MERCURY starts February in the evening sky, setting shortly after the Sun and is too close to it to observe.

The planet is at inferior conjunction on February 7 (NZDT) when it passes between the Earth and Sun. After conjunction, Mercury become a morning object rising before the Sun. By the end February it will rise more than 2 hours before the Sun and will be about 16° up 40 minutes before sunrise.

Mercury will be easy to locate at the end of February as it will be little more than a degree to the left of Venus for the last three days of the month. Mercury will of course be much fainter, by about 4 magnitudes. Even so, at magnitude 0.2 it should be fairly easy to see up to about 40 minutes before sunrise, especially with binoculars.

The diagram shows the positions of Mercury (in red) relative to Venus (blue, taken as stationary) for a few days at the end of February and beginning of March. In reality Venus, as well as Mercury, will be moving through the stars to the east, and rising slightly later each morning.

VENUS will rise about two and a half hours before the Sun On February 1 and just over two hours before at the end of the month. Thus it will be readily visible in the morning sky before sunrise throughout February.

The planet will be close to Jupiter at the beginning of the month when they should be a brilliant pair. Towards the end of February, Venus and Mercury will be close, so making the location of the latter easy.

The waning Moon, as a thin crescent 6% lit will be 4° to the right of Venus on the morning of February 5 as seen from New Zealand

MARS will be slowly moving to the east through the constellation Taurus towards Gemini during February. At the start of the month Mars will be bright at magnitude -0.6 but will lose nearly a magnitude of brightness by the end of the month, at +0.2. The planet will be readily visible, although rather low, throughout February evenings. By February 29 it will set about an hour after midnight, NZDT.

On the evening of February 16, the 74% lit Moon will be about 2.5° below Mars. These two will form a small triangle with the star El Nath, at magnitude 1.7 the second brightest star in Taurus.

JUPITER will be a morning object, starting February close to Venus. The two planets appear closest on the morning of February 2 as seen from New Zealand when they will be only 37.5' apart, slightly more than the diameter of the full Moon.

The diagram shows the positions of Jupiter relative to Venus for a few mornings at the end of January and beginning of February as the planets move pass one another.

After the conjunction of the planets, Jupiter will get steadily higher in the sky each morning, while Venus gets a little lower.

Jupiter will be in Sagittarius a few degrees from the "Teapot's Handle". It will be closest to the Nunki, σSgr, at magnitude 2.1 the brightest star of the handle, on the morning of February 14. The planet and star will be 3.5° apart. Jupiter is moving only slowly through the stars, so will be close to the handle all month.

SATURN is at opposition on February 24, so will then be rising at sunset and setting at sunrise. By the end of the month, the planet will be readily visible throughout the evening when the sky has darkened. The planet will be fairly low in a direction a little east of northeast. During the evening it will move round towards the north and get a little higher.

Early in the month, Saturn will not be high enough in the sky to observe until nearly midnight. So it will then remain more of a morning object. The full Moon will be less than 1.5° from Saturn on February 21. By then the planet will be low but viewable by 10 pm.

Saturn remains in Leo during February, a few degrees from the constellation's brightest star, Regulus magnitude 1.4. The planet will be more than a magnitude brighter than the star with a magnitude 0.2 by the end of February.