The Admin/moderation teams at
We were very saddened at his recent passing and wanted to pay him some form of tribute. What better way then to keep his memory alive here with a new feature called "Marshall's night sky events this week".
Marshall loved posting his monthly thread and we felt a continuation of sorts would be in order. We hope this new feature will continue his legacy here on the forums.
Thank you Marshall for all the joy and sunshine you brought to our forums, you will be greatly missed!
Let's get the ball rolling and start by examining the week ahead, February 5-11, 2024.
We will list the highlights and discuss a few events. We hope you find this info useful and if you have anything you wish to discuss or add, please hit the "Reply" button below and let us know!
Please note that all images are from SkySafari, the link to the webpage is here: https://skysafariastronomy.com/
All other information is freely gathered from various websites, Apps, planetarium software and social media. We would encourage you to download and print your finder charts more specific to your location, the charts included are for basic guidance only and are printed as seen from a southern hemisphere perspective.
Many website like Sky maps.com will allow you to download and print out a free planisphere for each month, link: https://www.skymaps.com/
EVENTS for February 5-11
Feb4 ) For those in the eastern US tonight you will be able to observe a Io transit of Jupiter, it will start at 6:11pm EST to 8:22 EST. Io's shadow transit will follow at 7:31pm EST to 9:40pm EST. Hope you get to catch this!
Feb 5 )Lunar occultation of Antares.
This will only be visible from parts of the Middle East, Kazakhstan, China, Southeast Asia, Indonesia, Philippines, Melanesia, Japan and Micronesia
Feb 5 )Conjunction of Mercury and pluto.
Feb 7 )Conjunction of Moon and Venus.
Feb 8 )Conjunction of moon and Mars.
Feb 8 )a-Centaurid meteor shower(Southern Hemisphere). This is a very low count shower and will peak on February 8th. Only visible from the Southern hemisphere. This shower's radiant point is in the constellation Centaurus, best seen in the early morning hours before dawn, this week Centaurus will be passing close to zenith during those times, enjoy!
Feb 8) Conjunction of Moon and Mercury.
Feb 9 )New Moon.
Feb 10 )Moon at perigree.
COMETS for february 5-11
C/2021 S3 (PANSTARRS)
With a visual magnitude predicted at 8.2 this comet should be visible under good conditions with a telescope.
This comet can be found in the Southern Hemisphere in the constellation Lupus.
62P/Tsuchinshan
This 9th magnitude comet is currently passing through the constellation Virgo.
It should be visible from both hemispheres with decent conditions and a telescope, great photographic opportunity.
144P/Kushida
This 9th magnitude comet will be passing through the Hyades this week, it should be seen in most telescopes and will present some amazing photo opportunities! Visible from both hemispheres.
PLANETS
Jupiter
The King of planets will be visible all this week above your southern horizon from the Northern Hemisphere and more the Western horizon from the Southern Hemisphere.
Shortly before midnight it starts to dip below the horizon giving you plenty of time to observe it.
This is observable with the naked eye, binoculars or a telescope.
Uranus
This planet will also sit above your southern horizon from sunset through to around 1am.
This is best viewed with a telescope.
SPACE LAUNCHES Feb 5-11.
Feb 6) Falcon 9 , Cape Canaveral Space Force station, Florida. 1:33AM EST, 06:33
International Space Station
We highly recommend using "Spot the station" from NASA to find out when the International Space station will be passing over your location.
This is a fun object to see flying high above, don't forget to bring the family out for this and wave hello to the souls aboard the
