Last Minute Astronomer - February Episode

Hosted by Rob Webb.

Full text available at the Cosmos Safari Blog.

February 2025 is a phenomenal continuation of January’s planetary-ness! You’ll get chances to see all the planets before going to bed and a conjunction of Mercury & Saturn.

Hi everybody, I’m Rob, your Last Minute Astronomer, bringing astronomy to normies and nerds, with little time to spare. We’ll start by talking about this month’s big events, then highlight the naked eye planets, and finish up with the lunar phases, so you can plan ahead better than me.

LUNAR CLOSE ENCOUNTERS 

The Moon will be traveling across the sky as normal, passing by some planets at particular times. 

1st - 2nd - Saturn has dipped below Venus in the sunset sky by about 12°, and a very thin crescent Moon joins in on the 1st, within 3° of Venus. Then, on Feb 2nd, the Moon, Venus, and Saturn make a string of objects just after sunset in the SW.

6th - Find the Waxing Gibbous Moon just about 5° above bright Jupiter moving West throughout the night, setting just before 3:30am.

9th - The Moon will start out the night just 2˚ from Mars, moving further away throughout the night, setting around 6am.

Music was produced by Deep Sky Dude and used with permission. 

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