Sky Guide February 2017

What to look out, and up, for in February.


Our highlights of this month’s skies with the planets on offer to
observers and imagers:


A last chance look at Mercury in the morning sky

Mars a few degrees from Venus

Jupiter in Virgo

Saturn in the early morning sky



Next up is the return of a couple of comets to our observing tick
list:


Comet 45P at its best on the 11th February in Hercules

Comet 2P Encke returns to our skies in the constellation
Pisces



Then we each take a deep sky pick from our list of favourites for
this time of year:


Ralph – the Rosette Nebula and open cluster NGC2244 in the
constellation Monoceros

Paul – open cluster M93 in Pupis

Jeni – supernova remnant, Messier 1 – the Crab Nebula - in
Taurus



And we finish this sky guide with February’s moon phases, a
conjunction with the Hyades Cluster on the 5th and a penumbral
eclipse on 10th/11th February.