February 2016 – Skies News
02/6/2016
February Skies – by Dick Cookman
Highlights: Comet Journal, Martian Landers, Meteor Showers, Christians, Candles & Groundhogs, Planet Plotting, February Moon
Focus Constellations: Camelopardalis, Ursa Major, Ursa Minor, Draco, Cepheus, Cassiopeia, Andromeda, Perseus, Auriga, Taurus, Gemini, Cancer, Lynx, Leo
Comet Journal
Both Comet C/2013 X1 (PanSTARRS) and Comet C/2013 US10 (Catalina) are on the edge of naked eye visibility at magnitude 7 and can be easily observed with binoculars. The latter is south-southwest of Polaris in the Little Dipper in the early evening and moves away from Polaris through the constellation Camelopardalis in February. The former is between Pegasus and Pisces in early February and by month’s end will pass into the circlet of Pisces — also known as the head of the Western Fish. The comet will get progressively brighter during the Spring and may approach naked eye visibility at magnitudes 4 to 5 when near perihelion in June.
Comet C/2014 S2 (PanSTARRS) is at 9th magnitude and circling through Draco in February and early March and will head through the cup of the Big Dipper in April.
Catalina and C/2014 S2 (PanSTARRS) have both passed through perihelion and are dimming as they return to the depths of space. Catalina has an hyperbolic orbit which will carry it out of the Solar System and S2 will orbit back to the inner solar system in slightly more than 2200 years.
Mars Landers
Opportunity is in Marathon Valley to examine the phyllosilicate clay minerals which were discovered via satellite spectral studies. The rover has been slipping and sliding as it maneuvers around on the steep (~30°) north facing slope on the south side of the valley to position itself to take panoramic images of its surroundings and close up images of targets which are selected for rock grinding tasks with the Rock Abrasion Tool (RAT). The samples produced may hold some of the clues as to the origin of the clay spectral signature detected in Marathon Valley.
From Sol 4229 (Dec. 16, 2015) until Sol 4275 (Feb. 2, 2016), Opportunity jockeyed back and forth collecting multiple images and extensive Microscopic Imager (MI) mosaics of the surface targets “Pvt. John Potts” and “Joseph Collin.” Each was followed with a unique placement of the Alpha Particle X-ray Spectrometer (APXS) for elemental identification. A series of Panoramic Camera (Pancam) and Navigation Camera (Navcam) panoramas were collected of “Knudsen Ridge,” the upper part of the south slope of Marathon Valley.
Opportunity performed a steep climb of just less than 16 feet (5 meters) toward “Knudsen Ridge” on Sol 4269 (Jan. 26, 2016) . On the next sol, the rover ascended further up slope about 14 feet (4.4 meters). It has now traversed 26.5 miles (42.65 kilometers) during the 12 years that it has been on the Martian surface. Solar energy improved in the last month ranging from 449 to 498 watt hours per day.
Curiosity is climbing the lower slopes of Mt. Sharp over the sandstones of the Stimson Unit. The sandstone of the Stimson over which the rover has been traveling since August 27th displays some large scale cross-bedded layers typical of windblown sand deposited as dunes on Earth.
The rover is currently at Namib Dune, a large active dune in the Bagnold Dune Field on the northwestern flank of Mt. Sharp. Curiosity is investigating the dune to determine its rate of movement and the nature of sand grains making up the dune. These studies include the composition, sizes, shapes, and distribution of the grains, relationships to the sedimentary structures exhibited by the dune, and potential sources of the sand. The sand making up the dune is unusually dark when compared to dunes on Earth and to much of the sediment and sedimentary rocks analyzed so far on Mars, providing another interesting puzzle for mission scientists and planetary scientists.
Samples collected so far have been sieved to isolate the sand and silt sized particles which make up the majority of the windblown dune and to eliminate coarser granules and finer clays which may result from other processes.
Meteor Showers
The Alpha Centurid Meteors make up the only significant meteor shower in February. It occurs on the 8th but is limited to southern hemisphere skies. Light produced by meteors is not limited to the glowing sand and silt sized particles but is also produced by incandescent air heated by the plunging particles.
February skies are visited by sporadic (ave. = ~7 per hr.) Fireballs, partially compensating for infrequent meteor showers. Fireballs are meteors brighter than Venus. Although fireballs in February occur no more frequently than in other months, there are more bright fireballs which can last as long as 5 to 10 seconds and probably result from relatively slow moving boulder size meteoroids ranging from one to thirty feet in diameter. When fireballs shoot through the sky behind observers, they turn around to look because they see brilliant light reflected from trees and other objects in front of them.
The February fireballs may result from old untraceable showers that are no longer recognized.
Christians, Candles & Groundhogs
The Christian liturgical calendar celebrates February 2nd as “Candlemas,” the day of the “Redemption of Mary” and the “Presentation of Jesus.” The event is derived from Jewish tradition as specified in the “Law of Moses” from the “Torah” –– the five books of Moses which comprise the chapters of the Old Testament.
