One of the jewels of the winter sky will easily be observable: the Great Nebula in Orion.
This month, 250 years ago, French astronomer Charles Messier submitted the first draft catalog that earned him lasting fame. The catalog listed some of the sky's showpiece objects such as the Andromeda Galaxy, the Pleiades star cluster, and of course, the Great Nebula in Orion.
Top 4 Space Events to Watch Out For This Month
The Great Nebula in Orion
At a distance of 1,340 lightyears, the Great Nebula in Orion or M42 is the closest star-forming region to Earth. In the heart of M42 lies a young cluster of four hefty stars known as Trapezium, which is estimated to be 300,000 years old, with members that blow away excess material to emerge from their cocoons.
Ultraviolet radiation emitted by the cluster of stars illuminates the nebula due to the ionization of the surrounding interstellar mediums.
The February Moon
On February 4th, the last quarter moon will be seen across the night sky, while a new moon on the 11th, and a first-quarter moon on the 19th.
The first quarter moon marks where the planet was 3 ½ hours ago in the Earth's orbit around the sun. While the last quarter moon shows where the planet will be 3 ½ hours later.
February 27th's full moon will be found in the hindquarters of Leo in the constellation Lion.
Planets to Observe
Mercury, the closest planet to the sun, will continue its apparition in the evening sky. However, it will rapidly get lower along the southwest until it slips into the solar glare towards the end of February's first week.
Mercury will then swing between the Earth and the Sun on February 8th before moving to the morning sky. The planet rises at 6:25 am on February 28th and will be seen low in the southeast.
However, Venus will be too near to the sun to be visible from some parts of the northern hemisphere. It will be near Jupiter on February 11st but will most probably be observable for most southern hemispheres.
Spaceflights in February
Three Martian space missions are slated this month: UAE's Al-Amal, China's Tianwen-1, and NASA's Perseverance. Each with various goals, instrumentation, and compromise with partnerships with various space institutions and agencies.
UAE'S Hope mission is set to arrive on February 9th with the goal of investigating the martian climate for over two years.
Over billions of years, the Red Planet has lost much of its atmosphere. The Hope mission, in conjunction with the MACEN probe orbiting since 2014, aims to investigate the causes of the phenomenon.
China's Tiawen-1 is set to enter the Red Planet's polar orbit on February 10th, where it will observe the Martian atmosphere and produce global maps.
The last mission to arrive in the U.S Mars 2020 that will release the Perseverance rover on Martian soil on February 18th in the 49-kilometer Jezero crater. The rover is designed for astrobiological and geological studies.
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