February 2025 – What’s Up!

Week of 24th February

• Astronomical twilight ends at 19:30 GMT at the start of the week and at 19:40 GMT by the end of the week.
• Catch the planetary parade while you can. Start with Saturn (+1.1) and Mercury (-1.1) low in the west at sunset, then moving westwards: Neptune (+8.0), Venus (-4.6), Uranus (+5.8), Jupiter (-2.3), and Mars (-0.3).
• Enjoy Orion while it remains in our evening sky; start with star birth in the Orion Nebula, M42 (+4.0), then star life with the tight double star Alnitak (+1.7) at just 2 arcseconds separation, and end with star death and Betelgeuse (+0.6), the red giant approaching the end of its life when it will go supernova… the question is when? Sometime between now and about 100,000 years!
• The Moon is New on Friday.
• The Sun currently has 13 active regions and the sunspot number is 215.
• There are no visible evening ISS passes this week (click here for full ISS pass details).

Week of 17th February

• Astronomical twilight ends at 19:18 GMT at the start of the week and at 19:28 GMT by the end of the week.
• Keep an eye on the Blaze Star, T Coronae Borealis, it might finally be about to have its nova outburst. Astronomers have noticed a change in its spectrum, which could be an early warning to its expected brightening. Look to the east of Bootes for Corona Borealis in the early hours.
• For the full planetary parade, it is now just about possible to catch Mercury (-1.4) low to the western horizon at sunset, which is at about 17:25 GMT. Move eastwards to find in order: Saturn (+1.2), Neptune (+7.9), Venus (-4.6), Uranus (+5.7), Jupiter (-2.4), and Mars (-0.6). For the eighth planet, look at your feet!
• This week’s Deep Sky targets are two open clusters in Cancer; first up is the Beehive Cluster, M44 (+3.1) at 610 lightyears from Earth, then look a few degrees south to find M67 (+6.9) at 2600 lightyears away. M44 is about 700 million years old, whereas M67 is estimated to be 4 billion years old!
• The Moon is Last Quarter on Thursday.
• The Sun currently has 10 active regions and the sunspot number is 153.
• There are no visible evening ISS passes this week (click here for full ISS pass details).

Week of 10th February

• Astronomical twilight ends at 19:07 GMT at the start of the week and at 19:16 GMT by the end of the week.
• The planetary parade continues, but you have to be quick to spot Saturn (+1.2), which sets at 19:35 GMT, Venus (-4.6) is only outshone in the evening sky by the Moon, Jupiter (-2.5) culminates at around 19:20 GMT, and Mars culminates at around 22:00 GMT. Neptune (+7.9) and Uranus (+5.7) will require binoculars or a telescope to see.
• Bright targets away from the Full Moon are best this week. Here are three open clusters around Perseus to enjoy in binoculars: M45, the Pleiades (+1.5) in Taurus, M34 (+5.2) in Perseus, and C14, the Double Cluster (+5.3) also in Perseus up towards Cassiopeia.
• The Moon is Full on Wednesday – the Snow Moon.
• The Sun currently has 10 active regions and the sunspot number is 168.
• There are no visible evening ISS passes this week (click here for full ISS pass details).

Week of 3rd February

• Astronomical twilight ends at 18:55 GMT at the start of the week and at 19:05 GMT by the end of the week.
• The planets continue to impress across our evening sky. Catch Saturn (+1.1) in the west before it sets at 19:55 GMT, then Venus (-4.6) with Neptune (+7.9) just below, look south for Uranus (+5.7) and Jupiter (-2.5), and finally, Mars (-1.0) in the east, which is slowly moving away and dropping in apparent brightness and size.
• If you have a clear southerly horizon, look for three low altitude Messier objects this week: start with M79, a mag +7.7 globular cluster in Lepus, then travel a little to the east to find two open clusters, M50 (+5.9) in Monoceros and M46 (+6.1) in Puppis.
• The Moon is First Quarter on Wednesday.
• The Sun currently has 7 active regions and the sunspot number is 145.
• There are no visible evening ISS passes this week (click here for full ISS pass details).