Chart for the whole sky in February Stars and planets in the February evening sky
Chart for the southern sky in February Interesting objects in the February southern sky
Chart for the north sky in February Interesting objects in the Summer North Sky
Sirius, the brightest star, is north of overhead at dusk. Canopus, the second brightest star is south of the zenith. Mars, Bright and orange, is low in the northeast. Orion, containing 'The Pot' is midway up the north sky with Taurus and the Pleiades/Matariki toward the northwest. The Southern Cross and Pointers are midway up the southeast sky. The Clouds of Magellan, LMC and SMC, are high in the south sky. Saturn rises due east in the late evening. Brilliant Venus may be glimpsed setting in the southwest twilight in late February.
Sirius is the first star to appear at dusk, north of overhead. Below it, and a bit to the left, are Rigel and Betelgeuse, the brightest stars in Orion. Between them is a line of three stars: Orion's belt. To southern hemisphere star watchers, the line of three makes the bottom of 'The Pot'. Orion's belt points down and left to a V-shaped pattern of stars making the face of Taurus the Bull. Left again, toward the northwest and lower, is the Pleiades or Matariki star cluster, also known as the Seven Sisters and Subaru. Low in the northeast is Mars, bright and orange coloured. From northern New Zealand the bright star Capella is on the north skyline. The sixth brightest star, Capella is 190 times brighter than the sun and 42 light years away.
Sirius, 'the Dog Star', marks the head of Canis Major the big dog. A group of stars above and right of it make the dog's hindquarters and tail. Sirius is the brightest star in the sky both because it is relatively close, nine light years away, and 23 times brighter than the sun. Procyon, in the northeast below Sirius, marks the smaller of the two dogs following Orion the hunter across the sky.
Mars is down the sky from Sirius and Procyon. We passed by Mars in late January. At mid month it is 105 million km away and small in a telescope. It will gradually fade as we leave it behind. Mars is half the diameter of Earth. It gets its apricot colour from the dust that covers the planet. The dust is rust derived from the water that covered Mars billions of years ago.
Rigel, directly above Orion's belt, is a bluish supergiant star, 40 000 times brighter than the sun and much hotter. It is 800 light years away. Orange Betelgeuse, below the line of three, is a red-giant star, cooler than the sun but much bigger and 9 000 times brighter. It is 400 light years from us. The handle of "The Pot", or Orion's sword, has the Orion Nebula at its centre; a glowing gas cloud many light-years across and around 1300 light years away.
The V-shaped group pattern making the face of Taurus the bull is called the Hyades cluster. It is 130 light years away. Orange Aldebaran, Arabic for 'the eye of the bull', is not a member of the cluster but merely on the line of sight, half the cluster's distance. The Pleiades cluster, impressive in binoculars, is 400 light years from us. Its stars formed around 100 million years ago.
Crux, the Southern Cross, is in the southeast. Below it are Beta and Alpha Centauri, often called 'The Pointers'. Alpha Centauri is the closest naked-eye star, 4.3 light years away. Beta Centauri, like most of the stars in Crux, is a blue-giant star hundreds of light years away. Canopus is also a very luminous distant star; 13 000 times brighter than the sun and 300 light years away.
The Milky Way is brightest in the southeast toward Crux. It can be traced up the sky, fading when it is nearly overhead. It becomes very faint east or right of Orion. The Milky Way is our edgewise view of the galaxy, the pancake of billions of stars of which the sun is just one.
The Clouds of Magellan, LMC and SMC are high in the south sky, easily seen by eye on a dark moonless night. They are two small galaxies about 160 000 and 200 000 light years away. The larger cloud is about 5% the mass of the Milky Way galaxy, the smaller cloud 3%.
Saturn rises in the east around 10 pm, looking like a moderately bright star. To its right is Spica, the brightest star in Virgo, similar in brightness to Saturn. Saturn's rings are nearly edge on to us this year. They look like a thick line through the planet. Saturn is 1300 million km away in February.
Chart produced by Guide 8 software; www.projectpluto.com. Labels and text added by Alan Gilmore
Large and Small Clouds of Magellan (LMC and SMC) appear as two luminous clouds, easily seen by eye in a dark sky. They are galaxies like the Milky Way but much smaller. Each is made of billions of stars. The Large Cloud contains many clusters of young bright stars seen as patches of light in binoculars. Both clouds are about 160 000 light years away, very close by for galaxies.
47 Tucanae, looks like a faint fuzzy star on the edge of the SMC.
It is a globular cluster, a ball of millions of stars. A telescope is needed to see a peppering
of stars around the edge of the cluster. Though it appears on the edge of the SMC it is
one-tenth the distance, 15 000 light years away, and is has no connection to the Small Cloud.
Globular clusters are mostly very old 10 billion years or more; at least twice the age of the
sun. Omega Centauri, very low in the south, is a similar cluster.
The Tarantula nebula is a
glowing gas cloud in the LMC. The gas glows in the ultra-violet light from a cluster of very hot
stars at centre of the nebula. The cloud is about 800 light years across. It is easily seen in
binoculars and can be seen by eye on moonless nights.
This nebula is one of the brightest known. If it was as close as the Orion nebula (in The Pot's handle) then it would be as bright as the full moon and look bigger than the whole constellation of Orion.
