Mercury will return to the morning sky after its inferior conjunction on the 8th. It will be hard to see as it will be rising only 25 minutes before sunrise by the 14th when it will be north of Jupiter in the early morning. You can see Jupiter, Venus and Mercury forming a triangle with Saturn above but you may well need binoculars to see Mercury. By the 20th it will be much easier to find between Jupiter and Saturn in the early morning sky. Mercury will continue to get higher and brighter so that on the 28th it is is two hand-spans above the eastern horizon an hour before sunrise and in a line with Jupiter and Saturn.
Venus is rising less than an hour prior to the Sun and is becoming more difficult to see this month. It will have a number of encounters with Jupiter and Saturn during the month but you will require a low clear eastern horizon to see them clearly. Binoculars make it a lot easier to see planets in the twilight. From mid-month it will be lost to view as it will be in the glare of the Sun until it returns to the evening sky in mid-May. Be very careful using binoculars when looking at the planets after twilight due to their close proximity to the Sun – do not try if the Sun has or is in the process of rising.
Mars is still moving further away from us and is getting smaller in the sky but that doesn’t mean it is not important this month – it is still easy to find in evening north western sky in Aries for most of the month. It will then move into Taurus. On the 15th you will find Mars is just under four hand-spans above the north-western horizon an hour and a half after sunset. Then on the evening of the 19th the first Quarter Moon will be near to Mars. A nice photo opportunity will be on the 28th when Mars is just over three hand-spans above the north-western horizon an hour and a half after sunset and is within a binocular field of the beautiful Pleiades cluster.
Perseverance Rover (NASA)
There will be excitement and breath holding at NASA on February 18th as the latest robotic rover named Perseverance to reach Mars will attempt to land. It is planned to land near the Jezero Crater, where an ancient river deposited a fan of sediment billions of years ago, when Mars had running water on its surface. This is a rough surface, and perhaps the most hazard landing site attempted yet. There are also two other missions on their way to Mars – the Chinese have Tianwen-1 orbiter due to arrive at Mars between the 11th and 25th with a lander due to land in April; and United Arab Emirates Space Agency uncrewed Mars space exploration mission known as the Hope will enter orbit around the Red Planet this month as well.
Jupiter returns to the morning sky this month becoming visible in the dawn twilight. On the 11th have a go if you have a good eastern horizon to find Jupiter, Venus, and the very thin crescent Moon. Venus, Jupiter, Saturn and Mercury all appear to be in the constellation of Capricornus from the 18th to 23rd. It will be much easier to see by mid-month. By the 15th Jupiter is just over a hand-span above the north-western horizon half an hour before sunrise. However, by the 28th is nearly two hand-spans above the eastern horizon an hour before sunrise and forms a line with Mercury and Saturn.
Saturn also returns to the morning sky this month. Like Jupiter it will become easier to see after mid-month. Saturn is above Jupiter in the sky. By February 15, you will find Saturn around two hand-spans above the eastern horizon half an hour before sunrise. By the 28th it will be about three hand-spans above the eastern horizon an hour before sunrise.
Uranus is in Aries and is visible very low in the early western evening sky this month. It remains in Aries now until 2024 when it will move into Taurus. Although a nearby bright moon does Uranus no favours, its monthly visits can help to show you where the distant planet is located. In the western sky on February 17th the 33%-illuminated crescent moon will shine several finger widths to the West of the seventh planet. See the Sky View for the night of the 17th to be able to find in binoculars.
Neptune is lost in the evening twilight as it is nearing conjunction with the Sun early next month.
Meteor Showers
Alpha Centaurids one of the major Southern Hemisphere meteor showers is visible from January 31st to February 28th. The meteor showers originates from dust grains ejected from an unknown comet. These small dust grains (meteoroids) are distributed along the parent comet’s orbit concentrated close to the comet nucleus with fewer grains farther away from the nucleus.
The peak occurs overnight 7/8 February and although this shower does produce a lot of meteors – it often has some nice bright fireballs. The predicted rate is about 6 an hour but can reach up to 25.
This year the maximum period falls close to the new Moon, so is favourable for dark-sky coverage increasingly later in the night.