February is an interesting skywatching month. In February nights are becoming shorter in northern hemisphere, and for example in southern Finland nights are 13 hours long in the beginning of February, while in the end of February they are only less than 12 hours long. In January the nights for observing the sky were much longer.

In early night observers can see the bright winter constellation, such as Orion. On left side of Orion one can easily see Sirius, the brightest star of the night sky. Constellation Leo can be seen in East direction, while Ursa Major is located in North-East direction. Other interesting constellations in February are Cygnus, Cepheus, Cassiopeia and Perseus.

Planets in February

In February in northern hemisphere observers can watch Mars and Saturn during the whole darkness (12-13 hours). In early morning also Venus and Jupiter can be seen, but not during the early night and midnight. Venus, also known as the morning star, can be seen shining bright low in South-East direction. In the middle of February, right now, Venus gets closer to sun and is harder to observe. Mars is located high in South direction in constellation Taurus. Jupiter is located in constellation Sagittarius and can be seen in South-East direction during the dawn. Saturn will be seen in opposition in constellation Leo in February 24th. Saturn can be seen in direction South at midnight. Saturn’s amazing disks and moon Titan can be seen even with a small telescope.

Mercury, Neptune, Pluto and Uranus cannot be seen at all in February.

Moon eclipse

The Moon will be seen in full eclipse in early morning in February 21st. In Helsinki the full eclipse can be seen at 1:21 am.