Jared May: What's Up February 22- March 1

What’s Up This Fourth Week of February

As we approach the month that marks the start of Spring, the weather does not reflect that at all. Ohio will be giving us mostly cloudy skies and extremely low nighttime temperatures. There may only be some partially clear skies this weekend, but beware the temperatures after sunset will be in the single digits!. We can keep our hopes up.

Sunset this week is just after 6:15 PM so be ready with all your stargazing and cold-weather gear by 7:15 PM. In the event of clear skies, be on the lookout this week for the third-quarter moon, the outer arms of the Milky Way, a “belt” of celestial objects, and an early-morning Saturn.

Wednesday, February 23rd, marks the official third-quarter moon. This mostly means for us stargazers that the moon’s bright glow will not be washing out faint stars and deep-sky objects. For the night owls (or early-morning risers), you can see the moon creep above the horizon around 2:30 AM. It can also be found high in the southern skies right at sunrise. If you manage to spot the third-quarter moon at 2:30 AM, it will be leading the core region of the Milky Way, so try hunting for some dusty Milky Way structures stretched across the sky too.

The moon rises well after midnight this week. If it were not so bright, you might be able to spot it against the “summer” Milky-way in the pre-dawn skies.

Speaking of the Milky Way, the bulk of the stars and dust in our galaxy are hidden this time of year. This region is best seen in the around August. Do not be too disappointed though. The outer regions of the Milky Way are visible this time of year. Since we are facing outward from the galactic center, away from the busy center, we see fewer stars and dust along our line of sight. So, while it may appear faint, the Milky Way is still up in the sky. Try looking for a thin and wispy cloud-like structure stretching from the Winter Triangle (Betelgeuse, Sirius, and Procyon) all the way through Cassiopeia – this is the outer-edge region of our galaxy.

While not as bright as the Summer milky-way, the winter Milky-Way can still be see quite well under dark, moonless skies.

While you are looking in the Cassiopeia and northern regions of the sky, try also looking for double stars with binoculars or a telescope (hint: there is a bright and easy double star in the handle of the Big Dipper). Or for an added challenge, reference the American Association of Variable Star Observer’s (AAVSO) database and try looking for variable stars!

In the early-morning hours on Sunday, February 27th, look low in the eastern skies to find an arrangement of celestial bodies that resembles a giant Orion’s Belt on its side. Venus, Mars, and the crescent moon will all be stacked on top of each other. Try observing each of these objects with binoculars or a telescope to see the faint details of their surface (or atmosphere in the case of Venus). Not only will these objects be easy to spot due to their brightness, but it will be easy to hop from one object to the next.

Three solar system bodies make a kind of “Orion’s Belt” in the pre-dawn skies.

Perhaps the same morning as the “giant Orion’s Belt”, look a little lower and further north to spot Mercury. Nearby will be Saturn trying hard to make itself seen against the sunrise sky. Over the next several months, Saturn will be getting higher and higher in the early-morning skies. If we had really powerful telescopes as stargazers (which, alas we do not), we could witness the hexagonal polar storm happening on Saturn. Luckily, some satellites sent to study Saturn have returned great images of said storm. (IMAGE: https://solarsystem.nasa.gov/news/13037/a-vexing-hexagon/)

How to find Saturn. It will be challenging in twilight, but will get easier as the year progresses and it rises earlier.

Saturn’s great, and odd, hexagonal storm, as seen by the now defunct Cassini spacecraft.

Forecasts always have some uncertainty to them, so hopefully the night skies this week are not entirely cloudy every night. Regardless of the exact cloud coverage predictions, the temperatures will be extremely low so dress warmly and prepare your gear so it can thermally adjust to such cold temperatures. Sit outside under the vastness of the night sky and observe the many wonders of the cosmos from your backyard and try spotting the third-quarter moon, specially aligned celestial bodies, Saturn trying to shine, double and variable stars, as well as the outer arms of the Milky Way.

Clear Skies!