set before Venus does. By Feb. 28, for example, Mercury will set at about 6:33 p.m., while the sun goes down at 5:45 p.m. in New York.
Jupiter , meanwhile, which spent January close to Venus in the morning sky, is still an after-midnight observing target. On Feb. 15, the “king of planets” rises at 12:38 a.m. in New York City and sets in the mid-morning. So by sunrise, it will be quite high in the sky and relatively easy to spot. The ringed planet Saturn will also be an early riser; on Feb. 15, it will rise at 4:01 a.m. . Saturn gets up earlier each day, and by Feb. 28, it will be rising at 3:14 a.m. EST.
Best Night Sky Events of February 2018 (Stargazing Maps)
Fans of Mars will not have to stay up quite so late (or get up as early). The Red Planet rises at 2:14 on Feb. 15, so by sunrise, it will be well up in the southeastern sky.
Deep-sky objects, like the Orion Nebula and the Andromeda galaxy , will be well placed for viewing on the same evening. The Orion Nebula, or M42, is in the constellation Orion, and rises right around sunset in February (which is after 5 p.m. in midnorthern latitudes).
The Andromeda galaxy, meanwhile, will be high in the sky at sunset, near the meridian (the highest point it gets to) and visible in a good pair of binoculars. City lights often obscure this galaxy, but binoculars make it easily visible.
February also marks the “loss” of visibility for what are traditionally considered “summer stars” in the Northern Hemisphere. All stars rise and set about 4 minutes earlier each day as a result of Earth’s orbital motion. Cygnus the swan , for example, is visible only briefly in the western sky in the early evening in February. (A few months later, it will rise in the east near the time of sunset.)
Winter constellations such as Orion, though, are still up for almost the entire night, showing up in the eastern sky just after sunset. Orion is easily recognizable by the three stars that make up the constellation’s “belt”: Alnilam, Alnitak and Mintaka. Dangling from Alnitak (the easternmost of the three) is the “sword” of Orion, which marks the position of the Orion Nebula. Orion is one of the constellations in which most of the stars are bright enough to be visible even in cities.
The constellation Canis Major , the Big Dog, contains Sirius , the brightest star in the northern skies. It’s also visible even from a brightly lit city, and in fact, that’s one way to recognize it — from the streets of downtown New York, it’s one of the few stars skywatchers can see at all.
In the early evenings, the Big Dipper will actually be more difficult to see; at about 6 p.m. local time, it will appear to be “below” and to the right of the Pole Star, Polaris, with the bowl of the Dipper (the stars Dubhe and Merak) pointing to the left. Because it’s close to the horizon, it is easy to lose behind buildings and hills. As a night of observing progresses, observers can watch the Big Dipper (and the constellation it is a part of, Ursa Major, the big bear) slowly move counterclockwise around the sky; in midnorthern latitudes, the Big Dipper never sets. Eventually, by midnight, the dipper appears upside down, as though pouring out its contents.
Editor’s note: If you have an amazing night sky photo you’d like to share with us and our news partners for a possible story or image gallery, please contact managing editor Tariq Malik at spacephotos@space.com.
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