What’s happening in the skies over North Texas this month? February holds some spectacular sights in the night and morning sky. Check out the list below. STARTING THE MONTH WITH A FULL MOON The month will start with a full moon taking place on Sunday, February 1. It is the second full moon o f the year, following January’s Wolf Moon. The best time for viewing is after sunset wher it rises from the east. That moon, known as the “Snow Moon”, signifies the peak of heavy snowfall in the Northern Hemisphere. It symbolizes endurance, survival and patience. Also, it marks the coldest, harshest part of winter. This full moon is also known as the Storm Moon, Trappers Moon and Hunger Moon. VIEWING MERCURY IN THE EVENING Mercury will put on a great evening appearance for the month of February. The first good view will occur on Feb. 10, when Mercury stands about 7° above the western horizon, 30 minutes after sunset. At this magnitude, it’s bright enough to be seen through early evening twilight. It will set shortly before 7 p.m. local time. On Feb. 13, it sets 80 minutes after the Sun. By Feb. 19, Mercury will attain its greatest separation from the Sun. Thus, allowing for the best opportunity to view the planet this year. Look to the western sky around 40 to 45 minutes after sunset. The planet will appear low on the horizon, setting after the end of astronomical twilight. Mercury averages a distance from the Earth of 48 million miles and from the Sun of 36 million miles. THE PARADE OF PLANETS We’re ending the month with a rare six-planet alignment or “planet parade”. Mercury, Venus, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune will appear to line up in the evening sky. The best viewing time is about 15 to 30 minutes after sunset on Feb. 28, looking toward the western horizon, where the planets will form a bright, visible arc.  Mercury, Venus, Jupiter, and Saturn should be visible to the naked eye. Uranus and Neptune will likely require binoculars or a telescope to be spotted. Mercury averages a distance from the Earth of 48 million miles and from the Sun of 36 million miles. Venus’s distance from the Earth varies from 24 million miles to 162 million miles. Jupiter’s distance from the Earth varies from 336 million miles to 600 million miles. Saturn’s distance from the Earth varies. When the two are closest, they lie approximately 746 million miles apart, or eight times the distance between the Earth and the Sun. At their most distant, when they lie on opposite sides of the Sun from one another, they are just over a billion miles apart, or 11 times the distance between the Earth and the Sun. The distance from the Earth to Uranus constantly changes because both planets orbit the Sun, ranging from about 1.6 billion to 2 billion miles. Sunlight takes roughly 2.5 hours to travel from the Earth to Uranus at average distances, varying from about 2.4 to 2.9 hours depending on their orbital positions. The distance between the Earth and Neptune is constantly shifting because both bodies are moving through space. When Neptune and Earth line up on the same side of the Sun, at their closest, they are only 2.7 billion miles apart. But when the planets are on opposite sides of the Sun, they can put as many as 2.9 billion miles between them. MOON PHASES The eight moon phases of a lunar month are divided into four primary and four intermediate (waxing and waning) moon phases. NEW MOON: The new moon is when the sun and moon are aligned, with the sun and Earth on opposite sides of the moon. There are two reasons why we can’t see the new moon: The new moon is up in the daytime sky. It rises and sets around the same time as the sun. Thus, bringing it too close to the sun’s glare to be seen. WAXING CRESCENT MOON: This intermediate moon phase occurs after the new moon and lasts until the first quarter moon. FIRST QUARTER: The first quarter moon occurs when half of the moon’s face is lit up. Whether the lit-up half appears on the left or right depends on where you are on Earth. WAXING GIBBOUS MOON: This intermediate moon phase occurs after the first quarter moon and lasts until the full moon. FULL MOON: A full moon is when the entire face of the moon is lit up. The moon is in constant motion around the Earth, so a full moon only lasts for an instant of time. WANING GIBBOUS MOON: This intermediate moon phase occurs after the full moon and lasts until the third quarter moon. THIRD QUARTER: The third quarter moon is when the opposite half of the moon is illuminated compared to the first quarter. Whether the lit-up half appears on the left or right depends on where you are on Earth. WANING CRESCENT MOON: This intermediate moon phase occurs after the third quarter moon and lasts until the new moon. ELLIPTICAL ORBIT The moon’s orbit around the Earth is elliptical, with one side either closer to or farther from the Earth. On Feb. 10 at 10:51 a.m. CST, the moon will be at apogee, its farthest to the Earth for this orbit at 251,392 miles. On Feb. 24 at 5:03 p.m. CST, the moon will be at perigee, its closest to the Earth for this orbit at 229,990 miles. HOW FAR WILL THE EARTH TRAVEL AROUND THE SUN THIS MONTH? First, the Earth’s spin is constant, but the speed depends on the latitude at which you are located. For example, at the equator, the speed is about 1,037 mph. Earth’s spin, of course, is not the only motion we have in space. Our orbital speed around the Sun is about 67,000 mph. That’s the equivalent of traveling from London to New York in about three minutes. In our orbital voyage around the Sun, we’ve traveled 94.4 million miles by the end of February. This is due to the fact that our voyage started again on January 1st at 12:00 a.m. A mere 489.6 million miles to go! ASTRONOMY 101: WHAT HAPPENED TO THE VOYAGER PROBES? The Voyager probes are continuing their voyage into interstellar space. This illustration provided by NASA depicts Voyager 1. Voyager 1 was launched on Monday, September 5, 1977. It is the most distant human-made object in space, operating over 15 billion miles from Earth. The probe made flybys of Jupiter, Saturn and Saturn’s largest moon, Titan. It continues to send data with plans to reach one light-day from the Earth late this year. Its radioisotope thermoelectric generators (RTGs) may supply enough electric power to return engineering data until 2036. It is expected to reach the theorized Oort cloud in about 300 years and take about 30,000 years to pass through it. Though it is not heading towards any particular star, in about 40,000 years, it will pass within 1.6 light-years of the star Gliese 445. In 300,000 years, it will pass within less than 1 light-year of the M3V star TYC 3135–52–1. Voyager 2 was launched on Saturday, August 20, 1977. The probe made flybys of Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune. It is not headed toward any particular star. In roughly 42,000 years, Voyager 2 will pass the star Ross 248 (10.30 light-years away from Earth) at a distance of 1.7 light-years. In 296,000 years, it should pass by the star Sirius (8.6 light-years from Earth) at a distance of 4.3 light-years. Both Voyager space probes carry a gold-plated audio-visual disc. It is a compilation meant to showcase the diversity of life and culture on Earth in the event that either spacecraft is ever found by any extraterrestrial. Please enjoy these events in the night sky this month. Until then, Texans, keep looking up! ...read more read less