Wednesday, February 9
The Moon, still in Taurus, passes 0.03° north of dwarf planet 1 Ceres at 6 A.M. EST. Both are invisible at that time, but by sunset tonight, this region is already high in the southeastern sky. Wait for dark, then look about 7° west of the Moon to find Ceres, which glows at magnitude 8.6 and will require binoculars or a telescope to pick out.
Ceres is the largest object in the asteroid belt, spanning nearly 600 miles (965 km) and comprising 25 percent of the mass in the main belt. Its orbit takes it around the Sun once every 4.6 years, while the tiny world spins on its axis every 9 hours. Ceres will spend the entire month in Taurus, slowly sliding northeast below the Pleiades. This is a good time to track the world’s motion, as the dark clouds of dust scattered across this region of sky help to blot out some of the Milky Way’s myriad stars. This week, Ceres is nearly alone within a single telescopic field of view a few degrees northeast of a bright pair of stars, 13 and 14 Tauri.
Sunrise: 7:00 A.M.
Sunset: 5:29 P.M.
Moonrise: 11:31 A.M.
Moonset: 1:38 A.M.
Moon Phase: Waxing gibbous (61%)
Thursday February 10
Draco the Dragon snakes his way above the North Celestial Pole this morning. One of the 10 largest constellations in the official list of 88, Draco contains several excellent deep-sky targets to look for once the Moon sets early this morning.
First, locate 3rd-magnitude Iota (ι) Draconis. Look 4° southwest of this star and you’ll alight upon M102, also known as the Spindle Galaxy. Some 50 million light-years away, this galaxy spans 4.5′ by 2′ on the sky — but in reality, it stretches about 60,000 light-years across. It’s magnitude 10, which is faint enough that you’ll want a telescope to find it, but even a smaller scope (4 inches) should suffice under average skies. If you’re having trouble seeing it, Astronomy columnist Glenn Chaple suggests using averted vision to make this oval-shaped fuzz jump out a bit better.
Next, let’s move on to NGC 6543, also known as the Cat’s Eye Nebula. This magnitude 8.1 planetary nebula lies about 5° east-northeast of 3rd-magnitude Zeta (ζ) Draconis. Through even a small telescope, you may pick up some color, but exactly what you see will depend on your eyes. Does it look blue, green, or a mix of the two? A larger telescope (8 inches or more) will bring out stunning detail, especially with magnifications of 200x. Then, you might make out a faint outer shell some 5′ across, surrounding a tighter, brighter core just 20″ in diameter.
The Moon reaches apogee, the farthest point from Earth in its orbit, at 9:37 P.M. EST. At that time, it will be 251,591 miles (404,896 km) away.
Sunrise: 6:59 A.M.
Sunset: 5:30 P.M.
Moonrise: 12:05 P.M.
Moonset: 2:38 A.M.
Moon Phase: Waxing gibbous (70%)
Friday, February 11
Venus is approaching its greatest brilliancy, which occurs when the planet is 26 percent lit. That will officially occur tomorrow.
But today, it’s already nearly there: This morning, Venus is 25 percent lit and magnitude –4.9. That’s a few percent brighter than usual for greatest brilliancy, when the planet typically hits only magnitude –4.5. It’s exceptionally bright this year because the world’s distance from Earth happens to be just 38 million miles (61 million km) — less than the average 40.9 million to 43.7 million miles (65.8 million to 70 million km).
Venus rises around 4:30 A.M. this morning, giving you plenty of time to observe it even as the sky grows lighter close to sunrise. It’s still sitting above the handle of the Teapot in Sagittarius, and is now 6.8° north of Mars and 13.8° west of Mercury, both also still in Sagittarius.
Sunrise: 6:58 A.M.
Sunset: 5:32 P.M.
Moonrise: 12:47 P.M.
Moonset: 3:37 A.M.
Moon Phase: Waxing gibbous (78%)
The Sky This Week: Mars meets M22
Source: Trending Update Article
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