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February 2025 is a phenomenal continuation of January’s planetary-ness! You’ll get chances to see all the planets before going to bed and a conjunction of Mercury & Saturn.

FULL TEXT WITH PICTURES HERE

Hi everybody, I’m Rob, your Last Minute Astronomer, bringing astronomy to normies and nerds, with little time to spare.  

We’ll start by talking about this month’s big events, then highlight the naked eye planets, and finish up with the lunar phases, so you can plan ahead better than me.  

BIG EVENTS

24th - CONJUNCTION of Mercury & Saturn 

25th - 28th - Mercury, Saturn, Venus 

Naked-eye PLANETS

Sunset - Venus, Saturn, Jupiter, Mars, Mercury (last week)

Middle of the night - Jupiter, Mars 

Morning - Mars 

LUNAR CYCLE

Evening Crescents (look West after Sunset)

First Quarter Moon – 5th (Visible until midnight)

Evening Gibbous (Mostly lit, after Sunset)

Full Moon – 12th (Visible all night)

Waning Gibbous (Mostly lit, rises later at night)

Last Quarter Moon – 20th (Visible midnight into the morning)

Morning Crescents (look East in the AM)

New Moon – 27th (darkest skies)

LUNAR CLOSE ENCOUNTERS 

The Moon will be traveling across the sky as normal, passing by some planets at particular times. 

1st - 2nd - Saturn has dipped below Venus in the sunset sky by about 12°, and a very thin crescent Moon joins in on the 1st, within 3° of Venus. Then, on Feb 2nd, the Moon, Venus, and Saturn make a string of objects just after sunset in the SW.

6th - Find the Waxing Gibbous Moon just about 5° above bright Jupiter moving West throughout the night, setting just before 3:30am.

9th - The Moon will start out the night just 2˚ from Mars, moving further away throughout the night, setting around 6am.

And that’s the sky for this month! If you find this advance notice of the night sky helpful, please support this work by finding Last Minute Astronomer on Patreon, and don’t forget to follow Last Minute Astronomer on Facebook and Instagram. Till next month, I’m the Last Minute Astronomer wishing you fruitful plans and clear skies. Music was produced by Deep Sky Dude and used with permission.