Listen: https://soundcloud.com/astrophiz/astrophiz227februaryskyguide
Transcript:
Brendan: Welcome to the Astrophiz Podcasts.
My name is Brendan O ‘Brien and first of all, we would like to acknowledge Australia’s first astronomers, the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, the traditional owners and custodians of the land we are on.
This episode is produced on Yorta Yorta, Pangarang and Kaurna Country.
We also ask you to influence your local politicians with the message that we need to change our energy policies to move to renewable energy to mitigate climate change.
Each month we bring you two fabulous episodes on the first of each month you’ll get to hear Dr. Ian ‘Astroblog’ Musgrave give us his monthly SkyGuide, then, on the 15th of each month, we publish an interview with a leading astronomer, astrophysicist, space scientist, data scientist, telescope engineer, project manager or particle physicist, and we discover their science journey and rare insights into how they think, when they think best, and how they conduct their amazing research into exactly how our universe works.
Our audio files and transcripts are available on our website at AstrophizDOTcom, And our MP3 files can be freely streamed or downloaded to your favourite device from our SoundCloud channel, our free Amazon Audible stream, YouTube podcasts, Podbean, Spotify and Apple Podcasts.
But right now we’re zooming over to Adelaide in South Australia to get your SkyGuide from Ian.
Brendan: Hello Ian.
Ian: Hello Brendan.
Brendan: Great to be speaking with you again Ian and what a great way to start the year.
Can you tell us mate … what’s up in the sky for the month of February?
Ian: Okay Well, the planetary action isn’t going to be very exciting this month, but we start off with the moon near the Beehive cluster on the 1st of February. Mind you, with the Beehive cluster being quite dim, you’ll need binoculars to see it, so it won’t look spectacular.
Two of the bright classical planets are up and Uranus is in the evening sky, we’ve got Mercury returning to the evening late in February.
We’ve got … by the end of the month, we’ve got Mercury, Venus, Saturn, and Neptune, all visible in the sun’s glare.
But we do get to see the Lunar X.
So February the 2nd, we’ve got the full moon.
February 9th is the last quarter, the evening skies are ideal for stargazing with the moon out of the way. February 17th is a new moon, which is also excellent for stargazing. February the 24th will be the first quarter moon, where the Lunar X will be visible for about 7:30 universal time, which is the best around about 1900 hours Australian Central Daylight saving time.
But this also is in a bit of twilight, but it’ll still be nice when the sky is fully dark.
The moons at Apogee on February 11th and the Perigee on February the 25th … So it’s basically a Perigee first quarter moon.
Now, let’s start with the evening sky, where most people will be awake.
As I said, Mercury is lost in the morning twilight. It returns to the evening sky late in February, but it’s never going to get very high above the horizon. It’s basically lost in the twilight until the end of the month. It will return to the morning sky around about mid-March.
Venus is lost in the twilight and returns to evening sky, mid -March. So watch out from mid-March when things start getting very exciting in the twilight. Saturn is lowering in the western sky and it’s rapidly lost in the twilight after mid-month.
On the 20th, if you’ve got a low, unobstructed horizon, the thin crescent moon is close to Saturn, deep in the twilight and you’ll probably need binoculars to see Saturn even if you’ve got a level unobstructed horizon.
Brendan: Yep.
Ian: Now, Jupiter is now well past opposition and it’s visible during the evening, setting a bit after midnight. It’s high in the early evening sky, and it’s still in an excellent position for telescopic viewing. During February, Jupiter forms a broad triangle with the bright stars, Betelgeuse and Procyon, and a narrow triangle with the stars, Castor and Pollux of Gemini. So Jupiter is about five degrees, nearly a hand span from the waxing moon on February the 22nd.
Mars is still lost to the twilight, and guess what? It returns to the morning skies in late March. Uranus is magnitude 5.7, and theoretically visible under dark sky conditions the unaided eye, but you have to know here you’re looking.
It’s still best in binoculars or a small telescope, and it’s about four degrees above the Pleiades, roughly halfway between he star 5Tori in Taurus and the Pleiades, and it’s relatively easy to find in binoculars, just about a binocular field above the Pleiades themselves.
