Willie Wakes for Mid-Winter, Sorting Planets From Stars, and Many Moon Meetings!
This wonderful image by Debra Ceravolo captured brilliant Venus while she shone near Saturn after sunset on January 19, 2025. It was taken from her backyard in southern interior, BC. A single shot, 8 second exposure, with 50mm lens on a Canon R6, f/1.8, ISO 800. For more of her gorgeous images, follow Debraceravolo on social media.
Hello, Mid-Winter Stargazers!
Here are your Astronomy Skylights for the week of February 2nd, 2025 by Chris Vaughan. Feel free to pass this along to your friends and send me your comments, questions, and suggested topics. You can also follow me on Instagram and Bluesky as astrogeoguy! Unless otherwise noted, all times are expressed in Eastern Time. To subscribe to these emails please click this MailChimp link.
If you’d like me to bring my Digital Starlab portable inflatable planetarium to your school or other daytime or evening event in Simcoe, Grey, and Bruce Counties, or deliver a virtual session anywhere, contact me through AstroGeo.ca, and we’ll tour the Universe, or the Earth’s interior, together! My book with John A. Read entitled 110 Things to See With a Telescope is a guide to viewing the deep sky objects in the Messier List – for both beginners and seasoned astronomers. DM me to order a signed copy!
We reach mid-winter, so I explain the origins of Groundhog Day. The moon, conveniently positioned in the evening sky and well worth viewing under magnification, will pass near several planets and directly through the Pleiades cluster. Meanwhile, the Planetary Parade continues, so I break down which bright objects in the evening sky are planets and which ones are winter stars. Read on for your Skylights!
Groundhog Day
Today, Sunday, February 2, is Groundhog Day! As I write this, Wiarton Willie has predicted an early spring in Ontario. But Punxsutawney Phil and Lucy the Lobster and Fred la Marmotte all saw their shadow, so they are calling for six more weeks of winter. I hate to break it to you, but there are six more weeks left in winter, regardless – at least from an astronomical point of view.
Groundhog Day aligns with one of the four so-called cross-quarter days, which mark the midpoints between the solstices and equinoxes every year. February 2 lands about midway between the winter solstice and the vernal equinox – so we can expect the weather to start being more spring-like and less winter-like afterwards – no matter what your local groundhog or other prognosticating fauna sees. If an early spring means clear and comfortable night skies, we astronomers are all for it!
You cannot merely divide our 365.25-day year into four 91.3-day-long seasons and then count half that many days past each equinox or solstice to reach the cross-quarter points. Planets with elliptical orbits move faster when they are closer to the sun and slower when they are farther away. Since Earth is moving more slowly at aphelion in early July, summer in the Northern Hemisphere is about five days longer than winter, and winters are a couple of days shorter than 91.3 days. The timing of solstices and equinoxes can vary by 18 hours, even with the use of extra days on leap years, so their dates aren’t always the same, either. The true mid-point of winter in 2025 will occur at 9:11 am EST on Monday, February 3, which converts to 14:11 Greenwich Mean Time for those living elsewhere on Earth.
Groundhog Day has been observed since the 1880’s. It began as the German “Badger Day” observed on Candlemas, which is celebrated on February 2 by Roman Catholics. It marks the 40th and final day of the Christmas-Epiphany period. It’s time to take your tree down and put away your Christmas decorations!
In contemporary paganism, the winter cross-quarter day is called Imbolc, a traditional time for initiations. Gaelics observe the traditional festival of Saint Brigid of Kildare. The other three cross-quarter days are May Day (Beltane) on May 1, and Lughnasath (Lammas) on August 1, and All Hallow’s Day (Samhain) on November 1. I think you can guess which spooky “holiday” that last one connects to.
You must have noticed that the sky is brighter at dinner time nowadays. At this time of year for mid-northern latitude residents, the sun sets about 1.2 minutes later every evening and rises 1.1 minutes earlier every morning, adding 16 more minutes of daylight this week. The day-for-night exchange rate will increase until the March equinox.
