The Moon comes First Quarter phase on 27th February, when it can be found just next door to Mars, in Taurus. Separation from the horizon, coupled with cold, clear weather often leads to some great lunar observing opportunities. The Ecliptic sets at a very steep angle in the evening at this time of the year and subsequently, the Moon ’s crescent phases in the evening represent the best time of year to observe the Moon in the evening sky. These occur at this time of the year for those in higher northern latitudes, due to the Moon ’s position in the Ecliptic plane. Although late February will probably not feel particularly Spring-like, this is the first of the Moon ’s “High Spring Crescent”, phases of 2023. The last few days of the month will see the Moon drifting higher and higher into the northern sky, through the constellations Aquarius, Pisces and Aries, before returning to where we first started the month, Taurus. This event will be a great opportunity for widefield astrophotography and also observation through binoculars and telescopes (using lower magnifications). On the evening of the 22nd, the 8% illuminated crescent Moon can be found almost equidistant between Jupiter and Venus on the Pisces/Cetus borders. Over the next few days, the Moon begins to climb higher in the sky, as seen from mid and higher-northern latitudes. After this point, the Moon becomes an evening target again. Skirting through the most southerly part of the Ecliptic, the Moon catches up with the Sun in Aquarius on the 20th. By this point in time, the Moon will be very much a morning object, rising just before 3 am and transiting at little before 6:30 am (GMT). Needless to say, this part of the month won ’t be the most opportune for those interested in observing fainter targets in the nighttime sky, or those interested in deep sky astrophotography (without recourse to rather extreme filtration).īeyond the 6th, the Moon begins to wane and as it exits Leo, moving into the vast expanse of Virgo (which it takes nearly 5 days to cross), on into Libra and Scorpius, its Gibbous phase will decrease - until it reaches Last Quarter in Ophiuchus on the 15th of the month. Over the next few days, the Moon will continue its journey through the upper northern part of the Ecliptic, passing through Gemini, Cancer and on into Leo, where it becomes Full on the evening of the 6th of February. It is visible throughout the entire night, only setting at a little before 5:30 am the following morning. Riding high in the northern Ecliptic, the Moon rises at a little after 12:30 pm (GMT) and transits at a little before 9:30 pm. The Moon begins February, at Waxing Crescent phase, with our natural satellite a resident of the constellation of Taurus. Wherever you are in the world, as ever, there’s plenty to see in the skies above us - so let’s see what February 2023 has in store for us… Conversely, those readers in the southern hemisphere will now be experiencing slightly longer nights after their recent midsummer. With the Sun sitting firmly in the centre of Capricornus during the early part of February, those of us in the Northern Hemisphere will be noticing a slight increase in daylight hours from the very short days of midwinter. This is a direct example of astronomy and orbital dynamics affecting daily life on Earth and our attempts to mark time our time on this planet accurately. We can thank our ancestors, who long ago through their painstaking observations of the skies noticed this potential anomaly and took action to correct it. Most calendars used around the world also use leap years to try and keep proper time with our orbit around the Sun. As the Earth’s full orbit of the Sun is actually around 365.25 days long, if we did not add leap days every four years to our calendar, our year would slowly drift against our true orbital period. This peculiarity is designed to keep our calendar as closely locked with the actuality of the equinoxes and solstices. Subsequently, February this year only has 28 days. It is only those “centurial leap years” that are divisible by 400 that are also leap years. To qualify as a leap year, in the Gregorian calendar, the year must be wholly divisible by 4, apart from those that are divisible by 100. This year, is not an even year, so is not a leap year - so February is only 28 days long.
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