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On February 1, the crescent Moon,
Mars and Venus will form a line in
the South West sky after sunset.
Venus, named after the Roman goddess of
beauty and love, is the brightest of the planets
and the third brightest natural object in the
night sky after the Sun and Moon.
Venus the goddess was married to the god
Vulcan, but it was not a happy marriage and
she had numerous lovers, including Mars
the god of war.
Cupid, the mischievous winged god of love,
was the son of Venus and Mars and had the
ability to make people fall in love by shooting
them with his arrows.
In reality, the surface of the planet Venus is
anything but beautiful.
Although it’s nearly as large as Earth, it’s thick
atmosphere is more than 96 per cent carbon
dioxide, which traps the heat and makes its
surface the hottest of any planet in the solar
system.
The pressure of Venus’ atmosphere is equal
to the pressure 1,000 metres under Earth’s
oceans, and the whole planet is covered by
clouds of sulphuric acid.
The few robotic landers that have touched
down on Venus have lasted fewer than two
hours in its hostile embrace.
On the evening of February 5, the
waxing gibbous Moon is about
halfway between the striking
constellation of Orion the hunter,
and the seven sisters, or Pleiades,
star cluster.
The Pleiades can be found by following the line
of Orion’s belt through the Moon and about half
the distance again on the other side.
Six (or more) stars may be visible to the
unaided eye as a fuzzy patch in the sky, but
are actually part of a cluster of about 1,000
young stars that formed from a massive cloud
of gas (and little dust) around 100m years ago.
In legend, the Pleiades were the daughters of
the Titan, Atlas, who was condemned to hold
up the sky on his shoulders.
They, and their mother Pleione, were
devastated by their father’s fate, but one day
the mighty hunter Orion met them and was so
captivated by the lovely group that he pursued
them everywhere, with amorous intent.
To save them from Orion’s unwanted
attentions, the god Zeus turned them into
a flock of doves and placed them in the sky
where Orion still admires them, in vain.
The Moon is full on February 10.
Various Native American Indian tribes have
named the full Moon in February the Full Snow
Moon, the Hunger Moon – or the Shoulder to
Shoulder Around the Fire Moon.
If you get the chance to watch the moon rising
at about 5pm, see how large it appears.
The moon on the horizon often seems to be
much bigger than when it is high in the sky, but
this is an illusion.
Because the moon near the horizon is
flattened by the distortion of our atmosphere
it’s actually smaller than when it’s high up in
the sky.
But there’s still nothing as romantic as
watching the soft golden glow of the rising
moon over the landscape.
This month’s full Moon is also slightly unusual
as it will look a little bit darker than normal.
This is because as the Earth passes
between the Sun and the Moon, it blots out
part of the Sun’s light, causing a partial
shadow on the Moon.
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