Mercury - visible in the morning sky during the last two weeks of February. Look for it about 5 degrees up in the ESE a half-hour before sunrise. Mercury brightens from magnitude 1.0 to 0 and will have an apparent diameter of 9 to 7 arc-seconds. Mercury will pass 1.1 degrees away from Venus on February 27th.

Venus - visible in the morning sky during February. Look for it about 15 to 10 degrees up in the SE at sunrise during the month. Venus will be magnitude -3.9. Through a telescope, the planet will appear gibbous, with an apparent diameter that decreases from 13 to 11 arc-seconds.

Mars - located in Taurus during February. Mars will be 75 degrees up in the south by 8:30pm EST at mid-month. The "red" planet will fade from magnitude -0.6 to 0.2 and have an apparent diameter that decreases from 12 to 9 arc-seconds during the month. Mars is still large enough to see the major surface features in a 6" telescope. The Martian atmosphere is now fairly clear of dust, allowing good views of the surface. Besides the usual dark surface markings, the North Polar Hood should still be visible. Look for the North Polar Cap to emerge soon..

Jupiter - located in Sagittarius. Look for it 15 to 20 degrees up in the SSE at sunrise. Jupiter will be magnitude -2.0 with an apparent diameter of 33 to 34 arc-seconds. Jupiter will pass only 0.6 degrees away from Venus on February 1st.

For detailed postions of Jupiter's Moons try this interactive javascript utility.

Saturn - located in Leo. is the "planet of the month" for February, reaching opposition on the night of Feb. 23-24, and nearly overhead at midnight in the "belly" of Leo, the Lion. When any planet is at opposition, it is usually favored for observing, being higher in the sky, closer to Earth and pretty much in the sky all night, rising at sunset, overhead at midnight and not setting until dawn. Watch in binocular how Saturn is closing in on the bright star REGULUS, in Leo.....moving from about 7 degrees to within 5 degrees this month. In addition to being at opposition, Saturn attains a brightness surpassing any other for this planet in 2008 on the final nights of this month. The magnificent ring system is closing up from our angle here on Earth and in small telescopes presents an extended "line" on both sides of its 20 arc-second yellowish globe

The Cassini spacecraft continues its observation of Saturn and its many moons and rings. For the latest images from Cassini, see:

http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov/home/index.cfm

For detailed postions of Saturn's Moons try this interactive javascript utility.

Uranus - The distant planet, very difficult to view in strong twilight (see below), is now very low in southwestern skies during early evening; this very dim object can be seen in binoculars or better still, small telescope, if one knows exactlly where to look as a very blue-green starlike object of magnitude 5.9

A finder chart for Uranus can be found Here.

Neptune - At a faint magnitude 7.9 but now (as of Feb. 7) in conjunction with the sun, the distant Neptune is NOT visible for several months, emerging late in 2008 in morning skies.

A finder chart for Neptune can be found Here.

Pluto - located in Serpens is now past conjunction with the sun and in morning skies; this 14th magnitude distant planet is visible in larger telescopes under dark sky conditions

Eris (pronounced "EE-ris") - formerly known as Xena, 2003 UB313, and "the tenth planet" - is magnitude 19 in central Cetus, high in the south during evening.

For detailed information please visit Astronomical Delights

A Total Lunar Eclipse - occurs on the night of February 20-21. Partial eclipse begins at 8:43pm EST, total eclipse starts at 10:00pm and ends at 10:52pm, and partial eclipse ends at 12:09am. Some penumbral shading can be seen up to a half-hour before and after the partial phase begins and ends. The Moon will be 30 degrees up in the east at 8:43pm and 57 degrees up in the south by 12:09am. Saturn and Regulus with be within the same binocular field-of-view as the Moon.

Comet 17P/Holmes - is high in the sky throughout winter, being circumpolar in the constellation of PERSEUS amid a very rich star field each night. Although the original predictions call for this comet to be an inconspicuous 17th magnitude, be sure to monitor it nightly!

Comet P/8 Tuttle - at magnitude 5 or better, this comet might be naked eye visible in early February, and certainly will be a great target in binoculars, low in the SW skies of dusk until about 10 p.m. nightly.