September 2000 Sky

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Astronomy Club of Asheville

Asheville, NC

February 2002 Sky Highlights

Milky Way

Northwest to Southeast.

Moon

Last quarter is February 4^th.

New Moon is February 12^th.

First Quarter is February 20^th. An awesome Lunar Occultation of Saturn occurs at about 7:02pm, with Saturn reappearing from behind the moon at about 8:32pm (these times are good for a location near Asheville). One gets a remarkable sense of perspective seeing the (apparently) tiny, remote gas giant slowly passing behind the looming moon. This event will not occur favorably again for Eastern North America until 2014. A small telescope will reveal this event. The occultation presents a rare opportunity for those with medium-to-large telescopes to detect an elusive Saturnian ring, faint and beyond the A-ring, normally not seen by amateurs. See Article on Saturn's "Lost Rings."

World Map Showing Occultation's Area of Visibility

Full Moon is February 27^th.

Planets

Mercury is low in the eastern horizon at dawn +2.8 to +0.1. It can be seen by 6am.

Mars is in the west-southwest in early evening sky at magnitude +1.0 to +1.3. It sets by 10pm.

Saturn is at magnitude -0.1 to 0.0 in Taurus. Its rings are tilted at 26 degrees.

Jupiter at magnitude -2.6 to -2.4 is in Gemini.

Highlights of the Month

The star Sirius in the constellation Canis Major is one of our closest neighbors in the Milky Way Galaxy. It is 8.6 light years away. It has an absolute magnitude of +1.4.

In the constellation Orion the stars Betelgeuse and Rigel are different colors to the naked eye. Betelgeuse is a red giant and has a cool temperature of 3000 degrees while Rigel is white hot with a bluish cast. It has a temperature of about 12000 degrees. The temperature of the star’s surface determines the color of a star.

In the constellation Monoceros look for the object C49, known as The Rosette Nebula, consisting of NGC 2237-39 and NGC 2244. It is a lovely wreath of glowing gas surrounding a cluster of young stars, about 5000 light-years away. A large (12") scope is needed to see the nebula (an O-III or UHC filter helps), but both binocular and telescope users will be able to see the 6^th magnitude open cluster that is clearing out the "hole" in the nebula and causing it to fluoresce. Judging by the super-hot O-type stars in the cluster, they are less than 1/2 million years old and may still be causing star formation in the nebula.

Happy Starwatching!

Taken from Sky & Telescope Magazine, Astronomy Magazine, Astronomical Calendar 2002 & The Night Sky Observer's Guide.

Nancy Byer