The night sky this month

Northern Hemisphere

Ian Morison tells us what we can see in the northern hemisphere night sky during February 2014.

Orion the Hunter is just to the west of south in the evening, the three stars of his Belt pointing up towards Taurus the Bull, which contains the Hyades and Pleiades Clusters. Gemini lies above, with the planet Jupiter resident there this month. Following Orion's Belt downwards leads to the brightest star in the night sky, Sirius, in Canis Major. If you scan down and left from Sirius, you come to the open cluster M41, which hosts a single red giant star among its blue population. Canis Minor and its bright star, Procyon, are towards the south, while Cancer, home to the Beehive Cluster, is in the south-east. Leo the Lion is rising in the east, with its bright star, Regulus. The Realm of the Galaxies, a rich area of the sky between Leo and Virgo, rises later in the night, looking towards the Virgo Galaxy Cluster. Ursa Major, the Great Bear, is in the north-east, while Auriga and its yellow star, Capella, are above Taurus. Cassiopeia and Perseus are in the north-west, with the Milky Way running between them and the Perseus Double Cluster visible in binoculars.

The Planets

• Jupiter is in the latter part of an excellent apparition. Shining at magnitude -2.6, it was at opposition (opposite the Sun in the sky) in early January. At the beginning of this month, it reaches 40 degrees' elevation by 19:00 UT (Universal Time) and over 60 degrees by 22:00. It gets to its highest nightly elevation at around 20:30 by month's end. Jupiter is moving retrograde (westward) in Gemini, approaching the star Mebsuta. A small telescope shows the four Galilean moons and, at the right times, the Great Red Spot on the planet's surface.
• Saturn is a pre-dawn object, rising around 02:00 UT at the beginning of the month and 00:30 at the end. It lies in Libra and has a magnitude of +0.4 and a disc 17" across. The rings are 38" across and 23 degrees from the line of sight, allowing features such as Cassini's Division to be seen with a small telescope. A larger telescope, perhaps 200mm in aperture, may allow the Enke Gap to be spotted in still atmospheric conditions. The only disadvantage is that Saturn's elevation is not very high for northern hemisphere observers.
• Mars is in Virgo, rising around 23:30 UT at the beginning of the month and around 22:30 by month's end. During February, it brightens from +0.2 to -0.5 in magnitude and grows from 9 to 11" in angular size, and its illumination of 91 percent allows surface features to be seen. The dark V-shape of Syrtis Major is a prominent one, while the white Northern Polar Cap may be slightly less obvious in the Martian summer. Mars progresses down through Virgo during the month, starting off 5 degrees to the upper left of the bright blue star Spica, and ending 6 degrees to its left as it begins moving retrograde (westward).
• Mercury reached eastern elongation (its greatest separation of 18 degrees from the Sun in the sky) on the 31st of January. It lies 8 degrees below a crescent Moon on the 1st of this month, with a brightness of magnitude -0.6 and an angular diameter of 7", and can be seen for up to 2 hours after sunset if you have a low western horizon. This reduces to 1.5 hours by the 7th, when the magnitude is +1, the angular size is 8" and 20 percent of the disc is illuminated. Mercury is quickly lost from view after this, reaching inferior conjunction (between the Sun and the Earth) on the 15th. It reappears in the pre-dawn sky at month's end, about 20 degrees to the west of the Sun, but its very low elevation makes it difficult to spot.
• Venus passed inferior conjunction on the 11th of last month, and commences this month low in the east before dawn. Shining at magnitude -4.6, it reaches 17 degrees' elevation in the south-east at sunrise by the middle of the month, showing a crescent of 25 percent illumination with an angular diameter of 46". Venus concludes February 36 percent illuminated and 33" across.

Highlights

• It is a great time to observe Jupiter in the evening this month. You can see many features through a small telescope: the North Equatorial Belt is broader than it was a few years ago, and the Great Red Spot more prominent in the South Equatorial Belt - as long as you know when to look.
• Mercury is close to a thin crescent Moon on the night of the 1st to 2nd, and the scene may be accompanied by earthshine.
• Jupiter is about 7 degrees from a waxing Moon on the evening of the 10th.
• Mars is 5.5 degrees above and left of the star Spica and 10 degrees from a waning Moon before dawn on the 19th.
• The second-largest asteroid in the Asteroid Belt, Pallas, can be found for a few days around the 22nd as it approaches the 2nd-magnitude star Alphard in Hydra. It reaches opposition (opposite the Sun in the sky) on the 22nd, putting it due south around midnight. At magnitude +7, it is easily visible in binoculars - find Alphard first, and the asteroid should be in the same field of view (4 degrees away on the 22nd). Pallas is some 550 kilometres across (although non-spherical), and on the 22nd it lies 2.1 times further from the Sun than does our own planet.
• Venus is just 0.5 degrees above a thin, waning crescent Moon before dawn on the 26th. The pair can be seen in the south-east.

