Mars culminates at around 9 pm during early February and one hour earlier at the end of the month. At culminations it is directly overhead and is the best time to look for it. The red planet residing in Taurus constellation shines at a magnitude of -0.6 in early Feb. consequently losing its brightness to +0.2 at the end of the month It’s a little less than 1 A.U. away from Earth and as we recede from this planet, it looks smaller and smaller on your eyepiece.

While the winter hexagon is directly overhead, now housing Mars inside it, we have very bright stars to target for any star party. M42 and M45 also make the best targets for the month while other Messier objects like the M44 beehive cluster are added fun for sky watchers this month.

Stars that make up the Winter Hexagon:
Capella, a yellow star larger than the sun (0.08) in Auriga
Aldeberan, a red giant, 45 times larger than our sun (0.85) in Taurus
Procyon, a subgiant (0.38) in Canis Minor
Sirius (-1.46 the brightest) also called the Dog Star in Canis Major
Pollux (1.14) and Castor (1.98) in Gemini
Rigel (diagonally opposite to Betelgeuse) as Beta Orionis (0.12), in Orion

Mercury Venus pairing

Late February is the best time to look for Mercury in the Morning twilight. It will pair up with Venus if you wake up early morning again to see them on 26th, 27th and 28th February (5-5:30 am). On 27th you can cover the two with the tip of your finger at arm length.

Venus and Jupiter pairing

Venus is the morning star shining at a magnitude of -3.9 outshining every other thing in the sky except the Moon and the Sun. If you have a good weather, you should not leave a chance to see the very
bright planets Venus and Jupiter as close as 1 degree apart in the early morning of February 1 and 2 just before the Sun rise. [At 19:18 the two pass the closest in the sky but this is not visible from this part of the world. This would better be observed from the West coast of America.]

Jupiter resides in Sagittarius getting brighter (-2.0) and rising earlier each day during the month. This gas giant rises just a few hours before sunrise and sets during the daylight.

Comet 17/P Holmes is still in Perseus. It is best to look at this comet just after the sun sets when it’s highest in the sky. But it could eventually fade out and become invisible to amateur astronomers.

8/P Tuttle is in Eridanus constellation to the South and sets early. Watch for it the same time you would for 17/P Holmes. This one is also dimming out.

The Annular (Solar) Eclipse on February 7 is not visible from Nepal. Partially seen from South East Australia, New Zealand and a few Asia Pacific islands, the annular eclipse occurs in Antarctica.

The Total Lunar Eclipse of 21 February is also barely visible from Nepal. Only the first few minutes of the eclipse is visible from Nepal when the Penumbra starts moving across the Moon’s surface (after 6:20 am).

Moon Phases

New Moon- Feb 7 First Quarter- Feb 14 Full Moon- Feb 21 Last Quarter- Feb 29