NOTE: Times given in the scripts are all local Schenectady, New York time.

Friday, February 1st to Sunday, February 3rd. Written by George Mileski

A comet may appear anywhere in the sky at any time, looking like a fuzzy star, perhaps even with a tail. These are the nomads of our solar system. Traveling in highly ellipical orbits, these frozen chunks of dirty ice arrive from beyond the orbit of Neptune. This dirty ice is composed of water, ammonia, methane, carbon dioxide and other substances. As the comet goes past our sun, the surface of the comet goes from a solid to a vapor, and the gases and dust released on its surface create the comets coma or head. Radiation pressure from the sun and the solar wind combine to press against the coma's gas and dust to form the comet's tail. The comet Hyakutake in 1996 had an exceptionally long tail.

About a dozen or so comets are discovered each year, of this about half are found by amateur astronomers. Some comets are big enough to create two tails, an ion tail and a dust tail. Comet Hale-Bopp in 1997 was one of these. It was along with comet Hyakutake in 1996 and Hale-Bopp in 1997 a spectacular sight to see. You might see one great comet once in 10 years, we were fortunate to see two of them 2 years in a row and that's pretty amazing. At the present time we seem to be shy on comets. The sky after twilight has three planets to look at and a few other things too. In the west we have the red planet Mars, it will set shortly after 10:00 PM, it stands about 30 degrees from the western horizon. Its in the constellation Pisces. Jupiter and Saturn are high overhead and are about 29 degrees apart. Jupiter is in the constellation Gemini and Saturn is in Taurus the bull. When you see Leo the lion coming over the eastern horizon you can be sure that's a sign of spring.

Monday, February 4th. Written by Joseph Slomka.

The Sun sets tonight at 5:12 PM, with the night falling at 6:49. Dawn breaks at 5:30 tomorrow morning, and ends with sunrise at 7:05 AM.

At Sunset, three planets occupy our attention. Mars still glows in the southwest. At first magnitude, it is easy to spot, but too small for observation by telescope or binoculars. Jupiter and Saturn occupy the East. Both are fairly bright, but it is better to wait until night-fall, when they are higher. Jupiter appears in the constellation Gemini, around Castor's ankle. If you have a telescope, now is a good time to view Jupiter. Recent observations show changes to its atmosphere. Can you spot them? Saturn remains directly above the Bull's Eye, the star Aldebaran, in the constellation Taurus. Saturn's image very rarely changes; its rings swing from near invisible to facing us - the position they now display.

The planet Mercury begins a springtime showing this week. By sunrise, the planet is about ten degrees above the horizon. It will not be easy to see Mercury, since any obstruction may block the eastern horizon. As the month progresses, the chances of observing this elusive planet improve.

The largest and easiest identified constellation, the giant warrior Orion, is already well risen by nightfall. Naked eye observation is rewarded by glorious sight of the three belt stars, with the fuzzy sword directly below. Binocular views of that area show it as a swirling mass of clouds, which astronomers now know to be the birthplace new stars.

Immediately beneath Orion's feet is seen the constellation Lepus, the Hare. The origin and placement of this constellation is a bit of a mystery. Some experts claim that Orion is hunting it because of the great damage rabbits do to farmer's crops. Other scholars claim that both Orion and Lepus are fleeing foes half the sky away. In the summer, Orion sets as his adversary, Scorpius rises. Likewise, Lepus ducks below the horizon as Aquila, the Eagle, appears. Whichever legend is true, the constellation is worth observing, especially for the star cluster, M79, beneath it.

Tuesday, February 5th. Written by Jonathan Cassidy.

The brightest stars of the year are seen in the winter. The winter ring of stars now circling Jupiter include six of the 17 brightest stars found at this latitude in any season. The brightest star in the winter sky is Sirius, in Canis Major. Sirius is bright because it is rather close, 8.6 light years (ly) away. If all the stars in the night sky were the same distance, absolute magnitude measurements use 10 parsecs or about 32.6 ly, then we would see that Sirius is not so bright.

Several of other stars in the constellation Sirius Major are small to our eyes, but if they were all put at the same distance the small ones would seem mighty bright. Some of these visually small stars put out 50,000 times the brightness of our own Sun. It is only due to their great distance that the seem so dim.

