What's Up: February 1 - 7, 2022

What’s Up This First Week of February

The forecast calls for it to be a cloudy and cold week with some snow and freezing rain. If we are lucky, there might be a clear night sometime this upcoming weekend. The nighttime temperatures are still unrelenting and are only a few degrees above zero with windchill.

If you are becoming more serious about stargazing, consider buying a cheap “dew heater” for your telescope to prevent frost from building up on the lenses. Kendrick dew removal systems is a good option.

https://www.kendrickastro.com/

Sunset this week is around 5:50 PM so wait one more hour to be able to see the fainter night-sky objects. If we are fortunate with more clear nights this week be on the lookout for the “young” moon passing a gas giant, the moon neighboring another outer planet, a small open cluster surrounded by glowing gas, and an eruptive variable star.

On Wednesday, February 2nd, look low in the western skies just after sunset to spot the two-day-old crescent moon. Only 4% of the lunar surface facing the earth will be illuminated that night, but it may make for an interesting sight through binoculars. You may also see the un-lightened side of the moon appear to faintly glow just after sunset. This is called earthshine. Somewhat above the moon will be the most famous gas giant – Jupiter. You may be fighting against the sunset-lit skies, but a telescope may be able to reveal the red and white stripes through Jupiter’s atmosphere and the planet’s four Galilean moons.

Jupiter and the moon, Wednesday right after sunset.

In about a week the moon will be passing through its first-quarter phase. On Monday, February 7th, the moon will be 44% illuminated and just a few degrees to the east of Uranus. This second-most outer planet only shines at magnitude 5.8 so the moon’s bright glow will likely wash it out. But since the moon will move out of the way in a few days you can revisit that spot in the sky with a telescope and try spotting the blue gas giant.

The moon will appear close to Uranus in the evening skies on the night of February 7. This makes the challenging planet a bit easier to find.

The Orion Constellation region of the sky is home to many famous deep-sky objects. One that is interesting to both amateur stargazers and veteran astrophotographers is NGC 2244, the Rosette Nebula. It is is in the faint constellation of Monoceros, the Unicorn. If you’re trying to find it in the sky, it is off Orion’s “Betelgeuse shoulder” and nearly forms an equilateral triangle with Betelgeuse and the left-most belt star, Alnitak. Binoculars or a telescope will reveal a beautiful and bright blue open star cluster. These hot stars ionize the surrounding hydrogen gas which in turn emits light. Astrophotographers are able to carefully image the emitted light, typically using narrowband filters to help isolate the light’s specific wavelengths. This surrounding nebulosity resembles a pink rose.

Here is how to “star hop” to the Rosette Nebula.

And here is a photographic view of the nebula up cloase.

The stars that fill our night sky are usually very interesting – some of them have multiple partners and some of them change in brightness. The ones that noticeably change in brightness are called “variable stars”. One easy variable star to find is called Gamma Cassiopeiae and it is the middle star in the northern constellation of Cassiopeia (it’s the one that looks like a giant “W”). This star fluctuates from magnitude 1.6 to 3.0 due to its rapid rotation and consequent ejection of bright fusing hydrogen.

Frequent skywatchers should take note of how bright Gamma Cassiopeia relative to other stars. If you watch it for many months, you’ll notice it varies in brightness.

Hopefully, we get more than just one clear night this week so we can see all the spectacles of the cosmos without getting frostbite. In addition to finding Jupiter, the 4% crescent moon, Uranus, the Rosette Nebula and open cluster, and variable stars, there is a whole sky full of stargazing wonders.

Stay warm out there… and Clear Skies!