{"id":522,"date":"2019-02-14T04:03:28","date_gmt":"2019-02-14T04:03:28","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.lunar.org\/wp\/?p=522"},"modified":"2019-02-14T04:14:54","modified_gmt":"2019-02-14T04:14:54","slug":"hexagon-at-night-quartet-in-the-morning","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.lunar.org\/wp\/?p=522","title":{"rendered":"Hexagon at Night, Quartet in the Morning"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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By David Prosper
NASA JPL<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The stars that make up the\nWinter Hexagon<\/strong> asterism are some of the brightest in the night sky and\nFebruary evenings are a great time to enjoy their sparkly splendor. The Winter\nHexagon is so large in size that the six stars that make up its points are also\nthe brightest members of six different constellations, making the Hexagon a\ngreat starting point for learning the winter sky. Find the Hexagon by looking\nsoutheast after sunset and finding the bright red star that forms the \u201cleft shoulder\u201d\nof the constellation Orion: Betelgeuse<\/strong>. You can think of Betelgeuse as\nthe center of a large irregular clock, with the Winter Hexagon stars as the\nclock\u2019s hour numbers. Move diagonally across Orion to spot its \u201cright foot,\u201d\nthe bright star Rigel.<\/strong> Now move clockwise from Rigel to the brightest\nstar in the night sky: Sirius<\/strong> in Canis Major. Continue ticking along clockwise\nto Procyon<\/strong> in Canis Minor and then towards Pollux, <\/strong>the brighter\nof the Gemini twins. Keep moving around the circuit to find Capella<\/strong> in\nAuriga, and finish at orange Aldebaran<\/strong>, the \u201ceye\u201d of the V-shaped face\nof Taurus the Bull.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

Two naked-eye planets are\nvisible in the evening sky this month. As red Mars<\/strong> moves across Pisces,\nNASA\u2019s InSight Mission is readying its suite of geological instruments designed\nto study the Martian interior. InSight and the rest of humanity\u2019s robotic\nMartian emissaries will soon be joined by the Mars 2020 rover. The SUV-sized\nrobot is slated to launch next year on a mission to study the possibility of\npast life on the red planet. A conjunction between Mars and Uranus <\/strong>on\nFebruary 13 will be a treat for telescopic observers. Mars will pass a little\nover a degree away from Uranus\nand larger magnifications will allow comparisons between the small red disc of\ndusty Mars with the smaller and much more distant blue-green disc of ice giant\nUranus. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Speedy Mercury<\/strong> has\na good showing this month and makes its highest appearance in the evening on\nFebruary 27; spot it above the western horizon at sunset. An unobstructed\nwestern view and binoculars will greatly help in catching Mercury against the\nglow of evening twilight.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The morning planets put on quite a show in February. Look for the bright planets Venus<\/strong>, Jupiter<\/strong>, and Saturn <\/strong>above the eastern horizon all month, at times forming a neat lineup. A crescent Moon<\/strong> makes a stunning addition on the mornings of February 1-2, and again on the 28th. Watch over the course of the month as Venus travels from its position above Jupiter to below dimmer Saturn. Venus and Saturn will be in close conjunction on the 18th<\/sup>; see if you can fit both planets into the same telescopic field of view.  A telescope reveals the brilliant thin crescent phase of Venus waxing into a wide gibbous phase as the planet passes around the other side of our Sun. The Night Sky Network has a simple activity that helps explain the nature of both Venus and Mercury\u2019s phases at bit.ly\/venusphases<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

You can catch up on all\nof NASA\u2019s current and future missions at nasa.gov<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The stars of the Winter Hexagon.Image created with help from Stellarium<\/em>I<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

This\narticle is distributed by NASA Night Sky Network <\/strong>\n\nThe Night Sky Network program supports astronomy clubs\nacross the USA dedicated to astronomy outreach. Visit nightsky.jpl.nasa.org<\/a> to find local clubs, events, and more!\n\n\n\n<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By David Prosper NASA JPL The stars that make up the Winter Hexagon asterism are some of the brightest in the night sky and February evenings are a great time to enjoy their sparkly splendor. The Winter Hexagon is so large in size that the six stars that make up its points are also the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-522","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-nasa-space-place"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.lunar.org\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/522","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.lunar.org\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.lunar.org\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.lunar.org\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.lunar.org\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=522"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"http:\/\/www.lunar.org\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/522\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":532,"href":"http:\/\/www.lunar.org\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/522\/revisions\/532"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.lunar.org\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=522"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.lunar.org\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=522"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.lunar.org\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=522"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}