Southern Hemisphere

John Field from the Carter Observatory in New Zealand speaks about the southern hemisphere night sky during February 2014.

The evening sky is dominated in the north by the planet Jupiter and the constellations of Orion, Canis Major and Taurus. Jupiter, looking like a bright, white star, is in front of the distant stars that form the constellation of Gemini, the Twins. Gemini is one of the constellations through which the Sun moves as seen from the Earth; the path of the Sun across the sky is called the ecliptic, and the constellations along it form the zodiac. To the left of Gemini is an upside down 'V' of stars that forms the head of another zodiacal constellation, Taurus the Bull. The brightest of these stars is the giant, orange-hued Aldebaran, while its younger, fainter companions belong to more a distant cluster called the Hyades. Another star cluster called the Pleiades marks the Bull's back, and can be found to the west of his head. Visible as a compact cluster to the naked eye, they make a fine sight in binoculars.

Gemini and Cancer are two of the other zodiacal constellations in the summer sky. The bright stars Castor and Pollux mark the heads of the Twins, and can found in the north after sunset. Gemini lies on the eastern edge of the Milky Way, and faint and distant stars can be seen around the two main stars. Five faint galaxies can be found within 1 degree of Castor using a large telescope. Pollux is the brighter of the two stars. Near to the star Eta Geminorum is M35, an open star cluster. Under good conditions it can be seen with the unaided eye as a hazy star, while binoculars or a wide-field telescope present an even better view. Cancer the Crab is a fainter constellation of five stars, at the centre of which is a cluster of stars called Praesepe, or the Beehive. Large and bright, it appears as a nebula to the unaided eye, and binoculars reveal individual stars within the cluster. Galileo viewed this cluster with his telescope in 1610, becoming the first human to see it as a group of stars.

Orion the Hunter, an upside-down summer constellation in the southern hemisphere, is due north after sunset. His brightest stars, Rigel, Betelgeuse and Bellatrix, along with the three stars of his Belt, form an easily recognisable pattern. The Orion Nebula can be found in the middle of Orion's Sword, appearing as a fuzzy star to the unaided eye. Binoculars or a small telescope show a bat-shaped cloud, while a telescope of 100 millimetres or more in aperture reveals a number of stars in and around the nebula, including a tight group of four stars called the Trapezium. Above the Belt is Rigel, the brightest star in Orion, which is actually a triple system. To the east are Orion's two hunting dogs, Canis Major and Canis Minor. The brightest star in the night sky, Sirius, marks the collar of Canis Major, and the Large Dog is upside-down with his feet in the air. Below Canis Major is Procyon, forming the tail of Canis Minor, while a fainter star to the left marks the Small Dog's front. With binoculars, two lovely sights are visible: just over a third of the way between Sirius and Procyon is a cluster of stars called M50, and halfway along the line from Procyon to Betelgeuse is a rectangular cluster of stars embedded in a faint nebula called the Rosette. Almost overhead in the early evening is the second-brightest star in the night sky, Canopus.

The Planets

• Mars rises in the east around midnight, and is in the constellation of Virgo.
• Saturn rises in the east some time after Mars, and lies in Libra. Like Mars, it will be better placed for viewing in the evening sky during autumn and winter.
• Venus reappears in the morning sky this month, climbing higher as the month progresses.
• Mercury also becomes visible in the pre-dawn sky towards the end of the month.

Northern Hemisphere

Ian Morison tells us what we can see in the northern hemisphere night sky during January 2014.