Thus the stars that make up a constellation are in a group only by chance. Most are not associated, with some being close and some being very far away. The constellation patterns have been made up over many millennia and hold together because the stars seem to move little in relation to each other time that seems to us to be very long.

Wednesday, February 6th. Written by Ray Bogucki.

Early on Friday morning, both Mercury and Saturn, the innermost and outermost of the five bright planets, will stand stationary against the background of "fixed" stars. This event is not especially notable except for its unusual coincidence. The earliest astronomers were well aware of these five bright, star-like objects whose restless movements among the stars provided one of the greatest puzzles in astronomy for over a thousand years. The Greek word "planet" means "wanderer", but there are times when, for a short period, these wanderers stop and stand motionless against the starry background. The modern explanation of planetary motion was proposed by the Polish astronomer, Nicholas Copernicus when, shortly before his death in 1543, he published his famous treatise on the revolution of the planets. This book upset the common belief that the Earth was stationary and all the celestial objects revolved around the Earth. In one inspired stroke he explained why the two inner planets, Mercury and Venus, appear to swing west and then east of the Sun, becoming alternately morning and evening stars. His model also explains why the three bright outer planets normally move slowly through the stars in an easterly direction along the ecliptic, but once each Earth-year, they stop, reverse their direction in a retrograde motion as the Earth passes between them and the Sun, then become stationary again before resuming their normal easterly paths.

With its short, 88-day orbital period, Mercury overtakes and passes the Earth several times each Earth-year, like a faster race car on an inside track. As Mercury, the evening star swings back toward the Sun, it reaches a point in its orbit where it is approaching directly toward the Earth. At this point it will appear to be stationary. After passing between the Earth and the Sun, it reaches a point in its orbit as a morning star, when it is receding directly away from the Earth, again making it appear stationary.

Because Saturn's orbit is much larger than Earth's, Saturn's orbital motion can never carry it directly towards or away from the Earth, but Earth, now being the faster planet on the inside track, will move directly toward or away from Saturn once each Earth-year. The reason for Friday's coincidence is that just at the moment Mercury is receding directly away from us, we are moving directly away from Saturn, so that both planets appear motionless. And, of course, to observers on both Mercury and Saturn, the Earth would appear stationary for a short period on Friday.

Thursday, February 7th. Written by Peter Jennes.

Sunset for tonight, Thursday, February 7th was at 5:17. The moon is about one week away from new and will not interfere with deep sky observing. As the sky gets dark, first magnitude Mars will be glowing somewhat dimly against the fading twilight 30 degrees above the southwestern horizon. Once the sky is completely dark, deep-sky objects will be ready for observing.

Around 9 PM, Orion will be high in the south. The brightest stars of Orion are Betelgeuse and Rigel. Rigel marks the upper left corner of Orion while Betelgeuse marks the lower right corner of this celestial giant. If you draw a line from Rigel through Betelgeuse, it will point to the constellation Gemini.

The brightest stars of Gemini are Castor and Pollux. About half way between the upper left of Orion and the twin stars of Gemini, lies an open star cluster, M-35. This cluster is readily visible in binoculars and contains about 200 stars. Look about one hand width above the line joining the stars of Orion and Gemini. There you will find fifth magnitude M-35 occupying an area of sky about the size of the full moon.

If you extend a line through Castor and Pollux off to the east, you will cross a region of the sky that has few bright stars. About three hand widths along this line and one hand width above it, binocular observers should be able to find another open cluster. This cluster is called the Beehive Cluster or M-44. Under a dark sky, the Beehive is just visible to the unaided eye as a misty patch of light. Because M-44 is only 525 light years away, the Beehive looks quite large for an open cluster. In a small telescope, you can easily see 60 stars spanning 1.5 degrees of sky.

Friday, February 8th to Sunday, February 10th. Written by George Mileski

When you step outside tonight take a look at the bright stars of winter. One thing I like, assuming its a crystal clear night is to look at the winter hexagon. Its a circle of 7 bright stars. The stars are Aldebaren, Capella, Castor, Pollux, Procyon, Sirius and Rigel. This year joining in and around the group is Jupiter and Saturn. Tracing out the circle you will find it is a little bit lopsided. Of the six stars, Sirius is the brightest. It is bright because it is less than 9 light years away from earth. It is also the brightest star in the sky. It has an apparent magnitude of -1.4. The surface temperature of Sirius is about 10,000 degrees centigrade compared to the sun's temperature of 6,000. Sirius is in the Constellation Orion.

