Astroblog: Southern Skywatch February 2018 edition is now out!

Thursday, February 01, 2018

Southern Skywatch February 2018 edition is now out!

Evening sky as seen on February 12 at 5:13 ACDST, with the crescent Moon close to Saturn and globular cluster M22. The inset shows the binocular view. Similar views will be seen elsewhere in Australia at the equivalent local time (90 minutes before sunrise click to embiggen).

The February edition of Southern Skywatch is now up.

This month still sees most of the action move in the morning sky. Speedy Mercury and Venus return to the evening sky, but Venus will be hard to see until next month.

Mars and Jupiter climb higher in the morning sky. Mars comes close to several faint globular clusters this month.

Saturn is close to the Triffid and Lagoon nebulas and several clusters this month.

February 1; Mars very close to star beta1 Scorpii.

February 8; Moon close to Jupiter. February 9-10; Mars and Moon close.

February 11; Moon at Apogee.

February 12; Saturn and crescent Moon close, with M22 nearby.

Feb 1-13; Asteroid Ceres visible in binoculars.

Labels: southern skywatch