2020, February 14: Morning Planets Jupiter and Mars

In a cold, clear sky with a gibbous moon, morning planets Jupiter and Mars shine from the southeastern sky.  Jupiter and Saturn are emerging from their recent solar conjunctions and heading for their Great Conjunction later in the year.

This morning,  Mars is nearly 18° to the upper right of Jupiter.  During the next 5 weeks watch Mars march eastward compared to the starry background and pass Jupiter on March 20 and Saturn, March 31.

Link to summary about February 2020’s morning planets.

Here’s the detailed note for this morning:

• February 14: One hour before sunrise, the moon (20.6 days past New, 66% illuminated), nearly 36° up in the south-southwest is midway from Spica to Zubeneschamali (β Lib, m = 2.6) and about 2° to the left of Kappa Virginis (κ Vir, m = 4.2). Use a binocular to locate the dimmer stars this morning. Jupiter passes Pi Sagittarii (π Sgr, m =2.9), 1.4° to the lower right of the star. Mars is nearly 18° to the upper right of Jupiter, 1.6° to the upper right of 4 Sagittarii (4 Sgr, m = 4.1) – the western gateway to the bright nebulae in Sagittarius. Watch Mars move through this region during the next several mornings. The challenge is to find a reasonable time to view Mars among the nebulae so that it has enough altitude, but when the sky is still dark enough to find the faint clouds.  Forty-five minutes before sunrise, Jupiter is over 10° in altitude in the southeastern sky. Saturn is about 10° to Jupiter’s lower left, nearly 6° in altitude.