Skywatch Line for Friday, February 16, through Sunday, February 18, 2024 written by Sam Salem
This is Dudley Observatory’s Skywatch Line for Friday, February 16, through Sunday, February 18, written by Sam Salem.
On Friday, Sun rises at 6:52am and sets at 5:28pm; Moon sets at 12:52am and rises at 10:18am.
The instant of first quarter Moon will fall at 10:01am on Friday. Just lower right of the Moon, by about 2° or 3°. The first quarter Moon rises around noon and sets around midnight.
The bright waxing gibbous Moon will pass the Pleiades star cluster on Friday and Saturday evenings. The Pleiades is also known as the Seven Sisters, or Messier 45, and appears as a glittering, bluish cluster of stars in the constellation Taurus the Bull. The Moon will also be near the orange star Aldebaran. The Moon and Pleiades will cross the sky together and set after midnight.
On Sunday, the bright waxing gibbous Moon will lie between two bright stars. The golden star is Capella in the constellation Auriga the Charioteer. And in contrast to golden Capella is the bright red supergiant star Betelgeuse, the brightest star in Orion the Hunter. You can follow them all night until a few hours before dawn.
Venus, at magnitude –3.9, shines low in the southeast during dawn. It’s a little lower every morning.
Jupiter, at magnitude –2.3 in the constellation of Aries, is the bright white dot high in the southwest at dusk; lower in the west-southwest later. It sets in the west by midnight.
Right after night is completely dark this weekend, the W of Cassiopeia shines high in the northwest standing almost on end. Near the zenith is Capella. The brightest star about midway between Cassiopeia and Capella, and a little to the left, is Alpha Persei. It lies on the lower-right edge of the Alpha Persei Cluster, a large, elongated, very loose swarm of fainter stars about the size of your thumb-tip at arm’s length. At least a dozen stars are 6th magnitude or brighter, bright enough to show well in binoculars even through the moonlight. Alpha Per, a white supergiant, is a true member of the group and is its brightest light.