The Parade of Planets
Last week here, I talked about the so-called Planetary Alignment or Planet Parade that everyone seems to have heard about. The key takeaways were: that the event is not rare, that the same set of six planets will be visible on every clear evening for the next few weeks, that the planets will not be close together or form an obvious line in the sky, and that only three or four of the six planets will be visible to just your unassisted eyes if you live in an urban or suburban area. The graphics that have been posted on social have been very misleading. Many of them are photos of spectacular conjunctions that happened a few years ago.
Quite a few people have posted their own pictures of the “planets lined up” not realizing that some of those “planets” were just bright stars. So I thought I’d take this opportunity to write a tour of the bright things in the evening sky this week, so that you can confidently pick out the planets and learn a few stars, too. Open this on your phone, turn the screen brightness down, and take me outside with you on the next clear evening! I’ll post some simulated pictures of the sky here.
This tour is written for 7 pm local time at mid-northern latitudes. When I say “local time” in these Skylights posts, it always means the time where you live, no matter at what your longitude or time zone around the world you are in. Stargazing works that way because everyone on Earth gets their turn looking up at the same night sky while the Earth rotates on its axis. It’s just that people in the Eastern Time zone see the sights five or six hours after folks in Europe and Africa do, and so on. I only need to mention a specific time zone time if an event is temporary, like an eclipse or shadow crossing Jupiter. Only certain parts of the world can look up and see that object at the time indicated.
You can use my tour later than 7 pm. With each hour that passes, everything in the east will climb higher than I describe, everything in the west will drop lower (or set out of sight), and the rest of the sky will shift from east to west. The sky moves left-to-right if you live in the northern hemisphere and right-to-left if you live south of the equator. You can also use this tour on any night for the next week or so.
Start by facing west, where the planet Venus will be gleaming extremely brightly every night. This week, the prominent, but much less bright “star” below Venus will be Saturn. For the early part of this week, the crescent moon will be shining above Venus. You might notice a very bright, white star well off to Venus’ right. That’s Deneb, the tail star of Cygnus (the Swan). The faint planet Neptune is positioned a few finger widths to Venus’ lower left, but you’re not going to find it without a telescope.
Meanwhile, very bright Jupiter will be shining almost overhead. It’s surrounded by a whole lot of the very bright winter stars, so let’s break that down.
Turn and face southeast. The very bright red star Aldebaran, which marks the eye of Taurus (the Bull), will be shining just to Jupiter’s lower right. Some people will mistake Aldebaran for Mars. The very bright, yellowish object shining about 2.5 fist diameters to Jupiter’s upper left is Capella. A not too bright star named Hassaleh sits between Jupiter and Capella.
The bright star Elnath, which will be shining 1.3 fist diameters to Jupiter’s left, and a little higher, marks one of Taurus’ horns. Look about the same distance to Jupiter’s upper right and you will see the clump of scattered stars of the Pleiades Star Cluster. Binoculars will help. The planet Uranus, which will look like just a bluish star in binoculars, is located less than a fist’s diameter to the right of the Pleiades. But without a telescope, you’re not going to see Uranus from an urban location.
Dropping your gaze lower from Jupiter and Aldebaran will bring you to Orion (the Hunter). The three stars forming his belt will be in a short line. Very bright, reddish Betelgeuse, which marks the hunter’s left shoulder, will shine to the upper left of the belt and also about 2.3 fist diameters to Jupiter’s lower left. Orion’s other shoulder star Bellatrix (yes – that name was used in Harry Potter) is slightly less brilliant. It is located to the right of Betelgeuse, between Jupiter and Orion’s belt. The very bright bluish star to the lower right of Betelgeuse and the belt is Rigel, which marks the hunter’s right foot.
The spectacular “Dog Star” Sirius in Canis Major (the Big Dog) will gleam directly below Orion. It’s the brightest star in the entire sky, after the sun. It’s not a planet, though it sure looks like it could be!
