Skywatch Line for Friday, February 23, through Sunday, February 25, 2024 written by Sam Salem

This is Dudley Observatory’s Skywatch Line for Friday, February 23, through Sunday, February 25, written by Sam Salem.

On Friday, Sun rises at 6:41am and sets at 5:37pm; Moon sets at 6:39am and rises at 4:49pm.

On Friday evening, the waxing gibbous Moon will float near the star Regulus, marking the bottom of the backward question mark asterism called the Sickle. Regulus is the brightest star in the constellation of Leo the Lion. They’ll be visible through dawn.

The Full Moon occurs at 7:30 am on Saturday. The Snow Moon will be the smallest, most distant, full Moon this year, at 252,225 miles away. At sunset the Moon is already rising in the east. By nightfall you’ll see that the Moon is almost straight between Regulus 3° to its right and lesser Gamma Leonis 5° to the Moon’s left. Binoculars will help you spot them through the moonlight, especially if there’s any haze in the sky. Watch the Moon pull away eastward from those stars through the hours of the night.

Sirius rises around the end of twilight. Orion’s three-star Belt points down almost to its rising place. Once Sirius is up, it twinkles slowly and deeply through the thick layers of low atmosphere, then faster and more shallowly as it gains altitude. Its flashes of color also moderate and blend into shimmering whiteness as it climbs to shine through thinner air.

After dark now the Great Square of Pegasus is sinking low in the west, tipped onto one corner. Meanwhile, the Big Dipper is creeping up in the north-northeast, tipped up on its handle.

The Spring Star Arcturus rises above the east-northeast horizon soon after dusk now.

Find the Big Dipper as soon as the stars come out. It’s high in the northeast. Follow the curve of its handle down and around to the lower right by a little more than a Dipper-length. That’s the spot on the horizon to watch. By 11 pm, Arcturus dominates the eastern sky.