Canopus is the second brightest star. It is 14 000 times brighter than
the sun and 300 light years away. Sirius, low in the east on spring evenings, is the brightest
star in the sky.
Alpha Centauri the brighter pointer, is the closest naked-eye star, 4.3 light-years away. Alpha Centauri is a binary star: two stars about the same size as the sun orbiting around each other in 80 years. A telescope that magnifies 50x shows the pair. (A very faint star, Proxima Centauri, orbits a quarter of a light-year, or 15 000 Sun-earth distances, from the Alpha pair.)
Coalsack nebula, is a cloud of dust and gas about 300 light years away, dimming the more distant stars in the Milky Way. Many similar 'dark nebulae' can be seen, appearing as slots and holes in the Milky Way. These clouds of dust and gas eventually coalesce into clusters of stars.
The Jewel Box is a compact cluster of young bright stars about 7000 light years away. The cluster formed less than 10 million ago. To the eye it looks like a faint star close by the second-brightest star in Crux. A telescope is needed to see it well.
Eta Carina nebula is a
glowing gas cloud about 8000 light years away.
The golden star in the cloud, visible in binoculars, is Eta [Greek η] Carinae. It is
estimated to be to be 60 times heavier than the sun and a million times brighter but is dimmed
by dust clouds around it. It is expected to explode as a supernova any time in the next few
thousand years.
Many star clusters are found in this part of the sky.
The Southern Pleiades is a newish name for a cluster of stars at one
point of the 'Diamond Cross'. It is formally the Theta Carina cluster
after its brightest star but is also known as the 'Five of Diamonds' cluster, the reason obvious
when it is seen in a telescope. It is much fainter and smaller than the real Pleiades in Taurus
but a nice sight in binoculars. The cluster is about 500 light years away and is around
10 million years old.
Chart produced by Guide 8 software; www.projectpluto.com. Labels and text added by Alan Gilmore
Sirius and Mars are eye-catching objects in the north sky in February. Sirius is high up and white coloured. Mars is orange and low in the northeast at dusk. The most prominent northern constellations are on a diagonal line down and left of Sirius. First is Orion the Hunter marked by prominent Rigel and Betelgeuse with the well-known 'pot' or 'saucepan' pattern between them. Next is Taurus the Bull with Aldebaran being one of Taurus's eyes. The V-shaped Hyades cluster outlines the bull's head. (All these pictures were thought up by north hemisphere cultures so are upside down to us.) Further down the Pleiades or Matariki star cluster rides on the Bull's back. Low in the northeast, left of Mars, are Castor and Pollux marking the heads of Gemini the Twins. Above and right of Mars is the Praesepe star cluster making the shell of Cancer the Crab.
The Pleiades / Seven Sisters / Matariki / Subaru, (left) and many other
names, is a cluster of stars well known in both hemispheres. Though often called the Seven
Sisters, most modern eyes see only six stars. Dozens are visible in binoculars. The cluster is
about 400 light years away. Its brightest stars are around 200 times brighter than the sun.
It formed about 100 million years ago.
The Hyades cluster is 150 light years away. Its brightest stars (not
Aldebaran!) are about 70 times brighter than the sun. The cluster is about 700 million years
old. Aldebaran is
not a member of the cluster but simply on the line of sight. It is 65 l.y. away and 150 times
brighter than the sun. Aldebaran is a giant star about 25 times bigger than the sun though only
five times heavier. Its orange colour is due to its temperature, around 3500° C.
The sun is 5500° C.
Orion, in the northern hemisphere view, has a shield raised toward
Taurus and a club ready for action. The line of three stars makes Orion's Belt. The line of
faint stars above the belt form Orion's Sword in the northern view, hanging from his belt.
To most southern hemisphere sky watchers the belt and sword form
The Pot or The Saucepan.
The Orion Nebula is visible in binoculars as a misty glow around the
middle stars of Orion's Sword or the handle of The Pot. It is a vast cloud of dust and gas about
1300 l.y. away and more than 20 l.y. across. Ultra-violet light from a massive, extremely hot
star in the cloud causes it to glow. Some stars in this region are around a million years old.
The sun, by contrast, is 4.6 billion years old. Stars continue to form in a giant cloud behind
the glowing nebula. There are many bright and dark nebulae in this region. The Horsehead
nebula, a favourite of astronomy books, is beside the right-hand star of Orion's Belt, but too
faint to be seen in small telescopes.
Sirius is the brightest star because it is both brighter than the sun
and relatively a close 8.6 l.y. away. Sirius was often called 'the dog star' being the
brightest star in Canis Major, one of the two dogs that follow Orion across the sky.
Rigel is a blue 'supergiant' star around 40 000 times brighter than
the sun and 800 l.y. away. Its surface temperature is around 20 000oC, giving it a bluish
colour. Betelgeuse is a red giant star 250 times bigger than the sun
-- wider than earth's orbit! -- but only around 20 times heavier. It is mostly very thin gas
surrounding a hot dense core. It is 10000 times brighter than the sun, about 400 l.y. away, and
has a surface temperature around 3000oC.
Mars, though bright, is disappointing in a telescope. It is more than 100 million km from us in February and shows only a tiny disc. It stays in the evening sky, but fades, for most of the year.