Pegasus and Andromeda are setting in the west in the evening, with the nearby galaxies of Andromeda and Triangulum visible under a dark sky. Orion the Hunter looms large in the south, with the red giant star Betelgeuse to his upper left and the blue giant Rigel to his lower right. Between them, the Belt of three stars is above the Sword, which contains the spectacular Orion Nebula. The Belt points down towards Sirius, or Alpha Canis Majoris, the brightest star after the Sun to observers on Earth. Following the Belt the other way leads to Taurus the Bull, wherein lie the beautiful Hyades and Pleiades Clusters. The orange-coloured star Aldebaran appears to be among the Hyades, but is actually closer to us. Above Orion are Gemini, the host of Jupiter this month, and Auriga, containing the bright yellow star Capella. Perseus and Cassiopeia are nearby, with the Perseus Double Cluster among the treasures to be found along the Milky Way that runs between them. Leo rises in the east as the evening wears on, followed by the planets Mars and Saturn in the early hours of the morning.

The Planets

• Jupiter is visible throughout the night, crossing the southern sky. It reaches opposition (opposite to the Sun in the sky) on the 5th and attains a maximum elevation of 62 degrees, making this a great month to observe it. With a magnitude of -2.7 and an angular diameter of 46-47", it can be clearly seen in Gemini. It is currently moving west (retrograde) through the constellation as the Earth overtakes it in their orbits around the Sun. A small telescope shows the Galilean moons, as well as the Great Red Spot in Jupiter's South Equatorial Belt.
• Saturn is visible before dawn, rising around 03:00 Universal Time (UT) at the beginning of the month and 01:30 by the end. It shines in Libra at magnitude +0.6, with a disc 16" across. Its rings are now inclined at 20 degrees to the line of sight, but the planet does not rise very high in northern hemisphere skies.
• Mars rises at about midnight UT at the start of January and 23:00 at the end. It brightens from magnitude +0.9 to +0.3 over the month, while it increases from 6.9 to 8.8" in angular size. Using a telescope, markings can be discerned on its surface. Mars is moving down through Virgo, from beneath Porrima to above Spica.
• Mercury reached superior conjunction (behind the Sun in the sky) on the 29th of December, but reappears low in the west-south-west in the second half of January. It is at its greatest angular separation of 18 degrees from the Sun (elongation) on the 31st, when it has a magnitude of -0.6 and an angular size of 7", and lies 10 degrees above the horizon 45 minutes after sunset, alongside a thin crescent Moon.
• Venus passes between the Earth and the Sun (inferior conjunction) on the 11th. Nevertheless, it can be seen low in the south-west after sunset at the very beginning of the month, and low in the south-east before dawn at the end. It forms an extremely thin crescent on New Year's Day, being just 3 percent illuminated, but spans almost 1'.

Highlights

• Jupiter, high up and far from the Sun in the sky, offers optimal viewing conditions this month. The Great Red Spot has also become more prominent recently.
• Venus lies just below the Moon 45 minutes after sunset on the 2nd, and both bodies show very slender crescent phases. Look out for earthshine, where sunlight reflected from Earth's clouds faintly illuminates the otherwise dark part of the Moon.
• It is a good time to observe the Andromeda and Triangulum Galaxies early or late month, when the Moon is new.
• Jupiter is only 6 degrees from the Moon on the 14th, when the latter is 98.4 percent full.
• Saturn is close to a third-quarter Moon before dawn on the 25th.
• Venus is just 4 degrees above a thin, waning crescent Moon before dawn on the 29th.

Southern Hemisphere

John Field from the Carter Observatory in New Zealand speaks about the southern hemisphere night sky during January 2014.

Orion, Canis Manor and Taurus dominate the northern sky after sunset. The planet Jupiter is nearby in Gemini, moving westward (retrograde) relative to the stars. Castor and Pollux, the brightest stars in Gemini, are low in the north-east in the evening and represent the heads of the Heavenly Twins. Castor, the lower of the two, is a multiple star system with a combined magnitude of +1.6 whose two brightest components can be split using a medium-sized telescope. Pollux, a red giant star in the latter stages of its life, is brighter at magnitude +1.1. The open star cluster M35 resides near the star Eta Geminorum, close to Taurus. It can be seen with the naked eye, while binoculars or a small telescope reveal more of its population of some 500 stars. Taurus, in the north, is marked by a V-shape of three stars, representing the head and horns of the Bull. The red giant star Aldebaran is the Bull's Eye. The Pleiades star cluster, on the back of Taurus, is visible to the west of the head.

Orion is between Taurus and Gemini, a Hunter standing upside-down to Southern Hemisphere observers. Commonly known as the Pot in New Zealand, it plays host to the Orion Nebula in the middle of the Sword just below his Belt. This star-forming region looks like a fuzzy star to the unaided eye, or a bat-shaped cloud in binoculars or a small telescope. A telescope of 100 millimetres or more in aperture reveals stars within and around the nebula, including a tight group of four stars called the Trapezium, the brightest of which illuminates the surrounding cloud with ultra-violet radiation. Orion's left foot is the blue giant star Rigel, which is some 18 times more massive than our own Sun.