And so that’s the planets.
The stars… we’ve got… that’s still got the summer constellations of Taurus the Bull, Orion and the Hunter and Canis Major, but they’re beginning to slip into the northwestern sky.
The Pleiades is quite nice … as I mentioned in an earlier podcast, it’s a close grouping of six stars. And if you draw a line westwards through the red star that forms the shoulder of Orion, Betelgeuse and the bright star Aldebaran that makes the eye of Taurus the Bull that brings you to the Pleiades is the obvious little cluster of stars.
Brendan: Cool.
Ian: Now, although faint under suburban skies, the Pleiades is pretty to the unaided eye and delightfully in binoculars if you’ve got binoculars.
And if you’ve got a decent telescope, you’ll be able to see a hint of the nebulous cloud that makes astrophotographers consider this an astronomical icon.
Brendan: Nice.
Ian: Now, the Pleiades is known as the Seven Sisters of European Culture. And interestingly, many Indigenous Australian groups also saw these clusters as women. For example, the Burung people at Northwestern Victoria called it Karatgurk and described it as a group of women watching, called Bulla, two dancing youths that are represented by the swordsman of Orion’s Belt.
However, in contrast, the people of the Lake Albert area saw the Pleiades as a clutch of turkey’s eggs. That’s not really quite a romantic as a group of young women.
Now, in February, you can also see the Southern Pleiades. Because it’s only visible in the Southern Hemisphere. It’s a lot less obvious to the unaided island of the Pleiades themselves. But it’s truly beautiful that the binoculars are a small telescope.
It’s a group of stars around the star Theta Carina … So find this look up from Acrux, the brightest star in the Southern Cross. The second bright star you come through as you’re looking up is surrounded by a hail of dimmed stars.
This is Theta Carina and the dim stars are the Southern Pleiades.
Now you can easily see both the Pleiades and the Southern Pleiades from about an hour and a half after sunset as they emerge from the twilight. As the night progresses, the Pleiades sink into the west, in contrast, the Southern Pleiades rise higher above the horizon and as February progresses, though unfortunately they’ll become harder to see due to the moonlight, but after last quarter moon, they’ll be good to see again.
The other thing that may be of interest is the variable star Mira, or Omicron Ceti … This should begin to start brightening in February, rising from below unaided eye visibility to about magnitude 4 before peaking in March around magnitude 3.
Now you’re going to be chasing astronomical twilight to see this. But it will be seen low above the horizon. Over the western horizon where the sky is fully dark about an hour and a half after sunset. I’ll give you more details about how to find Mira because it’s in the constellation of Cetus the Whale. but the finder stars were all fairly dim and you’ll have to do some star hopping.
Brendan: Very good.
Ian: And that’s the sky for February. …
Brendan: Very good. Well, thank you very much, Ian ‘Astroblog’ Musgrave.
Ian: No worries. It’s a pleasure to be back. It’s a pleasure to help people share the sky.
Brendan: And you have a fabulous time over in New Zealand, wear your thickest socks and your best boots.
Ian: I’ve got my best boots and I’ve got my thickest socks already and I’m hoping to see some fabulous skies as I wander the land of a great white cloud … but being the land of the great white cloud, I’m probably just going to see cloud’
Brendan: Hahah! Isn’t that the way it always is … Good luck Ian.
Ian: Very good. Thank you.
Brendan: Have a fabulous time and we’ll look forward to seeing you again for the March SkyGuide .
Ian: Looking forward to that too mate … we’ll see you later!
Brendan: Good night mate
Ian: Good night mate … all the best … see you later !
Brendan: … and remember Astrophiz is free, ad-free and unsponsored.
And in two weeks time, we’re zooming over to Perth to speak with Dr. Garvid Grover, who’s a Pulsar researcher and has just been awarded his PhD in astrophysics at Curtin University.
He’s recently discovered a unique class of Pulsar using the SKA Pathfinder at the Murchison Widefield Array in the remote outback scrublands of Western Australia.
You’ll love his stories! … Keep looking up. See you then.
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