Out & About February 2017

the moon it’s called a bolide. If you are lucky enough to see one of these, then make a wish – and report it using the International Meteor Organisation’s fireball report form at: www.imo.net/observations/ methods/visual-observation/major/report/ If you are an early-riser, or a very late party-goer, there’s an opportunity to locate the planets Jupiter and Saturn in the morning sky this month. Look for the waning gibbous Moon any time after midnight on February 16. The bright ‘star’ to the right of it is Jupiter, the king of the Roman gods, known to the Greeks as Zeus. If you have a good pair of binoculars, or a small

This is called a penumbral lunar eclipse, but isn’t as spectacular as a total lunar eclipse when the Moon is completely in Earth’s shadow. This eclipse starts at 10.34pm on February 10 and finishes at 02.53am on February 11, but it will be at its dimmest at around 45 minutes past midnight. Although there are no major meteor showers in February, if you are out and about on a clear, crisp night keep an eye out for shooting stars.

young women and employed various strategies to do so. He turned himself into a magnificent white bull to abduct Europa, and turned poor Io into a heifer to hide her from his jealous wife, Hera. In other tales, he made love to Leda, wife of the King of Sparta, in the form of a swan, and a young princess called Danaë as a shower of gold. A slim crescent Moon also points the way to Saturn in morning sky at around 6am on February 21. They will be low down, slightly to the East of South, so you will need a clear southern horizon to glimpse them. Saturn will be to the right, and a little below, the Moon. It will be fainter than Jupiter, and look like a slightly golden star.

On February 26, there is an opportunity to spot the planet Uranus.

Although it was only discovered by William Herschel in 1781, it’s bright enough to be seen with the unaided eye in a dark sky, or with a pair of 10x50 binoculars. On February 26, it will be very close to the planet Mars in the evening sky, just below and to the left in the same binocular field of view.

Generally, these are caused by particles no bigger than a grain of sand burning up as they enter the Earth’s atmosphere at an altitude of 70 to 100km. However, larger particles the size of a pea or a pebble will occasionally leave a blazing trail across the sky, lasting a few seconds. If the shooting star is brighter than the planet Venus it’s called a fireball; if it’s brighter than

telescope, see if you can spot Jupiter’s four brightest moons – Io, Europa, Ganymede and Calisto. They were first observed by the Italian astronomer Galileo Galilei around January 1610 and are named after three of Zeus’ paramours, and Ganymede, a beautiful youth who he carried off to be his cup bearer. Zeus had a penchant for seducing beautiful

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