The Pleiades, the head of Taurus and the Belt and Sword of Orion make up a great Waka, or canoe, to some Maori along the east coast of Aoteroa (New Zealand). In this canoe, called Te Waka o Tamarereti, the mythical figure of Tamarereti sailed across the night sky and placed the stars into the heavens, leaving a wake in the form of the Milky Way. The constellations of Canis Major and Canis Minor are the hunting dogs of Orion, following him through the sky. The larger dog's collar is marked by Sirius, the brightest night-time star. The smaller dog's tail is the bright star Procyon. Canopus, the next-brightest star after Sirius, is almost overhead in the evening.

The planets

• Mars rises after midnight NZDT (New Zealand Daylight Time, 13 hours ahead of Universal Time), near to the star Spica in Virgo.
• Saturn comes up around 02:00 NZDT.

Northern Hemisphere

Northern Hemisphere

Ian Morison tells us what we can see in the northern hemisphere night sky during December 2013.

Pegasus and Andromeda are setting towards the west after nightfall, and you can find the galaxies M31 and, given a dark sky, M33, in this part of the heavens. Aries and Taurus are over to the east, the latter containing the Pleiades and Hyades star clusters. The red star Aldebaran appears to be within the Hyades, but is actually closer to us. Orion rises a little later, and you can follow the three stars of his Belt down to the brightest night-time star, Sirius, in Canis Major. Beneath the Belt is the fuzzy glow of the Orion Nebula, a stellar nursery which is a rewarding sight in binoculars. Gemini, the constellation of the Twins, is nearby. High overhead are Cassiopeia and Perseus, with the picturesque Double Cluster between them.

The Planets

• Jupiter rises around 19:30 UT (Universal Time) at the beginning of the month, reaching its highest elevation of 62 degrees when due south at about 03:00. It shines at magnitude -2.6 and has a disc spanning 42", making this a great time to observe it. It lies in Gemini and, in the 10th, passes just 15' from the star Wasat, which has a magnitude of +3.5. It is at its nightly highest point around midnight by the end of December, and you can see its equatorial bands and larger moons, as well as the Great Red Spot at certain times.
• Saturn is a pre-dawn object, rising around 05:00 UT as the month begins, and 03:30 at its end. With a magnitude of +0.6 and a disc 15.5" across, it now shows its rings at 20 degrees to our line of sight, allowing them to be easily observed through a telescope. It reaches only about 20 degrees above the horizon, however.
• Mars has moved from Leo into Virgo and rises soon after midnight early in the month, with a magnitude of +1.2 and an angular size of 5.6". During December, it brightens to magnitude +0.9 and grows to 6.8" in size, allowing surface features such as the polar caps and Syrtis Major to be seen. Towards the end of the month, it approaches the star Porrima.
• Mercury shines at magnitude +0.6 in the pre-dawn sky as December begins, appearing below Saturn. It brightens to magnitude -0.8 by mid-month, but gets progressively lower at dawn and becomes lost in the Sun's glare around the same time. It reaches superior conjunction (behind the Sun in the sky) on the 29th.
• Venus is spectacular, starting December at magnitude -4.9. Although only 15 degrees above the horizon at sunset, it can be observed at a higher elevation for at least an hour before that. It changes significantly during the first three weeks of December, its illuminated fraction decreasing from 30 to 11 percent even as its angular diameter grows from 38 to 53". It is just 4 percent illuminated by month's end, but the slender crescent is almost 60" across. By making these observations, you can follow in the footsteps of Galileo, to whom the changing phase of Venus revealed that it must be in orbit around the Sun and not the Earth. The planet will pass in front of the Sun (inferior conjunction) on the 11th of January.