Now that you’ve identified Jupiter, Capella, Orion’s bright stars, and Sirius, move your gaze a little more to the left – or just turn and stand facing east. The bright white star shining about 2.5 fist diameters to the upper left of Sirius is the other “dog star”, Procyon. It’s the brightest star in Canis Minor (the Little Dog).
Now move another 2.5 fist diameters further to the upper left form Procyon and look for a small triangle of bright stars. The two medium-bright, whiter stars on the left will be Gemini’s twins Castor (the higher star) and Pollux (the lower star). The third, reddish star is Mars! Mars is one the move. In mid-January it was in a line with the twins. Now it’s traveling a little more upwards on their right every night.
That’s it! That’s the parade of planets – if you can call it that. If you consider the entire sky at 7 pm, Saturn can be connected to Mars via Venus (and the moon) and Jupiter, forming a huge arc across the sky. That’s the plane of our Solar System. The stars I described above are always there at the same time on the same dates every year. The planets wander through them in a constantly changing dance. Next year at this time, Jupiter and Saturn will shine just to the left and well off to the right, respectively, of the bright winter stars. Mars, Mercury, and Venus will all be hiding beside the sun.
Let me know how your tour goes and send me some good pictures. In the Planets section below, I’ll describe what makes each planet a treat to observe if you have binoculars or a backyard telescope. But first, some notable moon-doings this week!
The Moon
This will be the best week of the lunar month for viewing our natural satellite under magnification while it increases its angle from the sun and waxes in phase – all the while shining conveniently in late afternoon and evening. The sunlight striking the moon along the curved, pole-to-pole terminator will cast spectacular shadows that slowly change every hour and night-over-night.
Tonight (Sunday) the pretty crescent moon will shine with brilliant Venus in the western sky from sunset until it drops into the trees after about 10:30 pm local time. You can also see the moon all day. It will rise in the east in late morning and then chase the sun across the sky all day.
After sunset, keep an eye out for Earthshine on the moon. Sometimes called the Ashen Glow or the Old Moon in the New Moon’s Arms, the phenomenon is visible within a day or two of new moon, when sunlight reflected off Earth and back toward the moon slightly brightens the unlit portion of the moon’s Earth-facing hemisphere. Since the Earthshine light has made an extra round trip from Earth to the moon and back, it is about 2.6 seconds “older” that then the light we see from the lit crescent!
The moon will spend Sunday and Monday among the faint stars of Pisces (the Fishes). The brighter stars of Aries (the Ram), namely Hamal and Sheraton will twinkle above the moon. Monday evening’s terminator will also fall just beyond a trio of large craters named Theophilus, Cyrillus, and Catharina that curve along the western edge of dark Mare Nectaris. You can tell in what order the craters were formed in by observing how sharp and fresh Theophilus’ rim appears, and by the way it has partially overprinted neighboring Cyrillus to its lower left (or lunar southwest). Under magnification, Theophilus’ terraced rim and craggy central mountain peak are evident. Cyrillus hosts a trio of degraded central peaks inside a hexagonal rim, while much older Catharina’s peak has been submerged, her edges blurred and her floor overprinted by smaller, more recent craters.
The nearly half-illuminated moon will spend Tuesday and much of Wednesday crossing the territory of Aries while the ram’s brightest stars shine to the moon’s right (or celestial north). The moon will complete the first quarter of its 29.53-day journey around Earth on Wednesday, February 5 at 3:02 am EST, or 12:02 am PST, or 08:02 Greenwich Mean Time. At first quarter, the moon’s 90-degree angle from the sun causes us to see it half-illuminated on its eastern, sunward side. First quarter moons always rise around mid-day and set around midnight, so they are also visible in the afternoon daytime sky.
