Looking UP

The Evening Sky

In the western sky on Feb 22nd, Venus is low on the horizon with Jupiter about 30º up to the left of it. Mars is high in the night sky near the star cluster of the Pleiades. For the whole month of February, Venus will be climbing in the western sky while Jupiter will be descending. They will be closing in on each other through Feb 28th when they will be about 1° apart in the west. A conjunction between Jupiter and Venus happens almost yearly. But one this close will not happen again until 2027. They will be somewhat close in August 2025 but not this close. On March, first, Jupiter and then Venus will be side by side about 12° above the horizon at 7pm.

In the eastern sky, it is mostly clear of planets. A good time for observing other favorite heavenly objects like the galaxies in the constellation of Virgo.

I’ve always called Virgo the lazy princess because she lies on her back with her head by the tail of her pet lion, Leo, tossing her jewels (known as the Virgo cluster of Galaxies) in the night sky all the way up to the tail of the Great Bear.

By Greg Smith

The Morning Sky

A cloudless eastern horizon sky required Saturn reappears in the morning sky March 19th near a crescent moon. Saturn will rise higher and earlier every day because it has made it around the far side of the Sun.

Night Sky Spectacle

A cloud-free evening is a must.

If you really want to do some deep diving in the night sky (from a dark area not light polluted), I suggest you go dive for some of Virgo’s jewels. There are quite a number of galaxies in this area of the night sky. A few can be seen with a good pair of binoculars. Use a star chart to locate them. If not caring about which ones you look at, just slowly pan that area of the sky and see how many of them you can find. •••

Longview resident Greg Smith is past president of Friends of Galileo. Meet him and other club members at monthly meetings in Longview. For more info about FOG, visit friendsofgalileo.com.

Moon Phases:

Full: Wed., Feb. 15th

3rd Quarter: Feb. 23rd

New: Mar. 2nd

1st Quarter: Mar. 10th

End of twilight - when the stars start to come out:

Wed., Feb. 16th, 6:09pm

Wed., Feb. 22nd, 6:18pm

Tues., Feb. 28th, 6:26pm

Wed., Mar. 8th, 6:37pm DST

Sun., Mar, 12th, 7:02pm

Wed., Mar. 15th, 7:46pm

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Low-impact

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