Jupiter leads a morning parade of visible planets through February. The large gaseous planet (-2 magnitude, very bright) ascends the eastern heavens Monday starting after 1 a.m., and it will be high in the south before sunrise. By the end of February, Jupiter will start rising minutes before midnight.
Mars is getting easier to see. The Red Planet rises around 2:30 a.m., according to the U.S. Naval Observatory. Dog walkers may look to the southeast to find it hours before dawn. Mars' reddish doppelganger, the supergiant star Antares, loiters underneath Mars now.
The ringed Saturn rises in the east at about 4:45 a.m. Monday, according to the observatory, hanging out in the constellation Sagittarius. Enjoy the planet's early ascension before sunrise. It is 0.6 magnitude (bright) for the month.
Like conducting an inspection of the planetary troops, the waning, last quarter moon glides past Jupiter on the mornings of Feb. 7 and 8, then Mars on Feb. 8-9, and then appears to closely address Saturn on Feb. 11.
Venus (-3.9 magnitude, bright) returns to the evening sky, peeking just above the western horizon (after sunset) late in the month. We will find Venus in the evenings much easier than in March.
We are gaining light: Sunday will feature 10 hours and 22 minutes of daylight in Washington, according to the observatory. The last day of February will enjoy 11 hours and 18 minutes of daylight.
On your paper wall calendar, you may note February features no full moon. We will not get one, since this year we will enjoy a double dose of full moons in January and March. We had a blue moon (the second full moon in a month) on Jan. 31, and we will get a full moon March 1 in the United States (March 2, Universal Time) and March 31. The last time that happened was in February 1999. It happens next in 2037.
We get a new moon Feb. 15, which coincides with a partial solar eclipse visible at the southern tip of South America, Antarctica and the South Pole.
Down-to-Earth Events:
* Feb. 5 — "Stars Tonight" at the David M. Brown Planetarium, 1426 N. Quincy St., Arlington, adjacent to Washington-Lee High School. 7:30 p.m. $3. friendsoftheplanetarium.org.
* Feb. 5 — "Watching the Explosive Universe in Action," a talk by astronomer Suvi Gezari, at the University of Maryland's observatory, College Park. Enjoy the starry heavens through telescopes afterward, weather permitting. 8 p.m. www.astro.umd.edu/openhouse/.
* Feb. 7 — "Engineering Miracles for Scientific Discoveries with the James Webb Space Telescope," a lecture by astrophysicist John Mather of the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center. Lockheed Martin Imax Theater, National Air and Space Museum, the Mall. 8 p.m. Free, tickets required: airandspace.si.edu/visit/events.
* Feb. 10 — "The New Moon," a talk by planetary geologist Brett Denevi of Johns Hopkins University, as he describes the latest in lunar science, at the National Capital Astronomers' regular meeting, held at the University of Maryland Observatory, College Park. 7:30 p.m. capitalastronomers.org.
* Feb. 11 — "A Solar System of Surprises," a talk by podcast host and astronomer Michelle Thaller of the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center. (Thaller's Orbital Path podcast is at orbital.prx.org). The talk will be at the Northern Virginia Astronomy Club's regular meeting, 163 Research Hall, George Mason University. 7 p.m. novac.com.
* Feb. 17 — "African Skies," a program discussing stories of creation from Africa and how American slaves reached freedom by following the night sky's "Drinking Gourd," the Big Dipper, at the Montgomery College Planetarium, Takoma Park. 7 p.m. Web: goo.gl/q9iwrS.
* Feb. 20 — "Daytime Sky Phenomena," a talk by astronomer Alice Allen, at the University of Maryland's observatory, College Park. See the night sky through telescopes afterward, weather permitting. 8 p.m. www.astro.umd.edu/openhouse/.