On Wednesday night, skywatchers in North America located west of Winnipeg, Manitoba and Kansas City, Missouri can watch the orbital motion of the bright, 60%-illuminated, waxing gibbous moon carry it through the stars of the Pleiades star cluster (aka Messier 45, Subaru, and the Seven Sisters). In the Central Time zone, the moon will be getting ready to set in the west when it first contacts the cluster around 1 am CST. In the Mountain Time zone the moon will reach the centre of the cluster while it is setting, around 2 am MST. Lucky observers in the Pacific Time zone will see the entire event in the western sky between about 11 pm and 2 am PST. While bright moonlight overwhelms fainter objects, viewing the encounter through binoculars will show the “sister stars” well. Observers in other parts of the world will only see the moon shining close to the cluster.
The moon will travel through Taurus (the Bull) from Wednesday to Friday. As the sky darkens after sunset on Thursday evening, the bright planet Jupiter will be positioned high in the southern sky and less than a palm’s width below (or 5 degrees to the celestial south of) the waxing gibbous moon – close enough to share the view in binoculars. By early evening, the bright stars of winter will appear around them, particularly yellowish Capella well to their upper left (or celestial north) and reddish Aldebaran just to their lower right (celestial south). The moon and Jupiter will climb highest due south around 8 pm local time and set in the west in the wee hours of Friday morning.
On Friday night in the Americas, the bright, gibbous moon will shine closely below (or celestial south of) the bright star Elnath. That blue giant star serves to mark both the upper horn-tip of Taurus and the southern end of the roughly oval shape of Auriga (the Charioteer), thus giving it the astronomical designations of both Beta Tauri and Gamma Aurigae. Elnath is located 134 light-years from our sun. Use binoculars to better see the star against the glare of the moon. The moon’s eastward orbital motion will carry it farther from the star for folks viewing their meet-up in more westerly time zones.
On the coming weekend the moon will rise in mid-afternoon and shine all night long among the stars of Gemini (the Twins). In the eastern sky after dusk on Sunday, the bright, nearly full moon will be shining a short distance to the lower left (or celestial east) of the bright reddish planet Mars – close enough for them to share the view in binoculars. Gemini’s bright stars Castor and Pollux will twinkle to their left (or celestial northeast). Hours before it rises in the Eastern Time zone, the moon will cross in front of (or occult) Mars for observers located in the Canadian Arctic, Greenland, Iceland, most of Scandinavia, most of Russia, eastern Kazakhstan, Mongolia, and most of China. Lunar occultations of planets are safe to watch with unaided eyes, binoculars, and telescopes.
The Planets
I’ve already explained where to find the planets every night. Let’s look at some more interesting aspects.
Venus will gleam in the southwestern sky from sunset until it drops into the trees with the surrounding stars of Pisces (the Fishes) around 8:30 pm local time. Already eye-catching, Venus will continue to brighten until February 14. Viewed in a telescope this week, the planet will exhibit a waning crescent phase. Venus will increase in apparent disk diameter as it gets closer to Earth ahead of its inferior solar conjunction in late March. For the clearest views, observe Venus during evening twilight when the contrast between the bright planet and the surrounding sky is lower.
The distant planet Neptune will be positioned to the lower left of Venus. This week they will start about three finger widths apart and then become more widely spaced as Venus climbs away from the planet every night. While the moon is not close to it nor too bright, Neptune’s tiny blue dot is visible in a backyard telescope.
Saturn is getting too low in the western sky after dusk to see much detail in a backyard telescope. This week it will be obscured by trees and rooftops after about 7 pm local time. Any size of telescope will show the rings and some of Saturn’s larger moons, too. Saturn’s bright, but extremely thin rings effectively disappear when they become edge-on to Earth every 15 years. Since we are only 8 weeks away from that event in the pre-dawn sky on March 23, the rings already appear as a thick line drawn through the planet. Watch for the dot of Saturn’s largest and brightest moon Titan “TIE-tan” near the planet.