Highlights

• Comet ISON passed close to the Sun on the 28th of November, before recording of the current Jodcast episode. The progress of its brightness this month remains unpredictable. Despite initial reports of its demise, parts of the comet survived and the tail may yet become visible to the naked eye during early December, below a thin crescent Moon and the planets Saturn and Mercury. It will reach higher in the sky at daybreak as the month goes on, becoming visible before twilight in mid-December. Although its brightness is then expected to decline, it may be seen 5 degrees to the west of the globular cluster M13, in Hercules, on the 22nd. It becomes circumpolar towards the end of the month, lying in the vicinity of Ursa Major.
• The Moon occults the star Epsilon Piscium at about 22:05 UT on the 11th (commencing at 22:07 from Edinburgh and 22:16 from London, for example). The star, shining at magnitude +4.3 in the constellation of Pisces, is at 30 degrees' elevation in the south when the waxing gibbous Moon passes in front of it. It will be seen to vanish as the dark limb of the Moon obscures it, emerging less dramatically from the bright side about 13 minutes later.
• The Geminid meteor shower can be observed after midnight around the 14th and 15th, with the radiant (from where the meteors appear to come) near the bright star Castor in Gemini. The gibbous Moon in Aries hinders the view, but after it sets, around 05:00 UT, there should be an hour of darkness in which to spot the meteors. These shooting stars are produced by dust shed from the asteroid 3200 Phaethon, whereas most showers are cometary in origin.
• The Ursid meteor shower is visible after midnight on the 22nd and 23rd, with its radiant not far from the bright star Kochab in Ursa Minor. A gibbous Moon is again present, but poses less of a problem as it is far from the radiant in the sky.

Southern Hemisphere

John Field from the Carter Observatory in New Zealand speaks about the southern hemisphere night sky during December 2013.

The evening sky is dominated in the north by the constellations of Taurus, Orion, Canis Major and Canis Minor. The Milky Way stretches through them and along the southern horizon, its pattern of light and dark regions dimmer than in the winter, but still impressive. It comprises many distant stars in our galaxy, combined with patches of obscuring dust. M42, the Orion Nebula, appears as a bright cloud within Orion the Hunter. Upside-down in the southern hemisphere, Orion is sometimes called the Cooking Pot, his Belt of three blue giant stars marking its base. Orion's Sword, containing M42, is one of the Pot's sides. The nebula is part of a large cloud of interstellar material, and a telescope reveals patterns, while photographs show different colours. Beneath the Pot is Betelgeuse, a red giant star which forms one of Orion's shoulders, while above is the blue-white giant Rigel, one of his feet. Rigel has a companion star that can be seen in medium-sized telescopes. The upside-down V-shape of Taurus is to the west of Orion, forming the head of Taurus the Bull. The bright star Aldebaran marks the Bull's eye, while the more distant Hyades Cluster is part of the head. The Bull's back is marked, a little further west, by the Pleiades Cluster, which to Maori are known as Matariki, or the Little Eyes. At least seven stars of the Pleiades can be seen by eye on a dark night, and binoculars reveal many more.

Crux is low in the south-east in the evening, with the dark Coalsack Nebula beside it. The darkness is caused by clouds of material which may one day collapse under gravity and form stars. The Large and Small Magellanic Clouds (LMC and SMC) appear as bright clouds in the southern hemisphere sky, and are satellite galaxies of the Milky Way. The LMC is near to the bright star Canopus in the south-east, and binoculars or a small telescope can be used to find many star clusters and nebulae within it. The SMC is not far away and is close to the globular cluster 47 Tucanae, which looks like a hazy star to the unaided eye but can be seen to be a round group of stars through binoculars. NGC 362 is another nearby globular cluster, but a telescope is needed to observe it well.

Highlights

• The annual Phoenicid meteor shower reaches its peak on the 6th. The meteors seem to come from a point called the radiant, which is in the constellation of Phoenix for this shower, near to the bright star Achernar. It is high overhead, well placed for observing.
• The Geminid meteor shower peaks on the 14th. The radiant, near to the star Castor in Gemini, rises at about 03:00 NZDT (New Zealand Daylight Time, 13 hours ahead of Universal Time), and its low elevation means that only half the meteors are visible. The Moon, becoming full on the 17th, hampers viewing, but the shower is worth seeing a week either side of the peak, and so the beginning of the month may be a good time to observe without the Moon's glare.
• The planet Jupiter also sits in Gemini this month, its larger moons visible through binoculars. It appears as a brilliant white star to the naked eye.
• The summer solstice occurs in the southern hemisphere this month, with the longest day coming on the 21st. The Sun is currently at a peak of activity, with many sunspots visible - but only look at them via a projection or through a dedicated solar telescope, as other methods may damage your eyesight.
• Comet ISON has now left southern hemisphere skies, but brightened to naked eye visibility last month before doing so. It is still visible to those at low southern latitudes early this month.