Archive for month: February, 2022

Highlights:  Comet Journal, Martian Landers, Meteor Showers, Planet Plotting, February Moon 

Focus Constellations: Ursa Minor, Ursa Major, Draco, Cepheus, Cassiopeia, Camelopardalis, Perseus, Auriga, Taurus, Gemini, Cancer, Leo, Lynx, Leo Minor

• Comet Journals

Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko (2021) is in Cancer at 10th magnitude in February. It was at perihelion on November 3 and was closest to Earth on November 12. C/2017 K2 (PanSTARRS) is a large Oort Belt comet on an hyperbolic orbit with one pass through the inner Solar System. It will be closest to Earth on July 14, 2022, and will reach perihelion on December 19, 2022. It is currently at 10th magnitude in Hercules and may reach naked eye visibility near perihelion.

C/2019 L3 (ATLAS) is in Gemini at 9th magnitude in February. Atlas reached perihelion on January 9 and was closest to Earth on January 6. Comet 19P/Borrelly (2022) is an 8th magnitude evening comet which moves from Pisces to Aries in February. It was closest to Earth on December 11 and will reach perihelion on February 1.

• Mars Landers

In late December on the floor of Jezero Crater, Perseverance drilled into and cored Issole which is one of the oldest igneous rock outcrops it will sample. Unfortunately, the core was dumped in mid-January because it could not be sealed in the storage tube for future return to Earth due to fragments clogging the rover’s sample handling system. The rover recently shook out the pebbles which blocked the system and retrieved another sample by again drilling into Issole and obtaining another rock core for analysis and storage. 

The Insight lander has survived the latest Martian dust storm and is now coming out of “safe mode”.  Mission scientists are evaluating when to return to science activities based upon power availability and the effects of the dust storm. 

Researchers at Penn State and NASA in a paper titled “Depleted carbon isotope compositions observed at Gale crater, Mars” propose that organic molecules found by Curiosity Rover may have originated from atmospheric methane derived from either biological matter, volcanic gases altered by complex atmospheric reactions, or interstellar dust and organic molecules from prior passage of the Solar System through a GMC (giant molecular cloud). Further sampling may provided clues to distinguish between these options.

• Meteor Showers

Alpha Centaurid Meteor Shower in early February is deep in the southern hemisphere and the Delta Leonid Shower is a minor shower northern hemisphere in late-February.

February 8: Alpha Centaurids Active January 28 – February 21. Radiant 14h00m -59°. ZHR up to 25+. 41 km/sec. Waxing Crescent Moon. Progenitor: Unknown.

February 25: Delta Leonids. Active February 15 – March 10. Radiant 11h12m +16°. ZHR 2. 23 km/sec. Waning Crescent Moon. Progenitor: Asteroid 1987SY.

• Planet Plotting

Predawn skies in February are ablaze with six 1st magnitude stars and four 1st magnitude planets. The planets include Mars (1.4 to 1.3), Venus (-4.5 to -4.4), and Mercury (1.3 to 0.0) in Sagittarius along with Saturn (0.7 to 0.8) in Capricornus. Mars is the dimmest, appearing below and slightly south of brilliant crescent Venus which reaches its brightest apparition of the year On Feb. 12 and climbs higher in the eastern predawn sky throughout February as it approaches greatest western elongation on Mar. 20. Mercury is best seen when it reaches its greatest western elongation on the 16th after which it drops into the glow of sunrise by month’s end. After its conjunction with the Sun on the 4th, Saturn climbs up through the glow of sunrise in February. On the 27th, it joins the cluster of Mercury, Venus, Mars, and a waning crescent Moon between the summer triangle of Altair, Vega, and Deneb above and the red supergiant Antares to the South. Jupiter (-1.9) and Neptune (+7.9) in Aquarius and Uranus (5.8) in Aries are evening planets. Jupiter is visible during the first part of the month before descending into the glow of sunset when near conjunction with the Sun in early March.

Planet	Constellation(s)	Magnitude	Planet Passages	Time	Date
Sun	Capricornus – Aquarius	-26.5	New Moon	12:46AM EST	2/1
Mercury	Sagittarius	+1.3 to +0.0	Maximum West Elongation	4:00PM EST	2/16
Venus	Sagittarius	-4.5 to -4.4	Mars, 7.0°S	8:00PM EST	2/12
Mars	Sagittarius	+1.4 to +1.3	Venus, 7.0°N	8:00PM EST	2/12
Jupiter	Aquarius	-1.9
Saturn	Capricornus	+0.7 to +0.8	Solar Conjunction	2:00PM EST	2/4
Uranus	Aries	5.8
Neptune	Aquarius	+7.9 to +8.0

• February Moon

Lunation 1226 starts with the New Moon of February on the 1st at 12:46AM EST and ends 29.49 days later with the New Moon of March 1 at 12:56AM EST. To the west of the eastern time zone, this New Moon occurs in the late evening on January 31, making it the second New Moon in January, a “Black Moon”. 

February’s Full Moon on the 16th at 11:56AM EST is in Leo. It is called “Wolf, Snow, or Hunger Moon”.  In the 1760s, Captain Jonathan Carver, who had visited with the Naudowessie (Dakota), wrote that the name used was the Snow Moon, “because more snow commonly falls during this month than any other in the winter.” In colonial America it was the “Trapper’s Moon”. It was named the “Storm Moon” in Medieval England, Celts called it “Moon of Ice”, and the Chinese call it “Budding Moon”. Of the 13 Grandmother Moons during each year, the Anishnaabe (Odawa and Ojibwe) of Northern Michigan recognize it as “Mkwa-giizis” (Bear Moon). The cultural teaching that explains the cycle of life and nature for the Bear Moon of Creation is to “honor the vision quest that began in the fall. During this time, we discover how to see beyond reality and to communicate through energy rather than sound.” Lunar Perigee distance (minimum lunar distance) is 228,533 mi. (57.66 Earth radii) on the 26th at 5:25PM EST. Lunar Apogee (maximum lunar distance) is on February 10 at 4:26AM EST, when the Moon will be at a distance of 252,591 mi. (63.48 Earth radii). The waxing crescent Moon appears to pass the evening planets: Saturn on the 1st, Jupiter on the 2nd, Neptune on the 3rd, and Uranus on the 7th. The waning crescent Moon passes Venus and Mars on the 27th and Mercury and Saturn on the 28th.

Planet	Constellation	Magnitude	Moon Passages	Moon Phase	Moon Age
Sun	Sagittarius	-26.8	12:46AM EST, 2/1	New	0 Days
Mercury	Capricornus	0.0	4.0°S, 3:00PM EST, 2/28	Waning Crescent	27.59 Days
Venus	Sagittarius	-4.5	9.0°S, 1:00AM EST, 2/27	Waning Crescent	26.01 Days
Mars	Sagittarius	1.3	4.0°S, 4:00AM EST, 2/27	Waning Crescent	26.14 Days
Jupiter	Aquarius	-1.9	4.0°S, 4:00PM EST, 2/2	Waxing Crescent	1.63 Days
Saturn	Capricornus	0.7	4.1°S, 7:00AM EST, 2/1	Waxing Crescent	0.26 Days
Saturn	Capricornus	0.8	4.0°S, 7:00PM EST, 2/28	Waning Crescent	27.76 Days
Uranus	Aries	5.8	1.2°S, 3:00PM EST, 2/7	Waxing Crescent	6.59 Days
Neptune	Aquarius	7.9	4.0° S, 4:00PM EST, 2/3	Waxing Crescent	2.63 Days