![\"\"](\"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/77\/2023\/01\/Layer-0-1-1024x1024.png\")
<\/figure><\/div>\n\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/77\/2022\/12\/a9826fbe-1d59-4075-bc4b-2029a6ca1c90.jpg\")
<\/figure><\/div>\n\nWhen to use this chart <\/strong><\/h4>\n\n1 Feb at 00:00 AEDT (13:00 UT)<\/strong><\/p>\n\n15 Feb at 23:00 AEDT (12:00 UT)<\/strong><\/p>\n\n28 Feb at 22:00 AEDT (11:00 UT) <\/strong><\/p>\n\nThe chart accurately matches the sky on the dates and times shown for Sydney, Australia. The sky is different at other times as the stars crossing it set four minutes earlier each night. <\/p>\n\n
\n\nFEBRUARY HIGHLIGHTS<\/strong><\/h4>\n\nRecommended equipment: Naked eye<\/strong><\/p>\n\nThis month, a spectacular naked-eye sight: a conjunction between Venus and Jupiter. Brilliant Venus is low in the western evening sky, with Jupiter to its upper right, their distance closing. They both outshine any star, with the crescent Moon chiming in on the 22nd just 1\u00b0 from Venus \u2013 a pretty sight! The following evening they are 12\u00b0 apart, forming a line with Jupiter in the centre. The month concludes with the planets separated by 2\u00b0, closing to only 0.5\u00b0 on 2 March. <\/p>\n\n
STARS AND CONSTELLATIONS<\/strong><\/h4>\n\nRecommended equipment: Naked eye<\/strong><\/p>\n\nAlpha Canis Majoris (Sirius) forms a near perfect equilateral triangle with two other bright alpha stars, Procyon (in Canis Minoris) and Betelgeuse (in Orion). These make up the \u2018Winter Triangle\u2019. The two \u2018Canis\u2019 constellations represent Orion the Hunter\u2019s dogs. Although Sirius looks the brightest, that is only because it is 8.5 lightyears away. Red supergiant Betelgeuse is 500 lightyears distant. If it matched Sirius\u2019s distance, it would glow as bright as a first quarter Moon! <\/p>\n\n
THE PLANETS <\/strong><\/h4>\n\nRecommended equipment: Naked eye<\/strong><\/p>\n\nThe beacon of Venus can\u2019t be missed as it slowly crawls out of the western twilight sky. It is passed by Neptune midmonth (0.2\u00b0 apart on 15th) and Jupiter at month\u2019s end, as both are swallowed by the twilight glow, heading for conjunction. <\/p>\n\n
Mars is now well-placed in the early, northern evening sky. With the Red Planet departing around midnight, there is a dearth of planets until Mercury appears in the eastern pre-dawn sky. Its favourable morning apparition ends as February ends. <\/p>\n\n
DEEP\u2013SKY OBJECTS <\/strong><\/h4>\n\nRecommended equipment: Large telescope<\/strong><\/p>\n\nThis month, a trip to the far south to visit two very different galaxies in the constellation of Dorado. Beginning at Alpha Doradus, 2\u00b0 west lies the face-on spiral NGC 1566 (RA 4h 20.0m, dec. \u201354\u00b0 56\u2019). At 9th magnitude, it has a bright 2-arcminute core with a condensed nucleus. It is surrounded by a diffuse, mottled halo (5 arcminutes). A 20cm instrument reveals two distinctive spiral arms, where it gets its name, \u2018the Spanish Dancer\u2019. There is a prominent 8th-magnitude star 6 arcminutes northwest.<\/p>\n\n
Move a further 2.5\u00b0 west to discover the edge-on spiral NGC 1515 (RA 4h 04.0m, dec. \u201354\u00b0 06\u2019). In contrast to NGC 1566, this 11th-magnitude galaxy is highly elongated in shape (3.5 x 0.5 arcminutes) with an even illumination. Very large instruments (around 254cm) show some brightening in the centre. <\/p>\n\n
Bright Venus and Jupiter hang out together all month, and we visit two galaxies in Dorado <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":24,"featured_media":40481,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ub_ctt_via":"","purple_page_number":"100","purple_custom_meta_purple_page_number":"100","purple_seq_number":"1","purple_custom_meta_purple_seq_number":"1","purple_source_article":"article_100-1.xml","purple_custom_meta_purple_source_article":"article_100-1.xml","purple_source_issue":"February-2023","purple_custom_meta_purple_source_issue":"February-2023","purple_external_id":"February-2023-100-1","purple_custom_meta_purple_external_id":"February-2023-100-1","purple_issue_code":"|0000086561||","purple_custom_meta_purple_issue_code":"|0000086561||","purple_android_product":"com.im.skyatnight.213","purple_custom_meta_purple_android_product":"com.im.skyatnight.213","purple_ios_product":"com.im.skyatnight.213","purple_custom_meta_purple_ios_product":"com.im.skyatnight.213","purple_web_product":"","purple_custom_meta_purple_web_product":"","purple_publication_id":"075fab74-0a21-4201-866a-899d6c41c40c","purple_migrated":"","kt_blocks_editor_width":""},"categories":[22],"tags":[14],"featured_image_src":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/77\/2023\/01\/Layer-0-1.png","author_info":{"display_name":"importmanagerhub@sprylab.com","author_link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcskyatnight\/author\/importmanagerhubsprylab-com\/"},"acf":{"readingTimeMinutes":"3","apple_news_title":""},"uagb_featured_image_src":{"full":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/77\/2023\/01\/Layer-0-1.png",3317,3317,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/77\/2023\/01\/Layer-0-1-150x150.png",150,150,true],"medium":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/77\/2023\/01\/Layer-0-1-300x300.png",300,300,true],"medium_large":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/77\/2023\/01\/Layer-0-1-768x768.png",768,768,true],"large":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/77\/2023\/01\/Layer-0-1-1024x1024.png",800,800,true],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/77\/2023\/01\/Layer-0-1-1536x1536.png",1536,1536,true],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/77\/2023\/01\/Layer-0-1-2048x2048.png",2048,2048,true]},"uagb_author_info":{"display_name":"importmanagerhub@sprylab.com","author_link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcskyatnight\/author\/importmanagerhubsprylab-com\/"},"uagb_comment_info":0,"uagb_excerpt":"Bright Venus and Jupiter hang out together all month, and we visit two galaxies in Dorado","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcskyatnight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40434"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcskyatnight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcskyatnight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcskyatnight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/24"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcskyatnight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=40434"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcskyatnight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40434\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":40934,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcskyatnight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40434\/revisions\/40934"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcskyatnight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/40481"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcskyatnight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=40434"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcskyatnight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=40434"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcskyatnight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=40434"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
15 Feb at 23:00 AEDT (12:00 UT)<\/strong><\/p>\n\n 28 Feb at 22:00 AEDT (11:00 UT) <\/strong><\/p>\n\n The chart accurately matches the sky on the dates and times shown for Sydney, Australia. The sky is different at other times as the stars crossing it set four minutes earlier each night. <\/p>\n\n Recommended equipment: Naked eye<\/strong><\/p>\n\n This month, a spectacular naked-eye sight: a conjunction between Venus and Jupiter. Brilliant Venus is low in the western evening sky, with Jupiter to its upper right, their distance closing. They both outshine any star, with the crescent Moon chiming in on the 22nd just 1\u00b0 from Venus \u2013 a pretty sight! The following evening they are 12\u00b0 apart, forming a line with Jupiter in the centre. The month concludes with the planets separated by 2\u00b0, closing to only 0.5\u00b0 on 2 March. <\/p>\n\n Recommended equipment: Naked eye<\/strong><\/p>\n\n Alpha Canis Majoris (Sirius) forms a near perfect equilateral triangle with two other bright alpha stars, Procyon (in Canis Minoris) and Betelgeuse (in Orion). These make up the \u2018Winter Triangle\u2019. The two \u2018Canis\u2019 constellations represent Orion the Hunter\u2019s dogs. Although Sirius looks the brightest, that is only because it is 8.5 lightyears away. Red supergiant Betelgeuse is 500 lightyears distant. If it matched Sirius\u2019s distance, it would glow as bright as a first quarter Moon! <\/p>\n\n Recommended equipment: Naked eye<\/strong><\/p>\n\n The beacon of Venus can\u2019t be missed as it slowly crawls out of the western twilight sky. It is passed by Neptune midmonth (0.2\u00b0 apart on 15th) and Jupiter at month\u2019s end, as both are swallowed by the twilight glow, heading for conjunction. <\/p>\n\n Mars is now well-placed in the early, northern evening sky. With the Red Planet departing around midnight, there is a dearth of planets until Mercury appears in the eastern pre-dawn sky. Its favourable morning apparition ends as February ends. <\/p>\n\n Recommended equipment: Large telescope<\/strong><\/p>\n\n This month, a trip to the far south to visit two very different galaxies in the constellation of Dorado. Beginning at Alpha Doradus, 2\u00b0 west lies the face-on spiral NGC 1566 (RA 4h 20.0m, dec. \u201354\u00b0 56\u2019). At 9th magnitude, it has a bright 2-arcminute core with a condensed nucleus. It is surrounded by a diffuse, mottled halo (5 arcminutes). A 20cm instrument reveals two distinctive spiral arms, where it gets its name, \u2018the Spanish Dancer\u2019. There is a prominent 8th-magnitude star 6 arcminutes northwest.