1 Feb     The waxing crescent moon is high in the west at dusk with Mars and Venus lined up to the lower right.

4 Feb     The Pleiades Cluster is 4 finger-widths above the first-quarter moon at sunset, and Aldebaran is 1 fist-width to the moon’s left.

5 Feb     Magnitude 0.85 Aldebaran is 1 finger-width to the moon’s right this evening.

6 Feb     At dusk, the waxing gibbous moon lies between Aldebaran, 1½ fist-widths to the upper right; magnitude 0.5 Betelgeuse, 1 fist-width below or to the lower right; magnitude 1.2 Pollux, nearly 3 fist-widths to the left or lower left; and magnitude 0.2 Capella, nearly 3 fist-widths to the upper left. The moon is at perigee, 369,000 kilometers away.

8 Feb     High in the east at dusk, magnitude 1.46 Procyon is 1 fist-width to the moon’s lower right. Magnitude 1.2 Pollux is the same distance to the upper left.

10 Feb    The full moon rises at sunset, followed a few minutes later by magnitude 1.4 Regulus. Late tonight, Regulus is 2 finger-widths to the moon’s lower left. After growing closer, they are separated by less than 1 finger-width before dawn tomorrow.

11 Feb    A penumbral eclipse of the moon occurs shortly after midnight Universal Time. None of the moon is in complete shadow, and only the earth’s outer shadow covers the moon, so it’s not as dramatic as a total or even partial lunar eclipse.

15 Feb    Before dawn, magnitude -2.2 Jupiter is 1 finger-width to the moon’s lower left, and magnitude 0.98 Spica is 2 finger-widths below Jupiter. Spica is the brightest star in the constellation, Virgo, the Virgin. How many other stars of Virgo can you spot? Several third-magnitude stars surround the moon: magnitude 3.37 zeta Virginis is 3 finger-widths to the upper left, magnitude 3.41 delta Virginis is 1 fist-width to the upper right, and magnitude 3.45 Porrima is 1 fist-width to the right.

16 Feb    The moon is nearly 1 fist-width to Jupiter’s left.

18 Feb    The last-quarter moon lies above the head of Scorpius, the Scorpion. The moon is at apogee, 404,000 kilometers away.

19 Feb    Low in the southeast before first light, the waning crescent moon is less than 1 fist-width to the upper left of magnitude 0.96 Antares. Magnitude 0.6 Saturn is less than 2 fist-widths to the moon’s lower left.

20 Feb    Saturn is less than 3 finger-widths to the moon’s lower left low in the east before dawn.

21 Feb    Saturn is 3 finger-widths to the right of the thin crescent moon low in the southeast at dawn.

26 Feb    An annular solar eclipse is visible only in the South Pacific Ocean, southern South America, the South Atlantic Ocean and parts of Africa.

28 Feb    At dusk, magnitude -0.46 Venus is 1 fist-width to the moon’s upper right, and magnitude 1.3 Mars is slightly more than 1 fist-width above the moon.