Whitby & District Astronomical Society

To counterbalance the two naked eye evening planets, two naked planets can also be found in the dawn sky.  Conspicuous Jupiter is actually on view shortly before midnight at the start of the month and by 21:30h at the end, but for February the best observations of it would fall in the early morning hours.  Look for it low in the east during the early part of late night, and towards the south for dawn. 

Telescopically, Jupiter always has something to offer, even for smaller apertures.  Look for the banding on the disk and the attendant Galilean moons.  Currently Jupiter lies above the bright star Spica in Virgo, view on the 15/16^th when they are joined by a waning crescent Moon.

Finally, Saturn is visible by 05:00h low to the SE.  It resembles a prominent pearly star some distance to the left of ruddy hued Antares in Scorpius.  Telescopically Saturn is a real joy to observe, with the rings well orientated.  The crescent moon forms the apex of a triangle with Saturn and Antares on the 20^th.

Comets

February could be a busy month with the possibility of a couple of periodic comets visible in binoculars. 

Having spent the early part of January low in the SW in Capricornus Comet 45P is on the move making its closest approach to Earth on Feb 11^th, coming within 7.7 million miles and brightening again to a predicted magnitude of +6.  This is just on the edge of viewing with the naked eye.  Look for it near the constellation Hercules just before dawn.  See chart

The short periodic comet 2P Encke will once again returning.  Discovered by Pierre Mechain in 1786, the comet has a period of 3.3 years and will be seen in the northern hemisphere this year, prior to perihelion in mid March.  During February the comet brightens hopefully becoming a binocular object.  It is though dropping rapidly into the northern dusk and will be lost by early March.  The comet is the progenitor of the Taurid meteor shower.