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♪

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What's Up for February?

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Use Venus and Mars to find
the Zodiacal Light,

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plus two comets and the
brightest asteroid.

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Hello and welcome. I'm Jane
Houston Jones from NASA's

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Jet Propulsion Laboratory
in Pasadena, California.

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On February first the
crescent moon joins

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the planets Venus, Mars and
Uranus in the southwest sky

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just after sunset.

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If you've been watching
Venus the past few months

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you can't help but notice it's
the brightest object in the sky

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(except for the
moon, of course).

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Through a telescope, you
are in for a real treat.

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As Venus' illuminated
crescent phase will thin,

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its apparent diameter increases.

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And Venus remains the same
brightness all month long.

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Just above Venus is Mars,
posing with Uranus this month.

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Mars appears significantly
brighter than Uranus,

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but you should still be
able to see both in binoculars,

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though a telescope will
reveal more detail.

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Whoosh.

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Meteors are caused
when dust particles

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from comets and asteroids burn
up in Earth's atmosphere.

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February isn't a great
meteor shower month,

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but you might see a different
kind of dust particles

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called the Zodiacal Light.

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The Zodiacal light is
a triangular glow

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caused when sunlight
reflects off dust particles

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in the plane of
our solar system.

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Use Venus and Mars as signposts
to the cone-shaped glow

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on the western horizon at sunset
in late February and March.

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Whoosh.

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Comet 45P, visible after sunset
over the last two months

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through both binoculars
and telescopes

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makes its closest approach
to Earth on February 11,

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when it will be 0.08
Astronomical Units

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(7.4 million miles) from Earth.

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It'll be visible
in the morning sky

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in the constellation Hercules.

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The comet then passes
through the constellations

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Corona Borealis (the
Northern Crown),

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Bootes (the Herdsman),

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Canes Venatici
(Bootes' hunting dogs)

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and Ursa Major.

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Then on to Leo by
the end of February.

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It moves swiftly --
9 degrees each day!

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It will return again in 2022.

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The second of several comets
visible this year through

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binoculars or telescopes,

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Comet 2P Encke,

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returns to our view after a
3.3 year orbit around the sun.

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You can find it in the
constellation Pisces.

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And you should be able to
see it through binoculars

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all month long.

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Finally, the brightest
asteroid, Vesta,

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continues to be visible near
the stars Castor and Pollux

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in Gemini.

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I found it easily a few weeks
ago in my own telescope!

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You can catch up on solar
system missions and

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all of NASA's missions at
www.nasa.gov