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Observing Calendar for February 9th to March 8th 2010 by Steve Woodbridge
Sky Diary — By pcburns on February 8, 2010 at 10:56 amObserving Calendar
February 9th to March 8th 2010 (all times GMT)
by Steve Woodbridge
| Date | |
| February 10th | Syrtis Major (the most prominent marking on Mars) on the central meridian at midnight. Mars is currently at its most prominent for 2 years and although its disc is only around 13-14” arc in diameter you should be able to see a few markings and the polar cap well even in a small telescopae (see my sketch below). Why not watch as the markings appear to be in the same place around 40 minutes early each day? |
| February 14th | New Moon. Late winter/early spring is a good time to watch the new moon wax, as the moon is high in the sky at first quarter. |
| February 20th | Moon sets after midnight. A good time to catch the late winter and early spring deep sky objects. |
| February 20th | Neptune in conjunction with the sun. Neptune is invisible this period. |
| February 22nd | Regulus culminates at midnight. Leo is a majestic constellation of late winter and early spring. It has a number of fine deep-sky objects. What is your favourite? Is it the bright pair of 9th magnitude galaxies M65 and M66 (I am always surprised that I seem to be able to pick these galaxies out with 10×50 binoculars – are they particular high in surface brightness?) or what about the beautiful orange and yellow double Algeiba (gamma). |
| February 28th | Jupiter in conjunction with the sun. Jupiter is invisible this period. Uranus, Venus and Mercury are all also extremely difficult this month. |
| February 28th | Full Moon. |
| March 5th | Moon rises after midnight meaning dark evening skies again. |
| March 6th | Saturn rises at dusk, so become increasingly a good evening object. Saturn’s equatorial diameter is 19.5” and its polar diameter 17.5”, with the rings 44.2” x 2.8” at a narrow tilt of 3.7°. Can you spot some of the brighter moons (Titan, Rhea, and Dione)?. |
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