The star Capella is in the Constellation Auriga, the Charioteer. The figure in the sky does not look like what its suppose to represent, the Charioteer. It looks like a pentagon instead. Capella is a yellow star and is the most northerly of the first-magnitude stars. It is actually a binary or double star system. Capella means "she-goat" and the three stars in a triangle just to the southwest are known as the kids. Capella is about 45 light years away. Using a telescope there are three open star clusters M-36, M-37, and M-38. Procyon in Canis Major, also called "the small dog" is a double star, its partner is an 11th magnitude white dwarf 4 arc-seconds away. Northwest of Procyon is Gomeisa the other bright star in the constellation. If you get up about 30 minutes before sunrise on Sunday, you should be able to see the planet Mercury and below it will be the old crescent moon, you will need binoculars.

Monday, February 11th. Written by Joseph Slomka.

The Sun sets tonight at 5:22, while night falls at 6:57 PM. The Moon is at the "new" phase tonight, and is not seen at all. Dawn breaks at 5:22 AM and ends with sunrise at 6:57.

As the sky darkens, three planets are visible. Mars is found glowing dimly in the southwest. Jupiter and Saturn are brighter in southeastern skies. Jupiter is parked in Gemini's ankle, while creamy white Saturn shines above the red star Aldebaran in Taurus.

Mercury is the only planet found in dawn skies. By sunrise, it is about eleven and a half degrees above the horizon, so a flat, eastern, horizon is necessary to find this elusive planet.

High in the eastern sky about 9:00 PM are the Pleiades. This unique group of stars is a distinctive mini-dipper shape. While most people see six or seven stars, eleven can be seen under excellent conditions. This group contains about 250 members. The Japanese call it Subaru, and made it the corporate symbol of an automobile company. The Pleiades average second magnitude in brightness, and are best enjoyed in binoculars or low power telescope, since the group is about one degree in size. They are a true group, traveling together in the general direction of Orion. The Pleiades are about 410 light years away, and are relatively young. The brightest, is about ten times larger than our Sun, but 1000 times brighter. There is some evidence that Alcyone is the "lost Pleiad" since it has periodically brightened and dimmed.

AS the sky dims, a most unusual sight confronts the observer. As we know, the entire sky seems to revolve about the North Star, an illusion caused by the Earth's rotation. As a result, some constellations are setting while others are rising. Constellations are formed when people found familiar patterns of stars. "The Big Dipper," forms the brightest portion of Ursa Major, the Large Bear. Tonight, the dipper's pot rises, on its handle! It is quite a sight to see a pot standing upright on its handle.

Tuesday, February 12th. Written by Jonathan Cassidy.

Tonight we see a line up of planets that show us where our solar system lies. Look out this week and see setting Mars in the west, up from Mars see Saturn still lingering near Aldebaran, last see bright Jupiter. The line these planets make up is the ecliptic, the path our Sun follows. This is the plane of our solar system.

Our solar system resides in the Milky Way Glx. We are without the Moon tonight as it is new. Thus, from a dark sky place we can see the faint hazy plane of the Northern Milky Way Glx. Notice that the plane of the Milky Way and the plane of the solar system do not match.

We can grasp from looking out at these two planes that we are traveling in two different circles. One the circle of our orbit around the Sun in the plane of our solar system. The other our trip, with all our solar system neighbors, around the center of our galaxy along the plane of the Milky Way.

In addition to these two planes our solar system is traveling through the Milky Way from the top to the bottom of a spiral arm. With all this you can expect that our view of the night sky will change and indeed it does continually, however the distances are so vast that the change is very slow in human time.

Wednesday, February 13th. Written by Ray Bogucki.

Yesterday marked a significant anniversary in our study of the solar system. 41 years ago, less than 3-1/2 years after they opened the Space Age with Sputnik I, the Soviets began the age of interplanetary exploration by launching the space-craft Venera I, aimed at Venus. Radio contact was lost early in the mission, but the following year, in 1962, the U.S. successfully launched Mariner 2, which flew past Venus at a distance of only 20,000 miles. Along the way it transmitted information about the solar wind, interplanetary dust, high energy, charged particles from solar flares and cosmic rays from outside the solar system.

