Let's get the second edition of Marshall's night sky this week rolling!
Welcome, and we hope you find something of interest.
Let's examine the highlights of the night sky this week, February 12-18, 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 12-18
Feb 12) Lunar occultation of Neptune. This event will only be visible from most parts of Australia, be sure to check
and see if you fall in the correct zone! We will be expecting plenty of pictures from our Aussie contingent!
Feb 15) Close approach of Moon and Jupiter, look for this celestial dance early in the evening.
Feb 15) Conjunction of Mars and Pluto and there will also be a conjunction of the Moon and Jupiter.
Feb 16) Moon at first quarter.
Feb 16) Close approach of the Moon and M45.
FEB 18) Conjunction of Venus and Pluto.
COMETS for february 12-18
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 and will be moving through the constellation Ophiuchus this week.
12P/Pons-Brooks
This 7th magnitude comet will be passing through the constellation Lacerta, it is only visible to the Northern Hemisphere.
144P/Kushida
This 9th magnitude comet will have passed through the Hyades last week, but still a good target, it should be seen in most telescopes and will present some amazing photo opportunities! Visible from both hemispheres.
Comet 62P Tsuchinshan.
The below link shows a graphic of its path this month in Virgo, as it loops around just west of magnitude 4.9 Rho Virginis in the triangle formed by Virgo Galaxy Cluster members M87, M60 and M49. It outshines those galaxies, and we believe the comet and galaxy combination makes for an interesting contrast given they can appear similar to one another at times.
https://www.astronomy.com/wp-content/up ... .png?w=768
STARS
Feb 15) Algol at minimum brightness, magnitude 3.4 instead of its usual 2.1, for about two hours centred on 16:32 p.m. UT. Algol takes several hours to fade beforehand and to rebrighten after. More from Wikipedia below:
"Algol, designated Beta Persei, known colloquially as the Demon Star, is a bright multiple star in the constellation of Perseus and one of the first non-nova variable stars to be discovered. Algol is a three-star system, consisting of Beta Persei Aa1, Aa2, and Ab – in which the hot luminous primary β Persei Aa1 and the larger, but cooler and fainter, β Persei Aa2 regularly pass in front of each other, causing eclipses. Thus Algol's magnitude is usually near-constant at 2.1, but regularly dips to 3.4 every 2.86 days during the roughly 10-hour-long partial eclipses. The secondary eclipse when the brighter primary star occults the fainter secondary is very shallow and can only be detected photoelectrically. Algol gives its name to its class of eclipsing variable, known as Algol variables."
LINK: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Algol
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.
Uranus will also be 3° south of a nearly First Quarter Moon Feb. 15
SPACE LAUNCHES Feb 12-18.
Feb 14) Falcon 9 IM-1, LC-39A, Kennedy Space Center, Florida. 12:57 a.m. EST (0557 UTC)
Feb 14) Falcon 9 USSF-124. SLC-40, Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, Florida. Four-hour launch period opens at 5:30 p.m. EST (2230 UTC)
Feb 14/15) Soyuz Progress M-26 / 87P. Baikonur Cosmodrome, Kazakhstan. 6:25 a.m. MSK on Feb. 15 (10:25 p.m. EST, 0325 UTC)
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 ISS.
LINK: https://spotthestation.nasa.gov/
