February 2025

Use this map to identify the brighter stars and constellations of the winter sky.  Mars and Jupiter add to the scene. 

Image Courtesy of Stellarium

SHINING BRIGHT

The skies of winter offer more bright stars to see than at any other time of year. This year, it will be even more the case, with three planets shining brightly for the whole month to add to the scene. To start our tour of the sky, first face west during the early evening hours. Shockingly bright Venus is near the peak of its current evening apparition and completely dominates the west. During the early part of February, if skies are quite clear, much dimmer Saturn can still be found, increasingly farther below Venus. Saturn is dropping out of sight as it is seen increasingly on the far side of the Sun. If you can follow it as late as February 24, brighter Mercury will have drawn alongside it- look around 6:30 pm, very low below Venus, in the twilight glow close to the horizon. Binoculars may be needed to spot Mercury and will probably be absolutely necessary to glimpse Saturn by that point- the ringed planet will be lost in the Sun’s glare within a few more days. Mercury will become easier to see with each passing day, and I will discuss the dance of our solar system’s two innermost planets in next month’s edition of this blog.

To start your tour of the winter stars, notice a very bright star low in the southeast in the early evening, higher in the south later on. This is Sirius, which is in fact the brightest star in the night sky, although Jupiter and Venus appear much brighter. Sirius marks one point of the Great Hexagon, which encompasses all of brighter stars at this season. I have written about it several times in this blog, most extensively in the March 2023 edition. From Sirius, look to the upper left for dimmer by still prominent Procyon. In mythology, Sirius and Procyon are the two “Dog Stars” as their constellations symbolize Orion’s hunting dogs. Look above Procyon for two pretty bright stars seen side by side- the famous Gemini twins Castor and Pollux. If it is a really clear night or if you are at a dark site, you can actually make out pretty good stick figures of the two twins, except this year, there is an intruder, the planet Mars in this direction. At the start of February, Mars is just past its fairly close approach to Earth and appears almost as bright as Sirius. By the end of the month as earth leaves it behind, Mars has faded by nearly half, but still easily exceeds the Twins. Although it is often called the Red Planet, to me Mars shines with a yellowish orange tint- quite a contrast to Sirius’ bluish white.

Crane your neck almost straight up at this time of year and this time of night to identify bright Capella. As bright as it is Capella is outshone by very bright Jupiter, high in the south. Since it has a 12 year orbit around the Sun, Jupiter will appear within the Great Hexagon for about the next year. The pretty bright star close to Jupiter is none other than Aldebaran, the eye of Taurus the Bull.

The great hunter Orion is perhaps the most famous of all constellations. Three stars close together mark the belt, with a rectangle of bright stars surrounding it. The lower right star in the rectangle is Rigel, noticeably whitish or bluish white as compared to Betelgeuse, at the opposite corner. Rigel marks the last point of the Great Hexagon, with Betelgeuse appearing inside of it, somewhat off center. Orion’s great hunting skills is said to have made the Greek gods jealous, causing them to send the dreaded Scorpion to fatally sting him. Both were placed at opposite ends of the night sky to avoid further trouble. To this day, Orion is known as a winter and Scorpius a summer constellation.

Keep in mind that the Great Hexagon is indeed great- it covers a large area of the sky from low in the south to straight up, and from southeast to due south at this time of year. Once you realize that, it is really quite easy to learn how to identify all of the bright stars shown on the map. The stars marking the accompanying constellations are mostly much dimmer and may require a very clear night, a darker location, or the use of binoculars to see everything shown on the map.

The Gateway to the Stars program is scheduled to resume for on May 10. A talk about the National Parks or the night sky will precede free telescope viewing on the Park’s Entrance Plaza, weather permitting. Mark your calendar for the other 2025 dates- June 7, July 6, August 2, September 27, and October 25.