What's in the Sky Tonight?

FEBRUARY 2025

Feb 1: Planetary Alignment
Four of the 5 visible planets — Venus, Mars, Jupiter and Saturn — will be aligned along the ecliptic and visible right after sunset through mid-February. Mercury is also part of the alignment but is not visible because it is too close to the Sun.

Feb 1: Conjunction of the Moon and Venus and Saturn

Feb 3: Conjunction of Venus and Neptune

Feb 7: Conjunction of the Moon and Jupiter

Feb 9: Conjunction of the Moon and Mars

Feb 12: Snow Moon
February's Full Moon is also known as the Snow Moon in many Northern Hemisphere cultures.

Feb 28: New Moon

ASTRONOMY BINOCULARS
A mini telescope you can take anywhere

If you love sky gazing, you have to have a pair of astronomy binoculars! Binoculars are a fantastic alternative to telescopes—inexpensive, lightweight, and portable. For city dwellers where there is a lot of light pollution, binoculars are essential if you want to see much of anything.

Binoculars enlarge and brighten the beauty and immensity of the night sky. You can see the detail of the moon's craters, the phases of Venus, the moons and stripes of Jupiter, the awesome jewels that dot the Milky Way, nebulae, star clusters, and comets when they're passing near.

Our favorite astonomy binoculars is the Celestron SkGiyMaster Giant 15x70 Binoculars. These are excellent as well:

ANOTHER GREAT ASTRONOMICAL TOOL:

THE PLANISPHERE
A year-round, real-time sky map

A planisphere is a rotating star chart that allows you to dial in the entire visible sky for any day and time of the year and with great precision. It has been called an analog star computer and was considered magical in ancient times.

Planispheres show the brightest stars, constellations, notable galaxies and nebulae, as well as the path of the Milky Way. The plane of the ecliptic is also shown, which reveals the pathway of the planets as they appear to move across the night sky.

Purchase a planisphere for $7.95