<\/p>\n\n Move a further 2.5\u00b0 west to discover the edge-on spiral NGC 1515 (RA 4h 04.0m, dec. \u201354\u00b0 06\u2019). In contrast to NGC 1566, this 11th-magnitude galaxy is highly elongated in shape (3.5 x 0.5 arcminutes) with an even illumination. Very large instruments (around 254cm) show some brightening in the centre. <\/p>\n\n Bright Venus and Jupiter hang out together all month, and we visit two galaxies in Dorado <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":24,"featured_media":40481,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ub_ctt_via":"","purple_page_number":"100","purple_custom_meta_purple_page_number":"100","purple_seq_number":"1","purple_custom_meta_purple_seq_number":"1","purple_source_article":"article_100-1.xml","purple_custom_meta_purple_source_article":"article_100-1.xml","purple_source_issue":"February-2023","purple_custom_meta_purple_source_issue":"February-2023","purple_external_id":"February-2023-100-1","purple_custom_meta_purple_external_id":"February-2023-100-1","purple_issue_code":"|0000086561||","purple_custom_meta_purple_issue_code":"|0000086561||","purple_android_product":"com.im.skyatnight.213","purple_custom_meta_purple_android_product":"com.im.skyatnight.213","purple_ios_product":"com.im.skyatnight.213","purple_custom_meta_purple_ios_product":"com.im.skyatnight.213","purple_web_product":"","purple_custom_meta_purple_web_product":"","purple_publication_id":"075fab74-0a21-4201-866a-899d6c41c40c","purple_migrated":"","kt_blocks_editor_width":""},"categories":[22],"tags":[14],"featured_image_src":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/77\/2023\/01\/Layer-0-1.png","author_info":{"display_name":"importmanagerhub@sprylab.com","author_link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcskyatnight\/author\/importmanagerhubsprylab-com\/"},"acf":{"readingTimeMinutes":"3","apple_news_title":""},"uagb_featured_image_src":{"full":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/77\/2023\/01\/Layer-0-1.png",3317,3317,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/77\/2023\/01\/Layer-0-1-150x150.png",150,150,true],"medium":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/77\/2023\/01\/Layer-0-1-300x300.png",300,300,true],"medium_large":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/77\/2023\/01\/Layer-0-1-768x768.png",768,768,true],"large":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/77\/2023\/01\/Layer-0-1-1024x1024.png",800,800,true],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/77\/2023\/01\/Layer-0-1-1536x1536.png",1536,1536,true],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/77\/2023\/01\/Layer-0-1-2048x2048.png",2048,2048,true]},"uagb_author_info":{"display_name":"importmanagerhub@sprylab.com","author_link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcskyatnight\/author\/importmanagerhubsprylab-com\/"},"uagb_comment_info":0,"uagb_excerpt":"Bright Venus and Jupiter hang out together all month, and we visit two galaxies in Dorado","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcskyatnight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40434"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcskyatnight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcskyatnight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcskyatnight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/24"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcskyatnight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=40434"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcskyatnight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40434\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":40934,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcskyatnight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40434\/revisions\/40934"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcskyatnight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/40481"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcskyatnight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=40434"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcskyatnight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=40434"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcskyatnight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=40434"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\n\nFEBRUARY HIGHLIGHTS<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n
STARS AND CONSTELLATIONS<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n
THE PLANETS <\/strong><\/h4>\n\n
DEEP\u2013SKY OBJECTS <\/strong><\/h4>\n\n