hello everyone!
If you're tired of waking up in the dark, we have some very good news. The sun started rising earlier last Sunday, and it looks like it will continue to rise earlier over the next few months.
This month you will get 10 minutes of morning sunlight and 8 minutes of evening sunlight. The days are definitely getting longer. But it doesn't affect the view of the sky at all.
This month the Moon will visit every visible planet and there will be some great conjunctions. The first photo is taken before sunrise this morning as the waning crescent moon approaches Venus and Mars. Mercury is still slightly above the horizon, but you probably won't be able to see it. I hope it's sunny this morning.
Another planetary moon conjunction will occur this week. The new moon will be on Saturday morning, and by Sunday a very thin crescent will be visible near the western horizon in the evening sky.
Watch the amazing sunset. As the sky begins to darken, you may be able to see the moon to your left due west. A very bright star can be seen below. That's not a star, it's Saturn. We are circling from Saturn to the opposite side of the Sun and will disappear from the evening sky by the end of this month.
There's no moon in the evening sky, so it's the perfect time to go galaxy hunting. First, we will face due south. Look just above the horizon, slightly to your left. If there are no clouds to the south, you may see blurred specks of light against a dark background.
If you find it, you've found the Large Magellanic Cloud, a satellite galaxy of the Milky Way. LMC (its shortened name) is difficult to see from Guam because it is not far from the southern horizon and there are usually clouds to the south. Let's go out tonight and see if we can find it.
If you can't find the Large Magellanic Cloud, there's another galaxy that's easy to find. One hour after sunset, look straight overhead. If you look at the sky for a long time on a dark, clear night in February, you'll notice that there is an arching band of clouds from northwest to southeast, seemingly unaffected by the wind. That's because that particular cloudy ribbon is far beyond the reach of Earth's winds, and clouds aren't made of water, they're made of stars. You have just found your galactic home, the Milky Way.
Now, if you face north and measure three fist widths above and three fist widths to the left, you should see a bright zigzag star. That is Queen Cassiopeia. A large square of stars will appear near the northwest horizon. That is the great plaza of Pegasus.
An elongated triangle of stars hangs from the upper right star of Pegasus toward the constellation Cassiopeia. That's Princess Andromeda. Using the large zigzag in the constellation Cassiopeia as a guide, measure a fist-width 1.5 meters toward Andromeda and you should see a fuzzy smear that looks like an out-of-focus star.
It is a large galaxy located in Andromeda, our galaxy's closest large neighbor. Andromeda is clearly visible with binoculars. You may be able to spot the Large Magellanic Cloud using binoculars.
Find a galaxy in your personal sky tonight and expand your universe!
Pam Eastrick has been the coordinator of the former University of Guam Planetarium since the early 1990s. She has been writing this weekly astronomy column since 2003. Please send any questions or comments to life@guampdn.com. I will forward it to you.
