February evenings offer some of the best conditions for viewing the famous winter constellations. This year they approach Mars from the east, ending the month with the Pleiades star cluster closing in on the red planet. Meanwhile, the rising of Scorpius brings a hint of summer to the morning sky.
The brightest stars in the winter constellations form the corners of the Winter Hexagon. To see it, start at the top with Capella, in Auriga the charioteer, and move counterclockwise through the other corners: Pollux, the brighter Gemini twin; Procyon, in Canis Minor, the little dog; Sirius, in Canis Major, the big dog; Rigel, in Orion; and Aldebaran, in Taurus, the bull. If you start instead at Aldebaran, you can trace a âGâ by turning when you get to Rigel and finishing at Betelgeuse, Orionâs right shoulder.
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Mesmerising Picture Of Moon With Rainbow Ring Around It Leaves People Stunned; Pic Inside
An incredible photograph of the moon surrounded by celestial rainbow halo recently surfaced on the internet leaving all selenophiles stunned.
An incredible photograph of the moon surrounded by celestial rainbow halo recently surfaced on the internet leaving all selenophiles stunned. The mesmerizing picture was clicked by an Italy based photographer named Alberto Ghizzi Panizza, who took to Instagram to post his click. Shared earlier this week, the photographer shows the moon shining brightly amidst multicolour rings. This is the blending of a good portion of these shots to emphasize the colours of both the corona and the lunar minerals, Panizza wrote on Instagram.
Look for the Orion Nebula, which may have a slightly greenish tint.
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Mike Lynch | ×
Use this February star chart as your map to the skies. (Mike Lynch)
Star watching is wonderful in the wintertime! I think it’s one of the best times of the year to soak in the splendor of the night sky. It’s worth bundling up for and then some. It’s especially fantastic to see the starry sky in the countryside, away from the city lights. Unfortunately good planet viewing is limited this month. Mars is the only bright planet available in the evening sky the entire month. Look for it in the southwestern sky with its distinctive orange-red hue. It’s not the great telescope target it was this past autumn because it’s so much farther away. About all you’ll really see with even a large scope is an orange dot.
Utah leads the world in âdark skyâ spots. Hereâs three new ones.
Visit one of these state parks on a cloudless night for some prime stargazing â no telescope required.
(Photo by Ryan Andreasen, courtesy of the Utah Division of Parks and Recreation) Kodachrome Basin State Park, now designated as an International Dark Sky Park, is a prime location to get a clear view of the Milky Way. | Updated: Jan. 28, 2021, 1:48 a.m.
Utah is a good place to live for people hoping to observe the Milky Way or pick their favorite constellations out of the night sky without traveling far.
What does the night sky look like on Mars?
January 26, 2021 at 10:00 am
What would a future visitor to Mars see during a night’s stargazing? What do the stars look like on Mars? What does the Sun look like? Would Mars even be a good place to do amateur astronomy?
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At first glance the answer to this last question would be a resounding ‘yes’. For a start there are very few cloudy nights on Mars.
We know it does have some clouds because they have been photographed by every orbiter, rover and lander that has ever been there, and occasionally Mars dust storms brew up that can cover the whole sky for months.