According to Leviticus, Chapter 12, new mothers are to have firstborn male offspring circumcised after the seventh day following birth. Mothers must then refrain from touching “hallowed things” and attending sanctuary for thirty three more days. On the fortieth day male children are presented at the temple and the mother’s purification is fulfilled.
In the Christian Church, these ceremonies occur on the fortieth day of Christmas known as “Candlemas” because priests utilized a utensil called an aspergilium to bless beeswax candles for use in the Church and homes of the faithful.
Candlemas almost coincides with the midwinter cross quarter day (half way between the December solstice and March equinox) and has long provided an opportunity to predict the arrival of Spring as expressed in the Old English verse:
“If Candlemas Day is clear and bright, winter will have another bite.
If Candlemas Day brings cloud and rain, winter is gone and will not come again.”
The origin of Groundhog Day can be traced to James Morris, a Pennsylvania storekeeper who reported local hearsay in 1841 that according to German folklore: “the Groundhog peeps out of his winter quarters and if he sees his shadow he pops back for another six weeks nap, but if the day be cloudy he remains out, as the weather is to be moderate.”
Planet Plotting
The morning planets arrayed in the southern sky before sunrise include Mercury (-0.0 to -0.3) & Venus (-3.9) which move through Sagittarius and Capricornus in the southeast in February. In the south, look for Saturn (+0.5) in Ophiuchus and Mars (+0.8 to +0.3) in Libra. Jupiter (-2.4 to -2.5) dominates the western sky in Leo. Mercury is 26° away from the Sun on the 6th at its maximum western elongation and is quite close to the horizon. Depending on your horizon you may observe when it rises more than an hour before sunrise.
Neptune (+8.0) in Aquarius and Uranus (+5.9) in Pisces are evening planets which rise during the day. Uranus sets in mid-evening and Neptune is in conjunction with the Sun on the 28th and may be viewed after sunset in early February.
Planet……Constellation……Magnitude……Planet Passages
Sun…….Capricornus, Aquarius..-26.8..New Moon, ………………………………………………………2/8, 9:39AM EST Mercury..Sagittarius, Capricornus..-0.0 to -0.3
…………………………………………………….Max West Elongation ……………………………………………………..2/6, 8:00PM EST …………………………………………………….Venus, 4°W, 2/12, ……………………………………………………..10:00PM EST Venus….Sagittarius, Capricornus..-3.9 ……………………………………………………..Mercury, 4°E, 2/12, ………………………………………………………10:00PM EST Mars……Libra………………..+0.8 to +0.3
Jupiter….Leo………………….-2.4 to -2.5
Saturn….Ophiuchus…………+0.5 Uranus….Pisces……………….+5.9
Neptune..Aquarius……………+8.0
February Moon
Lunation 1152 begins with the New Moon of February 8th at 9:39AM EST. It ends 28.97 days later with the New Moon on March 8th at 8:54AM EST which blocks the Sun and produces a total solar eclipse in Sumatra, Borneo, Sulawesi and locations in the Pacific ocean.
The Full Moon for February in Leo is at 1:20PM EST on the 22nd. February’s Full Moon was referred to as the “Trapper’s Moon” in Colonial America. Celts referred to it as “Moon of Ice” and Chinese call it “Budding Moon.” To Medieval English it was the “Storm Moon” and Anishnaabe (Chippewa and Ojibwe) of northern Michigan celebrate it as the “Namebini-giizis” (Sucker Moon) in the western dialect and Mkwa-giizis (Bear Moon) in the eastern dialect.
Perigee distance is 226,403 miles or 57.13 Earth radii on the 10th at 9:41PM EST. The Moon is at the apogee position in orbit (maximum orbital distance) at 251,894 miles (63.56 Earth radii) from Earth on the 26th at 10:28PM EST.
Planet..Constellation..Magnitude..Moon Passage..Moon ………………………………………………………………….Phase/Age
Sun….Capricornus….-26.8……………9:39AM EST, 2/8 ……………………………………………………..New ~ 0 days Mercury..Sagittarius..-0.1…………..4.0°N, Noon EST, 2/6 …………………………………………Waning Crescent ~ 27.65 days Venus…..Sagittarius..-3.9…………4.0°N, 3AM EST, 2/6 …………………………………………Waning Crescent ~ 27.27 days Mars……..Libra…….+0.8…………3.0°N, 4AM EST, 2/1 …………………………………………Waning Crescent ~ 22.31 days Mars……..Libra…….+0.3…………4.0°N, 1PM EST, 2/29 …………………………………………Waning Gibbous ~ 21.14 days Jupiter……Leo…….-2.5…………1.7°S, 11PM EST, 2/23
…………………………………………Waning Gibbous ~ 15.56 days
Saturn..Ophiuchus…+0.5…………3.0°N, 2PM EST, 2/3 …………………………………………Waning Crescent ~ 24.73 days Uranus….Pisces…….+5.9………….1.7°S, 9AM EST, 2/12 …………………………………………Waxing Crescent ~ 3.97 days
Neptune..Aquarius…+8.0…………2.0°N, 7PM EST, 2/9 …………………………………………Waxing Crescent ~ 1.18 days
