Watch this Space for February 2014 Moon Phases Planet Watch New Moon First Quarter The Planets on view for February are: 30 / 01 / 14 6 / 02 / 14 Mercury: Low in the evening twilight at mag –0.5 Venus: Is a bright morning star at mag -4.5 Full Moon Last Quarter Mars: Rises around 10:30pm in Virgo at mag –0.5 14 / 02 / 14 22 / 02 / 14 Jupiter: Visible all night long in Gemini at mag -2.5 Saturn: Rises at 1am in Libra at mag +0.7 The Sun Uranus: Sets around 9:15pm in Pisces : Not visible this month Rises: 7:15am, 15th February, Sets: 17:15 Neptune Constellation of the Month Pisces - The Fishes 14th in size of the 88 constellations, Pisces contains no bright stars. It can be found below Andromeda and the Square of Peg- asus, and to the west of Aries. In Roman mythology Pisces was associated with Venus and her son Cupid who tied themselves together and jumped into the sea to escape the monster Typhon. The Greek legend is similar but refers to Aphrodite and Eros. Image Credit: Torsten Bronger Notable stars: Piscium – Alrescha, a close binary mags 4.3 and 5.2 separated by 1”.8, period 700 years. Was much brighter in ancient times. Piscium – A G9 yellow giant mag 3.7, with the high annual proper motion of 0.75”/year Van Maanen’s star – The third closest white dwarf to the Sun and closest solitary white dwarf, mag 12.3, distance 14 light years, discovered in 1917. Very high annual proper motion of 2.98”/yr. Some Interesting Objects: M74 “Grand Design” Spiral galaxy mag 10.0, part of a group of 5 to 7 galaxies. NGC 488 Tight spiral galaxy mag 10.6. NGC 514 Intermediate spiral galaxy, mag 12.2. NGC 520 Also known as Arp157, a pair of interacting spiral galaxies, mag 12.4 NGC 524 Lenticular galaxy, mag 12.4 NGC 470 & 474 A close pair of galaxies, one spiral and one a shell galaxy—see APOD 5th Jan 2014 There are 270 NGC objects in Aries, all galaxies. Lunar Feature of the Month Cassini The crater Cassini in the lunar northern hemisphere is probably one of my all time favourite craters. It lends itself well as an exceptional formation. The crater is somewhat oval in its shape and its steep walls make for some interesting shadow formation during sun rise and sun set. For me though it is the internal craters of Cassini that make this crater so visually appealing. The internal craters are named Cassini A and Cassini B and they steep slopes and highwalls certainly do grab ones attention. If you want to observe Cassini for yourself then your best viewing times are first quarter or 6 days following full moon. Cassini, Cassini A and Cassini B on the 17th February 2013 ©David Scanlan, FRAS The Sun January began with some very active areas culminating in a Coronal Mass Ejection (CME) from sunspot group AR1944 which produced a great auroral display in the polar regions. The majority of activity is currently in the southern hemisphere. Activity decreased towards the end of the month as seen in the January 26 image. Despite a few spots harbouring the potential for flares there were no further Earth-ward CMEs. January 26 Sun. Image credit: SDO/AIA/HMI A Scotish Aurora. Picture credit: Karen Munro, Caithness Astronomy Group However on January 9 the CME which erupted from group AR1944 arrived at the Earth. Its arrival coincided with the transmission of Stargazing Live and viewers were treated to a live show. Auroras appear when charged particles from the Sun ‘funnel’ down open magnetic field lines at the poles. Whilst the best displays are normal- ly seen in the polar regions, they can occasionally be seen in the northern British Isles. ISS and Iridium Flares this month ISS visibility ISS night-time visibility, magnitude greater than -2.0, height greater than 30° Zenith Start End Date Time Mag Dirn Ht Dirn Ht Dirn Ht Mon 10 Feb 18:34 -3.1 SSE 33° SW 0° ESE 24° Tue 11 Feb 19:22 -3.9 SW 71° WSW 0° SW 71° Wed 12 Feb 18:34 -3.9 SSE 60° WSW 0° E 24° Thu 13 Feb 19:22 -4.2 N 81° W 0° N 81° Fri 14 Feb 18:33 -4.1 SSE 90° WSW 0° E 22° Sat 15 Feb 19:21 -4.1 N 77° W 0° NE 75° Sun 16 Feb 18:32 -4.0 N 77° W 0° E 20° Mon 17 Feb 19:20 -4.2 SSW 87° W 0° ESE 72° Tue 18 Feb 18:32 -4.1 N 82° W 0° E 18° Wed 19 Feb 17:43 -3.9 N 77° W 0° E 4° Thu 20 Feb 18:31 -3.9 SSW 74° WNW 0° ESE 74° Fri 21 Feb 19:19 -2.4 SSW 31° WNW 0° SSE 22° Sun 23 Feb 17:41 -3.3 SSW 60° WNW 0° ESE 0° ISS Events Transits of Sun and Moon and night-time close passes. Date Time Event Mon 10 Feb 18:34 0.6° from Alnitak Sun 16 Feb 16:57 0.6° from Jupiter Satellite flares Magnitude greater than -4.0, height greater than 30° Date Time Satellite Mag Dirn Ht Tue 12 Feb 17:47 Iridium 22 -7.1 NNE 66° Fri 14 Feb 17:35 Iridium 47 -7.0 NNE 70° Valentine’s Day Alert ... Mon 17 Feb 19:22 Iridium 57 -6.0 NNE 37° Take your partner out to see an Tue 18 Feb 19:15 Iridium 60 -6.9 NNE 40° Iridium Flare … What could be more romantic ?! Wed 26 Feb 18:35 Iridium 29 -6.9 NNE 54° Data from CalSky: http://www.calsky.com .