The Night Sky
by Garth Jones

Updated: February 9, 2012

February Events: This will be an excellent month for viewing the planets.
Venus and Jupiter will dominate the western sky in the evenings throughout the month, with Mercury joining them, just above the western horizon, after the middle of the month. The easiest time to view Mercury however, will be he end of the month, from February 28 until March 10. This period will provide the best evening view of Mercury at any time in 2012.
Ruddy Mars, about half as bright as mighty Jupiter, also joins this group, rising above the eastern horizon at about 9 pm early in the month, but by 7 pm by the end of the month.
Eventually, these planets are lost from the western sky as they follow the Sun below the horizon. Mercury is first, being visible for only a short time, followed by Venus which hangs on until around 9 pm. Even Jupiter eventually follows the others, setting at about 11 pm, just after Saturn rises in the east. Saturn currently appears about half as bright as Mars, which by midnight is situated over 30° above the horizon. Thus, through much of the month, all five of the innermost planets, Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter and Saturn are visible at some time in the evening before midnight.
By sunrise, only Mars and Saturn are still visible.

The Moon is full (the "Snow" Moon) on Tuesday, February 7, at 1:54 pm, and is new (a good time for viewing the night sky) two weeks later, on Tuesday, February 21, at 2:35 am.
The Moon also contributes its share to the astronomical sights this month. On Thursday, February 9, it rises in the east together with Mars (with the Moon to Mars' right) at 8:30 pm. A little earlier that night, Venus will appear close to the distant planet, Uranus, closer to it than the diameter of the Moon, a good time for looking at Uranus if you have a telescope or binoculars available. They will appear closest, with Venus just north of Uranus, at about 7 pm.
On the morning of Sunday, February 12, the half-filled Moon, the bright star, Spica (in the constellation Virgo) and the giant planet, Saturn, will form an eye-catching triangle in the south-southwestern sky. The Moon will be about 7° below Spica with Saturn a slightly larger distance to Spica's left. Spica will be the dimmest of the three, roughly half as bright as Saturn.
On Wednesday, February 22, a day after the Moon is "new", the ultra thin Moon will be visible at dusk to the right of the planet Mercury, just above the western horizon at about 6:30 pm.
Saturday, February 25, should be a particularly auspicious evening to view the evening sky. At about 7:00 pm, Mercury will still be visible just above the western horizon with the planet Venus situated almost 30° above the horizon , to the upper left of Mercury. At that time the waxing crescent Moon will be found about 4° above Venus. If you have a telescope or binoculars with you, you could also see if you could find Uranus, which will be almost halfway between Mercury and Venus. The mighty planet Jupiter will be a similar distance (half that between Mercury and Venus) to the upper left of Venus. Meanwhile, in the opposite direction, about 6° above the eastern horizon, Mars will be just coming into view. Clearly, a special time on a special day, with Mercury, Venus, Jupiter, Mars and our Moon all visible simultaneously. And with the assistance of an optical aid, Uranus as well! By the following evening (the 26^th), the Moon will have moved up and be found about 3° to 4° to the right of Jupiter in the western sky.

The variable star, Algol (in the constellation Perseus), will be worth watching on Wednesday, February 11, as it will be at its minimum brightness for about 2 hours, centred on 7:50 pm. It will also be well positioned for viewing this month. On the evening of the 11^th it will be somewhat west of the brilliant star, Capella (in Auriga) which will be just to the north of the zenith at the time mentioned.

Other Sights requiring Telescope or Binoculars: Of particular interest this month is the near-earth asteroid Eros 433. It is currently passing through our part of the Solar System and will be closest to the Earth (and thus brightest, at magnitude 8.6) during the period January 25 to February 13. Although only 34 km long and 11 km wide, it is till readily visible (with optical aid) even though it is still 27 million km distant at closest approach (almost 70 times more distant than the Moon). This is Eros' closest approach to Earth since January 1975 and will not be as close again until January 2056. If you have a telescope (or binoculars) available, watch for it as it traverses the region between the constellations Sextans and Hydra from February 1 to 13. These constellations will be found in the southeastern part of the sky as midnight approaches.
433 Eros was the first near-earth asteroid to be discovered (in 1898) and achieved even more fame in 2000-2001 when NASA's NEAR-Shoemaker probe dropped into an orbit around it and then descended to its dusty surface.

