February stargazing is fantastic for many reasons. Sure, it's not as

comfortable for stargazers living with the winter cold, but the extra

special celestial jewels make it so worth bundling up for! If you're not

already in the darker countryside, try to get out there. But even with

light-polluted skies, I know you'll still like what you see.

If you were lucky enough to receive a telescope under the

Christmas tree, now's the time to see its first light. Too many folks

wait until springtime to test drive their new scopes. That's a mistake!

You'll miss out on many wonderful celestial treasures, and you'll have

to stay up later to begin your astronomical fun.

Orion the Hunter and his posse of constellations are the main

attraction as far as I'm concerned. They start out in the southeast

Butler sky at nightfall and reach their peak altitude above the

southern horizon by around 9 p.m. The constellations surrounding

Orion are Gemini the Twins, Canis Major and Minor (the big and little

dogs, respectively), Auriga the sheep-schlepping retired chariot

driver, Taurus the Bull, and Lepus the Rabbit. Without a doubt, Orion

and his gang have the most extensive collection of bright stars

assembled anywhere across the night sky in the Northern

hemisphere.

Within these winter shiners are great telescope targets. The very

best one is the Orion Nebula, easily spotted in the sword of Orion.

Look below the three iconic bright stars in a row that make up

Orion's belt for a line of three fainter stars that depict his sword.

Even with the naked eye in areas of light pollution, you can see that

the middle star in the sword is a bit fuzzy. This fuzzy star is the Orion

Nebula, a vast cloud of hydrogen gas lit up like a fluorescent lamp by

young stars gravitationally born inside it. Through a small telescope

or pair of binoculars, you can see a lot more detail, including four of

these stars in a trapezoid pattern dubbed, appropriately, the

Trapezium.

In the eastern sky, there are already signs of spring. The mighty

constellation Leo the Lion is on the prowl westward. The chest and

head of Leo resemble a backward question mark, with the

moderately bright star Regulus marking the heart of the big cat. As

early evening turns to the late evening, it looks as if Leo is chasing the

winter constellations toward the western horizon.

In the northern skies is the Big Dipper, the bright rear end and tail of

the constellation Ursa Major, the Big Bear. The Big Dipper is standing up on

its handle in the low north-northeast sky. In the high northwest, a giant

upside-down "W" outlines the throne of the constellation Cassiopeia the

Queen. The Queen is tied up in her throne because she bragged that she

was more beautiful than Hera, queen of the Greek gods, and owner of the

most enormous ego in history. Depending on your latitude, you can see

those constellations and a few others every night as they make a tight

circle around the North Star Polaris that shines above the Earth's north

pole.

If you're a fan of evening planet viewing, I'm afraid you're pretty much

shut out this month. In early February, only Jupiter is barely visible in the

early evening as twilight ends, in the low western sky just above the

horizon. In the predawn morning, the planet watching is a little better. The

very bright planet Venus dominates the low southeast sky just before

twilight begins. For most of the month, the much fainter planets Mars and

Mercury join Venus. Unfortunately none of these planets are great

telescope targets. They'll appear super fuzzy because of the blurring effect

of Earth's atmosphere because they're so close to the horizon. Venus is

never a good target because it's completely shrouded in clouds. What

makes watching Venus fun though is that it goes through phases like our

moon because its orbit around the sun lies within the Earth's orbit. This

month Venus is crescent-shaped.

Despite the planets not putting on a very good show, it's still an amazing

celestial show this month. Enjoy it!!

———

Mike Lynch is an amateur astronomer and retired broadcast

meteorologist for WCCO Radio in Minneapolis/St. Paul. He is the author

of "Stars: a Month by Month Tour of the Constellations," published by

Adventure Publications and available at bookstores

and adventurepublications.net. Contact him at mikewlynch@comcast.net.