In February, the southern night sky is nearly filled with an association of constellations whose brightest stars make up the Winter Hexagon. Draw a mental line between Sirius in Canis Major, Rigel in Orion, Aldeberan in Taurus, Capella in Auriga, Castor and Pollux in Gemini, and Procyon in Canis Minor for a huge six-sided figure in the night sky. Such a recognizable shape in the sky - but not a constellation itself - is called an asterism. The best known asterism is the Big Dipper! Another huge asterism in February is the Great Square of Pegasus, seen off to the northwest.

February’s full moon will occur early in the morning of the 6^th. This full moon is traditionally called the Snow Moon, or the Hunger Moon. Both names come from February usually having the most severe weather of the winter. The new moon will be early in the morning of the 20^th.

There are no significant meteor showers in February, but the display of planets will more than make up for that. Four of the planets will be visible during the evening hours. As the Sun goes down in the west, and the sky begins to darken, the brilliant point of light that is Venus is unmistakable. Since it is visible above the horizon after the Sun sets, it is known as the Evening Star. A spectacular view of Venus will occur on February 23, when it lies just a few degrees to the right of a slender crescent Moon. As a matter of fact, this is just the beginning of several months when Venus climbs higher and brighter in the evening sky. Venus lies in the constellation Pisces, but with that bright light, it’s hard to see anything else. As you look upward from the western horizon, another bright spot will catch your eye. This one is not so bright, nor is it so brilliant since it has a pinkish tinge to it. Mars is still there, but is fading both in brightness and visible size. Since it is better at keeping up with the Earth than the other planets are, Mars remains visible in a our night for long periods, this time through early summer. During May, Mars will catch up with Saturn and form a fine conjunction in the night sky. Mars it is at the other end of Pisces, nearly into the constellation Aries. Continuing to look upward from the west , very nearly overhead, we see another bright point of light that turns out to be Saturn. To the naked eye, Saturn is a fine, bright object lying in the constellation Gemini. Early in February it will be overhead late in the evening, but as the month goes on, it will get there earlier and earlier. With a telescope, the rings are easy to see. As Venus begins to get close to the western horizon, we turn to look toward the eastern horizon, and see another bright light just above the tree line. This pale globe is Jupiter, the largest of all the planets. It is easier to see and brighter as it gets closer to overhead, when it is seen through less of Earth’s quivering atmosphere. Jupiter lies right below Leo, the Lion. This is a fitting place for the king of the planets, don’t you think?

The planets all travel through our sky following a line called the ecliptic. This marks the apparent path that the Sun takes as it goes through the sky and star field. Since the planets all go around the Sun, they too must follow this line. It is the ecliptic which makes that set of constellations we call the Zodiac.