A Bright Comet Flashing By

In February, Venus continues its climb into the western evening sky that it began late last year. By the beginning of February, it sets almost half an hour after the end of dusk, staying visible longer during the next two months until it is visible for more than two hours by the middle of spring. Venus remains a brilliant eveningsky beacon until midyear, after which it begins a rapid descent into evening twilight as it passes between Earth and the sun during August.

Venus is not the only planet visible in our evening sky this month. While Saturn has vanished into the twilight, Jupiter remains visible in our southwestern sky after dusk. It gradually sinks lower to the horizon during February as it and Venus approach each other, with the two worlds having a close conjunction with each other in early March.

Mars, meanwhile, remains high in our western sky during the evening and sets during midmorning. It isn’t as bright as it was late last year when it was closer to Earth, but it is still a rather prominent object cruising through the constellation of Taurus.

Our sole morning-sky planet this month is Mercury. At the beginning of February, our solar system’s innermost world is visible low in the southeast near the beginning of dawn, but during the next one to two weeks, it sinks rapidly toward the horizon and is soon lost in twilight.

The comet mentioned in last month’s column—Comet ZTF— was bright enough to see with ordinary binoculars by the end of December. It passed closest to the sun in mid-January and is nearest Earth—just 26 million miles away—in early February. The comet is near the bright star Capellain the constellation Auriga on the evening of Sunday, February 5. It travels southward, passing slightly east of Mars five nights later and a similar distance east of the Hyades star cluster in Taurus four nights after that.

It may be bright enough to detect with the unaided eye—at least, from dark rural sites—early in the month when nearest Earth (although the full moon on the fifth will make viewing difficult) but will likely fade rapidly as it pulls away from our planet afterward.