Another passing visitor is comet Garradd, which has been fascinating sky watchers for many months now. It was discovered by Astronomer Gordon J. Garradd on August 13, 2009, at Australia’s Siding Spring Observatory. At magnitude 6, it is only on the fringe of being visible with the naked eye, this the result of being at an unfortunately large distance from us. It is now about 1.5 times as far away as the Sun and will be closest to us on March 5 when it will be "only" 1.25 times as far away as the Sun. It can now be seen in the early morning as it passes north through the constellation Hercules about 45° above the eastern horizon. More specifically, around February 5, it will be passing very close to the globular cluster M92.

Unmanned Space Activities:
NASA's Mars mission (the Mars Science Laboratory, or more conveniently named "Curiosity") is designed as a follow-up to its previous Rover explorations of Mars, in order to provide further information on whether life could ever have existed or even currently be present on that hostile planet. On November 26, the wheeled-vehicle, at 900 kg, the size of a mini-Cooper automobile, blasted off from Cape Canaveral. It contains, among its ten specialized instruments, a large instrumented robot arm, a weather station, a laser that can vaporize rocks at 7 metres, and a percussive drill. At the end of the robotic arm is fitted a Canadian contribution, an alpha particle X-ray spectrometer (APXS) designed to analyse samples to help ascertain the potential habitability of Mars. A major difference between this rover and NASA's past versions is that the power for its instruments will be supplied by 4.7 kg of plutonium rather than solar panels. The radioactive decay of the plutonium will generate enough heat to produce the required electrical needs for the vehicle for its time on the red planet (the minimum time expected is 14 years). The benefit of such a power source is that it will enable the vehicle to operate continuously while on Mars, and not have to pause during Martian night or winter. The lift-off of this vehicle occurred without problem and so far, the mission is in good shape to arrive at Mars in August, 2012.

The hope is that it can be landed successfully in the large (150 km diameter) Gale crater on Mars, a crater which is thought to be about three and a half billion years old with a three-mile-high mountain of layered sedimentary rock at its bottom — an enticing area of exploration for scientists. It will spend a minimum of two years roaming around the Crater which was chosen as the landing site because it is rich in minerals and scientists feel that if there is any place on Mars that might have been ripe for life, it would be there.

During its trip to Mars, the space probe is carrying out measurements of its space environment using its onboard instruments. One unexpected gift was the fact that it had to encounter the very large CME (coronal mass ejection) that also bombarded Earth recently, producing unusually large and intense auroral displays. These energetic radiation bursts are, of course, the kind of event that could occur during trips to Mars carrying human crew, so it is vital to be aware of the extent of the possible danger. More detail on this topic can be obtained from Solar Storm.

The International Space Station: Operation of the Space Station is looking brighter now that the Russians appear to have repaired the problem with their Soyuz rocket boosters. On October 30, the Russians launched an unmanned Progress supply vessel filled with water and other supplies for the crew of the Space Station, the first successful launch of a Soyuz rocket since a failed launch in April that led to speculation that NASA might have to send the existing crew of the International Space Station home until another launch vehicle was developed.
The next launch from Russia, on November 13, conveyed three astronauts to the space station, bringing the space station complement back to six. The next change of three astronauts occurred with the Soyuz launch of December 21 which docked at the space station on Friday, December 23.
The world is not without concern for Russia's space launching capability however. On Friday, December 23, the Russians launched a Meridian communications satellite which failed to reach orbit and crashed into the Novosibirsk region of central Siberia due to a failure of its Soyuz rocket, a particular worry as the rocket is a member of the same family of boosters that Russia uses to send multinational manned crews to the International Space Station. The Russian space programme has now lost over half a dozen satellites in the past year. In addition to the loss of three navigation satellites, an advanced military satellite, and a telecommunications satellite, Russia lost an unmanned Progress supply ship bound for the ISS in August, 2011, which crashed into Siberia after its launch by a Soyuz rocket, forcing the temporary grounding of the whole rocket booster program as well as a major restaffing of the technical component of the station. The most recent calamity in the Russian space programme was the loss of the Phobos-Grunt probe launched on November 9.
"This again shows that the (Russian space) industry is in crisis," admitted Vladimir Popovkin, the head of Roscosmos, in comments broadcast on state television. "It is deeply unpleasant."
He blamed the crisis in the Russian space industry on the departure of specialists who quit in the 1990's after the collapse of the Soviet Union.

Celebrating the thirty years of Shuttle activity, the Globe and Mail has provided an interesting assortment of photos associate with the Shuttle flights.

The International Space Station is not now visible from our area. It will again become visible on Valentine's day, February 14, in the evening. At that time, it will be seen rising near the south and skirting the southeastern sky before disappearing from view in the east. The following indicate optimum viewing times.

Contact: jonesgarth@yahoo.ca

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