From these simple beginnings, the past four decades have seen the development of elegant instruments and ingenious interplanetary navigational techniques that are simply mind-bending. We can here note only a few of the hundreds of missions that have been launched. The Hubble Space Telescope and the Chandra gamma-ray laboratory, both orbiting the Earth above its troublesome atmosphere, have revolutionized our understanding of the cosmos with their incredibly sharply defined images. Astronauts have walked on the Moon and brought back samples of its surface material. Unmanned probes have landed on, and returned information from; Mars, Venus, Jupiter and even the asteroid, Eros.

Human accomplishments must be measured against the background of their times, and when, in 1610, Galileo turned his primitive telescope to Jupiter and became the first person to see the four little points of light moving around it, his conclusion that they were moons orbiting Jupiter was as great a leap in understanding as any that have been made since. Still, in his wildest dreams, Galileo could not have imagined that less than 400 years later, a spacecraft bearing his name would send faint radio signals back to Earth across a half-billion miles to be resolved by computers into exquisitely detailed images of those same four moons, showing, for example, volcanoes erupting on Io (EYE-oh) and the cracked, icy surface of Europa.

Thursday, February 14th. Written by Peter Jennes.

About the time the Moon sets, Orion will be at its highest in the south. In Greek mythology, the Moon and Orion were linked together. The ancient Greeks embodied the goddess Artemis in the Moon. This prominent place was appropriate since Artemis was the twin sister of Apollo the Sun god. When Artemis was young, her father, the chief god Zeus, asked Artemis what gifts she would like. One of Artemisí requests was for a bow and arrow. This wish was granted and as Artemis grew up, she became a huntress of unequaled skill.

According to legend, Orion was also a great and handsome hunter. This appealed to Artemis and enraged her brother Apollo who became determined to end to their love. Towards that end, Apollo sent an enormous scorpion to attack Orion. Orion fought valiantly but was no match for the enchanted scorpion. Orion did the only thing he could do and escaped by swimming out to sea. Just after Orion made his escape, Artemis came upon her brother who was watching Orion swim out to sea.

Apollo convinced his sister that the distant swimmer was a stranger who had insulted one of Artemis' priestesses. This angered Artemis and she took aim with her bow and shot the figure dead. Realizing the dreadful mistake she made, Artemis elevated Orion to the heavens where she could gaze upon him as she drove her Moon chariot across the sky. Then, to remind all mortals of her brotherís jealousy, she flung the scorpion onto the opposite side of the sky. From this location, Scorpius the scorpion might pursue Orion, but would never harm Orion again.

The stars marking the four corners of Orion's familiar hourglass shape are Rigel at the lower right, Belatrix at the upper right, Betelgeuse at the upper left, and Saiph at the lower left corner. Slicing through the middle of the hourglass are three relatively bright stars that form Orion's belt. Mintaka is the upper right star of the belt, Alnilam is the center star, and Alnitak on the lower left belt star. If the sky is dark and clear, you may notice a fuzzy patch just below Alnitak. Even simple binoculars will reveal this patch to be the stellar nursery of the Great Orion Nebula.

Friday, February 15th to Sunday, February 17th. Written by George Mileski

When you step outside on a clear winter night, the sky is ablaze with many bright stars and several planets. Its easy to overlook one of the winter sky's lovelier sights. You might even notice it as a hazy patch among the stars. What your looking at is the beehive cluster. Its in the Constellation Cancer. It is nothing less than a cluster of hundreds of stars, whose light which covers an area twice that of a full moon. Its over 500 light years away. Its a pretty sight to look at with binoculars or a Rich-Field telescope. The beehive is an open star cluster, another name for it is Praesepe. It was born from a single cloud of interstellar gas and dust, and the stars in it are bound together by gravity.

Ultimately clusters of this sort dissolve and the member stars drift away to pursue their own orbits around the center of the Milky Way Galaxy. The beehive lies nearly at the center of Cancer, one of the Constellations of the zodiac. Cancer represents a crab, that was supposedly raised into the heavens after being squashed by Hercules during a battle. The Tropic of Cancer, the latitude where the sun appears directly overhead on the summer solstice is named for this Constellation. Several thousand years ago when the ancients coined the name, the sun resided in Cancer on the first day of summer. Cancer is one constellation that just doesn't jump out at you, its stars are quite dim and hard to see. One way I find it is to locate Regulus, in Leo the Lion and Pollux, in Gemini, and in the distance between the two you will find Cancer. Cancer appears in the sky as an upside down Y. The beehive cluster lies about in the middle of the Y of the Constellation.

