In the last winter month of this year, the sky will be full of “tailed stars”: while comet Tsuchinshan-1 is weakening, moving away from the Earth and the Sun, Comet Pons-Brooks, on the contrary, is approaching and becoming brighter. In addition, Comet Kushida continues to be observed, and Comet PanSTARRS will pass perihelion in February and will also become available to astronomy enthusiasts in our latitudes.
As for observations of large planets, the end of winter will not be very successful here. Two of them — Mercury and Saturn — are located on the celestial sphere near the Sun, and on February 28 they will join with it in conjunction almost simultaneously. Also, in the evening twilight, Neptune is gradually lost and the conditions of morning visibility of Venus deteriorate. The last one on February 22 will take place a little more than half a degree from Mars. This conjunction will take place at 26° from our luminary, in the southern regions of Ukraine it will be seen a little better.
February 1
- The Moon is 2° west of Spica (α Virgo, 1.0ᵐ)
February 3
- The Moon is in the final fourth phase
February 5
- The Moon is 1° east of Antares (α Scorpio, 1.0ᵐ)
February 8
- The Moon is 5° south of Mars (1.3ᵐ)
- The Moon is 7° south of Venus (-4.0ᵐ)
February 10
- New Moon
- The Moon is at perigee, 358,087 km from the center of the Earth
February 12
- The Moon is 4° east of Neptune (7.9ᵐ)
February 14
- Comet C/2021 S3 (PanSTARRS) at perihelion, 1,320 AU (197 million km) from the Sun
February 15
- The Moon is 5° east of Jupiter (-2.3ᵐ)
- The Moon is 3° north of Uranus (5.8ᵐ)
February 16
- The Moon is in the final fourth phase
February 21
- The Moon is 2° south of Pollux (β Gemini, 1,2ᵐ)
February 22
- Venus (-3,9ᵐ) is 0.6° north of Mars (1.3ᵐ)
February 24
- Full moon
- The Moon is 2° north of Regulus (α Leo, 1.3ᵐ)
February 25
- The Moon is at its apogee, 406,315 km from the center of the Earth
February 28
- The Moon is 3° east of Spica
- Saturn in conjunction with the Sun
- Mercury in conjunction with the Sun
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