The distant ice giant planet Uranus, which is near the Pleiades this year, will be observable from the end of evening twilight until beyond midnight every night. If you use your binoculars to find the medium-bright stars named Botein and Epsilon Arietis, Uranus will be the dull-looking blue-green “star” located several finger widths below (or southeast of) them. In a backyard telescope, it will appear as a fairly prominent, non-twinkling blue-green dot.
The very bright, white planet Jupiter will climb highest, due south, at about 8 pm local time, and then set during the wee hours. Jupiter has been moving westward above the stars that form the triangular face of Taurus (the Bull). Taurus’ brightest star, reddish Aldebaran, which marks the eye of the beast, shines at the lower corner of his triangular face. On Monday Jupiter will temporarily cease its motion through central Taurus – marking the end of a westward retrograde loop that it began in early October. For most of this week, Jupiter and Aldebaran will cozy enough to share the view in binoculars.
Viewed in any size of telescope, Jupiter will display a large disk striped with brown dark belts and creamy light zones, both aligned parallel to its equator. With a better grade of optics, Jupiter’s Great Red Spot, a cyclonic storm that has raged for hundreds of years, becomes visible for several hours when it crosses the planet every 2nd or 3rd night. For observers in the Americas, that GRS will cross Jupiter’s disk during early evening on Monday, Wednesday, and Saturday, and also after 10 pm Eastern time tonight (Sunday), Wednesday, Friday, and late next Sunday night. If you have any coloured filters or nebula filters for your telescope, try enhancing the spot with them.
Any size of binoculars will show you Jupiter’s four Galilean moons named Io, Europa, Ganymede, and Callisto lined up beside the planet. Those moons complete orbits of the planet every 1.7, 3.6, 7.2, and 16.7 days, respectively. If you see fewer than four moons, then one or more of them is crossing in front of or behind Jupiter, or hiding in Jupiter’s dark shadow – or two of the moons are very close together, or one moon is eclipsing or occulting another one. All four moons will gather to one side tonight (Sunday).
From time to time, observers with good quality telescopes can watch the black shadows of the Galilean moons travel across Jupiter’s disk. In the Americas, Europa’s tiny shadow will cross Jupiter’s mid-southern latitudes, along with the Great Red Spot, on Friday evening, February 7 between 9:33 pm and 12:05 am EST (or 02:33 to 05:05 GMT on Saturday). Io’s small shadow will cross Jupiter on Saturday evening, February 8 between 9:46 pm and 11:56 pm EST (or 02:46 to 04:56 GMT on Sunday).
The bright reddish planet Mars will climb the eastern evening sky this week as a triangle with Gemini’s bright stars Pollux and Castor. Mars will be highest due south at 10:30 pm local time and set in the northwest before sunrise. Don’t forget that the bright moon will crash their party on next Sunday night. At 106 million km away, Mars is still close enough to Earth to show us its bright polar cap and dark patches on its small rusty globe when viewed through a good backyard telescope.
Public Astronomy-Themed Events
Every Monday evening, York University’s Allan I. Carswell Observatory runs an online star party – broadcasting views from four telescopes/cameras, answering viewer questions, and taking requests! Details are here. They host in-person viewing on the first clear Wednesday night each month. Other Wednesdays they stream views online via the observatory YouTube channel. Details are here.
On Wednesday evening, February 5 at 7:30 pm EDT, the RASC Toronto Centre will host their free, public Recreational Astronomy Night Meeting, at the Petrie Science building at York University and also live streamed at https://www.youtube.com/rasctoronto/live. Talks will include The Sky This Month, exoplanets, and using the York University telescope. Details are here.
On Friday, February 8 from 7 to 9 pm, RASC Toronto Centre will host “Space Walk” at their Family Night at the David Dunlap Observatory for visitors aged 7 and up. You will view celestial sights through RASC telescopes if the sky is clear. This program runs rain or shine. Details and the link for tickets is at ActiveRH.
Space Station Flyovers
The ISS (or International Space Station) will be not visible gliding silently over the Greater Toronto Area this week.
Keep your eyes on the skies! I love getting questions and requests. Send me some!