On Saturday the 16th, the waxing crescent moon will be 5 degrees at the lower left of Mars. Venus is finally visible, setting in the west. You should be able to see it, 15 minutes after the sun sets. You can't wait to long because Venus sets around 6:00.

Monday, February 18th. Written by Joseph Slomka.

Tuesday, February 19th. Written by Jonathan Cassid y.

WARNING! WARNING! There is, so it seems an imminent crash!!!!!

Our Moon is taking dead aim at Saturn!!!

On Tuesday night the Moon will slide just below the Pleiades, a small prominent cluster stars just past the zenith of the sky. This night watch as the Moon draws closer and closer to the planet Saturn.

Watch on Wednesday night, tomorrow, as the Moon slides in front of Saturn. This is called an occultation, the hiding of one body by another. In ancient days there was great puzzlement about occultation, one common belief held that all celestial objects occupied one plane of a dome over the Earth. But occultation was observed to happen back then as it will tomorrow and when it did it caused difficulties for the concept of astronomy of the time.

We know that space is three dimensional, but back 2,000 + years ago there was no way to know that EXCEPT that on occasion one body would seem to bump into another and yet neither was not disturbed after the event.

Watch the Moon during early and late crescent stages, when it is not so bright. This is seen in shortly after sunset or before sunrise. See for yourself how it comes close to or occults many objects in the night sky.

Wednesday, February 20th. Written by Michael Molitor.

The evening of Wednesday February 20, the Moon will occult the planet Saturn. Occult means that the Moon will move in front of the planet Saturn. This situation is somewhat like an eclipse of the Sun, where the Moon moves in front of the Sun. Saturn is bright, so even if it is hazy or if there are thin clouds, the occultation should still be visible. The Moon is slightly more than half illuminated, and the dark half, or dark limb of the Moon, will be the edge that will be the first to cover Saturn. You can use your eyes, or you can use binoculars, or you can use a telescope. It should be interesting to watch any way you choose.

Start by getting out ten or fifteen minutes early and locating the Moon and the bright "star" near it. That "star" will be the planet Saturn. If using only your eyes, or binoculars, the "star" (Saturn) will slowly grow dimmer over a couple of minutes, before disappearing. If using a telescope, you should be able to see that Saturn is not a star, but a tiny distinct disk, with a ring around it. Beginning at 7:27 pm or so, in Albany, you will be able to see the moon gradually cover Saturn and its rings, over a two minute period.

The planet will reappear on the other edge of the Moon (the bright limb) about 70 minutes later. The reappearance will be much harder to view because it is difficult to anticipate precisely when and where Saturn will reappear. A good Moon map, and an accurate clock will help. Also, Saturn will be appearing on the bright limb, so it is masked by the brightness of the Moon itself. It will not be easy, but it may be possible to observe Saturn’s reappearance using binoculars, or by eye. Using a small telescope will provide a better chance. The dividing line between dark and light halves of the Moon is known as the Lunar terminator. Using the terminator as the 12-o'clock to 6-o'clock line, Saturn should reappear near the 2-o'clock position, around 8:38pm.

This event is a good way to get a true feel for how fast the Moon is moving in orbit around the Earth. Normally, one doesn't perceive that the Moon is moving at all. But, it is. The occultation of Saturn is a graphic demonstration of that fact. So, if it is clear and you can see the Moon, this is a fun event to observe.

Thursday, February 21st. Written by Peter Jennes.

Friday, February 22nd to Sunday, February 24th. Written by George Mileski

Monday, February 25th. Written by Joseph Slomka.

The Sun sets at 5:40, with night falling at 7:14 PM. Dawn breaks at 5:02 tomorrow morning, with sunrise taking place at 6:36.

The evening sky changed little in the last month. Mars is still in the southwest, while Jupiter and Saturn ride high in the southeast. Jupiter is still the brightest planet, a binocular object in Gemini. Saturn keeps station above the red star Aldebaran in Taurus, though telescopes are required to see its rings.

