February 11, 2024: The February evening crescent moon appears in the west-southwest after sunset above Saturn.
by Jeffrey L. Hunt
Chicago, Illinois: Sunrise, 6:52 a.m. CST; Sunset, 5:18 p.m. CST. Check local sources for sunrise and sunset times. Times are calculated by the US Naval Observatory’s MICA computer program.
Summaries of Current Sky Events
Summary for Venus as a Morning Star, 2023-24
Here is today’s planet forecast:
Morning Sky
Venus
Brilliant Venus is low in the southeast before sunrise. At forty-five minutes before daybreak, the planet is over 5° above the southeast horizon. Compared to sunrise, it rises about two minutes later each morning.
Find a clear spot looking toward the southeast to find Venus and, in about fifteen minutes, to find Mars through a binocular.
Venus steps eastward in front of Sagittarius. It moves eastward at about twice Mars’ rate, that is to the Morning Star’s lower left. Venus overtakes Mars on the 22nd.
Venus and Mars, Binocular
This morning, find Venus and Mars in the same binocular field of view at thirty minutes before sunrise. The brilliant planet is nearly 10° above the horizon and 5.1° to the upper right of Mars. Place Venus to the upper right portion of the field of view. Mars is to the lower left.
Mercury
Technically, Mercury is a morning planet, but it is awash in bright sunlight. It rises less than 30 minutes before the sun.
Mercury reaches superior conjunction, when the sun is between the planet and Earth on the 28th. Then it moves into the western sky after sunset for its best evening appearance of the year.
Evening Sky
February Evening Crescent
Forty-five minutes after sundown, the crescent moon, 6% illuminated, is less than 20° above the west-southwest horizon. The moon appears eastward each evening with a thickening phase, known as waxing.
Notice Earthshine on the moon’s night portion, between the lunar cusps or horns. This effect is from sunlight reflected from Earth’s oceans, clouds, and land that softly lights the lunar night. This is visible to the unaided eye and is a lovely appearance through a binocular. Photograph it with a tripod-mounted camera and exposures up to a few seconds.
A handheld camera will capture the view, if held steadily. The accompanying photograph was taken by a ten-year-old with a “point and shoot camera.”
Saturn
Saturn, in perhaps its final appearance of this apparition, is less than 5° above the west-southwest horizon and over 13° to the lower right of the lunar crescent. When the Ringed Wonder is at this altitude – height above the horizon – the atmosphere tends to blur and dim celestial objects. While it is visible with optical assistance, it appears fuzzy and dim.
Saturn sets seventy-three minutes after the sun, losing four minutes of setting time each evening.
On the 28th, coincidentally the same date as Mercury’s solar conjunction, Saturn passes behind the sun to appear in the morning sky during early spring. During bright twilight on the morning of April 6th, Saturn, Mars, and the waning crescent moon appear in the same binocular field of view.
Until it reappears in the eastern sky before sunrise, we say, “Goodbye, Saturn!”
Farther eastward and high in the southwest, bright Jupiter is moving slowly eastward in front of Aries. The planet approaches an imaginary line from Hamal, 11.0° to Jupiter’s upper right, to Menkar, 13.1° to the lower left.
At 9:03 p.m. CST, when Jupiter is about 30° above the western horizon and higher from more-westerly locations, the planet’s Great Red Spot is at the center of the planet in the southern hemisphere through a telescope.
Jupiter sets before local midnight and appears in the southwest after sunset tomorrow night.
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