by William J. Bechaver
EARTH — Venus continues to dominate the morning sky. But it is now forever sinking lower toward the eastern horizon, making its way to enter the light sky before sunrise.
It rises less than two hours before the sun now. But this week, finally, the moon is sinking toward the east, and will encounter our morning planets in the predawn sky.
Look for the beautiful crescent moon the morning of February 6, a Tuesday. It will be off to the south of Venus, and slightly above. If you look carefully in between, you can find the stars of the beautiful Teapot asterism, centered nicely between the two. The moon will sit just above the tip of the spout, while Venus hovers above the handle of the popular asterism.
Luckily for us, Venus still resides in a mostly dark sky as it makes its way higher over the eastern horizon. So the appearance with the moon on Tuesday will be beautiful, with a chance to find the fainter stars between before the sky begins to lighten.
The following morning, on Wednesday, Feb. 7, the moon will have moved lower, and it will be situated about seven degrees to the lower right of Venus, sharing a position below the handle of the Teapot. This will be the closest the two will pass this month, but as always, when the two brightest objects in the night sky come together, it is always an engaging sight to behold.
To the lower left of Venus, try to spot evasive Mars. It appears tiny and faint in our morning sky, still, and as always, a good pair of binoculars will continue to aid in the finding of faint Mars as long as it appears so low in the lightening sky before sunrise.
Lower still, along the same line, you will be lucky to find waning Mercury. It continues to shine brighter than Mars, but it is so low by the middle of this next week, that it will be hard for your eye to delineate from the dawn’s early glare. If you don’t have a clear eastern horizon, those trusty binoculars will certainly aid in finding both Mercury and Mars.
The view of Mars is improving slowly, week by week, as it manages to climb slowly from the haze and glare of the approaching sunrise.
Mercury’s appearance is diminishing, but more rapidly, as the swift-moving planet will plunge into the glare quickly this week, passing out of view for the naked eye, and from sight in binoculars by next weekend.
On the morning of Thursday, Feb. 8, the fine crescent moon may be difficult to find low on the horizon just before sunrise. To the upper right of the fine crescent you will find Mars, about four degrees to the upper right of the moon. The pairing will be quickly fading out as the sky lightens, so make sure you watch diligently to catch them before they are lost to the sunlight.
For an added bonus, for those equipped with a pretty decent telescope, tiny, distant Pluto will reside just above to the left of the moon’s lighted limb, between Mercury and Mars, as it happens. With the increasing light of sunrise, all the smallest planetoids will be difficult to see in the morning sky. But it’s interesting to know that they are their, all of the smallest members, grouped around the moon on Thursday morning.
Mercury will remain difficult to see now, having sunk so low toward the sun on its way to pass around the far side of its orbit, and out of sight for a very short time.
But as Mars climbs, the views of it improve, as the small rocky world draws nearer as Earth gains on it in its wider, slower orbit. It will only continue to brighten as we approach, and once it climbs into the darker heavens before the sun, the view of Mars will be effortless and rewarding.
Saturn continues to fall behind Earth, fading as it goes lower toward the sunset. It now sets only a little over an hour and a half after the sun, so mostly appears in a sky still lightened by the sunset.
Saturn can only be viewed in complete darkness as it gets low to the horizon, so you need a clear and low western horizon to have the best view of the distant, ringed planet. It is more apparent how quickly we are leaving the large, bright planets behind, as Earth speeds in our orbit, and Saturn slowly lumbers around the sun at such a great distance.
Jupiter is still high in the sky at sunset, but is quickly following Saturn to the depths of space.
Jupiter sets barely before midnight, now, leaving the morning sky mostly devoid of viewable planets until the early morning risers enter the sky only hours before the sun.
But the highlight of the week is the passage of the moon and Venus. Though not very close, it is noteworthy as the bright pair demonstrate the motion of the moon through the night sky, and the planets in relation to the sun, for a great opportunity for planet viewing in the morning sky.
With our dark skies here, they only need to be clear, so keep your eyes on the skies from sunset to sunrise.
Thanks for the positive feedback about our featured columns, and your continued interest in astronomy. If you have any questions or article requests, contact us at spacescape@rocketmail.com, or follow us on Twitter @ColoSpacEScapE for updates and additional viewing opportunities.
Astronomical times and distances of naked-eye objects for this weekend:
Sun Set = 5:24 p.m.
7 minutes later than last week
91.624 million miles from Earth
90,425 miles further than last week
220,179 miles further than its nearest in January
Saturn Set = 7:10 p.m.
23 minutes earlier than last week
106 minutes after the sun
988.476 million miles from Earth
4,592,651 miles further than last week
173.897 million miles further than its nearest in August
Jupiter Set = 12:07 a.m.
24 minutes earlier than last week
466.264 million miles from Earth
10,463,122 miles further than last week
95.940 million miles further than its nearest in November
Moon Rise = 2:14 a.m.
65 minutes later than last night
239,497 miles from Earth
3,609 miles nearer than last night
12,476 miles nearer than last week
Nearest is 221,557 miles
Furthest is 252,665 miles
Venus Rise = 5:14 a.m.
9 minutes later than last week
104 minutes before the sun
128.407 million miles from Earth
3,476,751 miles further than last week
101.569 million miles further than its nearest in August
Mars Rise = 5:51 a.m.
7 minutes earlier than last week
67 minutes before the sun
214.359 million miles from Earth
2,363,461 miles nearer than last week
22.625 million miles nearer than its furthest in October
Mercury Rise = 6:13 a.m.
13 minutes later than last week
45 minutes before the sun
122.901 million miles from Earth
6,235,412 miles further than last week
59.724 million miles further than its nearest in December
Sun Rise = 6:58 a.m.
5 minutes earlier than last week
91.632 million miles from Earth
8,226 miles further than last evening
92,149 miles further than last week
228,405 miles further than its nearest in January
New Moon occurs on Friday, February 9, at 3:59 p.m. We’ve gained 13 minutes of daylight since last week, and 45 minutes since last month, and 50 minutes since the December Solstice. Our nearest planetary neighbor currently is Mercury. It is 31,268,872 miles further than the sun. No planet in the dark sky for five hours seven minutes. This is the duration between Jupiter set and Venus rise in the early morning. No naked-eye planets are visible during this period.
Note: Times are local Mountain Time. Actual “sundown” is about a dozen minutes earlier than calculated “sunset”. Along the front range, differing times vary depending on your distance from the mountains.
William J. Bechaver is the director of SPACE • Spanish Peaks Amateur Cosmos Enthusiasts, the premier Astronomical Society for Southern Colorado and Northern New Mexico.