Adventurous souls can rise before the Sun and try to spot difficult planet Mercury in the southeast. It already reached maximum elevation last week and is on its way down, but a clear horizon and binoculars could provide rewarding views.

If you have a clear southwestern horizon, use your binoculars to spot a comet. It is about eleven degrees above the horizon in the southwest, below Mars. Try looking for it between sunset and nightfall. At the beginning of the month, a new comet was spotted. Kaoru Ikeya in Japan and Daqing Zhang in China saw the same object at the same time. It is hoped that comet Ikeya-Zhang may become a beautiful spring comet. Already it is slightly brighter than first estimates. The comet may become difficult in March evening skies, but better after perihelion in April when it returns to visibility. If the name Ikeya sounds familiar, he is a famous comet hunter; his most famous comet was visible to the naked eye in 1965.

Three years ago this Skywatch Line was buzzing with news of comet Hale-Bopp. Comets are, "dirty snowballs." They are considered remnants of solar system formation, basically loosely knit mounds of rock and snow. As the comet approaches the Sun, the ices sublimate and form a tail of ice crystals and gas, which the Sun illuminates. The comet grows brighter as it nears the Sun and the tail grows longer. The Solar Wind, particles that the Sun spews out, pushes the tail away from the Sun.

Tuesday, February 26th. Written by Jonathan Cassidy.

Full moon tonight. Not much to see in the sky. The extra light also makes it difficult to see anything but the Moon and the very brightest objects. Notice tonight far to the right of the Moon the planets Jupiter, nearest, and Saturn, near the bright star Aldebaran. You will also see Betelgeuse, south of Jupiter, and Sirius, south of Betelgeuse.

Very near the Moon, just to the right is a lone star. This is Regulus in the constellation Leo the Lion. When the Moon is not in this area Leo can be found by noting the asterism of a backward question mark. This defines the lion's head, mane and chest with the biright star Regulus holding the position of the lion's heart.

The time of the full Moon is a good time for the beginning astronomer to note the position and alignment of key stars as they are the only ones that can be seen other than the Moon. You will not be distracted by thousands of stars. No matter where you live, city or country, you will see the Moon and only the few bright key star that help us to find our way around the sky. Note these stars and during the next new Moon try to find again the brightest ones that were visible when the Moon was full.

Find Regulus tonight near the full Moon and try again in a week to see the rest of the lion.

Wednesday, February 27th. Written by Ray Bogucki.

Thursday, February 28th. Written by Peter Jennes.

Around 9 PM, the familiar shape of Orion will be high in the south. The brightest stars of Orion are Betelgeuse and Rigel. These two stars mark the upper left and lower right corner of Orion's hourglass shape. If you draw a line from the lower right through the three belt stars and then through the upper left star, the line formed will point to the constellation Gemini.

The two brightest stars of Gemini are Castor and Pollux. About half way between the upper left star of Orion and the twin stars of Gemini you can easily spot the brilliant light of Jupiter. To the west of Jupiter lies a small curve of third magnitude stars that marks the foot of Castor. At the end of this curve, binoculars reveal an open cluster of stars known as M-35. This cluster contains about 100 stars that occupy an area of the sky about the size of the full moon. The combined light from all the stars in this cluster is the same as that of a single, fifth magnitude star.

Although M-35 is one of the most well known open clusters in this region of the sky, this beautiful cluster has several equally impressive neighbors worth looking for. NGC 2158 appears to be a small cluster adjacent to M-35. In reality, NGC 2158 lies about 13,000 light years away compared to 2,000 light years for M-35. At that distance, NGC 2158 is one of the most distant open clusters visible in a small telescope. The light of NGC 2158 is equivalent to a ninth magnitude star spread out over a circle five arc-minutes in diameter.

Further south of NGC 2158 lies IC 2157 and NGC 2129. IC 2157 is a faint ninth magnitude cluster of fifteen stars inside an eight arc-minute diameter circle. IC 2157 is only one degree away from M-35 but may be hard to spot from suburban locations. Moving further south, NGC 2157 lies two degrees away from M-35. At seventh magnitude and a diameter of seven arc-minutes, NGC 2129 is just visible in binoculars. Telescopes show two eighth magnitude stars with fifteen dimmer stars clustered around the brighter pair.