Planets: 

Mercury:  Early morning risers can find this planet between February 18 and 25^th low in the sky about 40 minutes before sunrise in the east-southeast.

Venus:  Glorious Venus will return to evening visibility after traveling behind the sun, but not until the end of the month.  Look for Venus very low in the western sky shortly after sunset.

Mars:  Look to the west-southwest at dusk for the red planet.  Although not very bright in the overall scheme of things, Mars is still the brightest object in this area of the sky.  Mars will set by 10 p.m. in the west. 

Jupiter:  This giant planet reigns supreme in the constellation of Gemini the Twins.  Jupiter is the brightest object in our evening sky with the exception of the moon, glowing about 10 times brighter than nearby Saturn

Saturn:  The ringed planet is in Taurus the Bull, shining brilliantly at a magnitude of almost 0.0…really bright!  If you have a small telescope, take time to look at the almost completely exposed underside of the rings!


On the evening of February 20, when the moon is at first quarter, it will overtake the ringed planet and hide it from our earthly point of view.  Never fear, however, for Saturn will reappear about an hour and a half later.  Start watching the high southern sky about 5:20 as the moon approaches the ringed planet, covering it around 5:30 p.m.  Saturn will emerge around 7:00 p.m.

Constellations:  Auriga, Camelopardalis, Canis Major, Columba, Gemini, Lepus, Monoceros, Pictor

Looking for a Little More?  If this Skyline whets your appetite, try this website:  skymaps.com/downloads.html.  It offers a two page pdf brochure that you can print out for free.  It has a basic skymap and short lists of visual, binocular, and small telescope objects.  It is really good--check it out!