Celestial Events 
by Thomas D. Nicholson 
The Moon Evening skies are dark 
and moonless at the beginning of Feb- 
ruary and March since the moon be- 
comes new early in both months: on 
the 4th of February and on the 6th 
of March. The moon first appears as 
an evening crescent on about February 
7, grows to first-quarter on the 11th, 
and becomes full, filling the night sky, 
on the 18th. Waning thereafter and 
entering the morning sky, the moon 
is at last-quarter on February 26 and 
ends the month as a waning crescent 
appearing before dawn. The early cres- 
! cent appears in the evening again on 
about March 9 and will be first-quar- 
ter on March 12. Perigee moon (near- 
est the earth) is on the 8th of both 
| February and March, apogee (farthest 
I from the earth) on the 24th of both 
| months. The new moon of February 
( 4 eclipses the sun over the South Pa- 
» cific Ocean, annular in a narrow path 
t crossing the far southern ocean, partial 
in a much wider area including Aus- 
t tralia, New Zealand, South America, 
and Antarctica. 
Stars and Planets Mercury and 
Mars are poor evening stars in early 
February, setting early. On the 17th, 
Mercury moves into the morning sky, 
. leaving Mars as the only planet east 
Df the sun. Venus, Jupiter, and Saturn 
; ire morning stars, but Venus rises too 
ate to be seen. Jupiter and Saturn, 
)n the other hand, rise about two hours 
• ifter sunset, remain in the sky all 
' fight, and set after sunrise. Both plan- 
I :ts are moving retrograde through 
I /irgo, to the right of its brightest star, 
I ipica. Jupiter, easily the brighter of 
he two, passes Saturn from left to 
ight on the 19th, the second event 
n the triple conjunction involving the 
wo planets this year. The first was 
n January, the third and last will be 
n July. The two planets will remain 
lose until then. 
The sun moves from the stars of 
-apricornus into Aquarius in mid- 
ebruary, Mercury leaves Aquarius 
nd shifts to the west (retrograde) into 
apricornus, while Venus moves into 
Capricornus from Sagittarius. There 
are three planets in Virgo — Jupiter, 
Saturn, and Pluto. Uranus is in Libra, 
on the border of Scorpius, and Nep- 
tune is in Ophiucus. 
February 1: Mercury is at greatest 
easterly elongation for a week or so 
before and after this date, placing it 
in position to be seen as an evening 
star, low in the west about 45 minutes 
after sundown. 
February 5: The early crescent 
moon covers Mars (an occultation) to- 
day over the Southern Hemisphere. 
They set too early this evening to be 
seen. 
February 7: Mercury begins retro- 
grade (westerly) motion. 
February 10: Mercury and Mars 
(both setting soon after sundown) are 
in conjunction. They (like Jupiter and 
Saturn) also are going through a triple 
conjunction: the first was in January, 
this is number two (the “retrograde” 
conjunction), and the third will be in 
April. 
February 12-13: The star near the 
moon after sunset is Aldebaran, in 
Taurus. The moon occults the star be- 
fore sunset. 
February 17: Mercury passes the 
sun from left to right (inferior con- 
junction). 
February 18-19: Jupiter passes Sat- 
urn, the second event in their triple 
conjunction. Jupiter (the brighter of 
the two) now moves to Saturn’s right, 
but very slowly. 
February 21—22: Be sure to look 
for the gibbous moon and nearby Ju- 
piter and Saturn, rising about 2 Vi 
hours after sundown. The moon passes 
both planets before sunset, moving 
slowly away to their left during the 
night. 
March 1: Mercury resumes its di- 
rect (easterly) motion as a morning 
star. 
March 4: Mercury is near the wan- 
ing crescent moon during the early 
dawn, rising about an hour before sun- 
rise. 
March 11: The moon is near Al- 
debaran again, occulting the star at 
about 11:00 p.m. EST over northern 
Canada. 
March 15: Mercury, at greatest 
westerly elongation (to the sun’s 
right), may be seen as a morning star 
for a week or so before and after this 
date, but it is quite low in the east 
even at sunrise. 
Mars as seen by the Viking Lander 1 nasa 
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