“What’s Up?”, updated 2 February 2026
Starting January 2026, this section will feature a monthly summary of what is happening in the skies above us. It will be updated during the first days of each month to include celestial events for that particular month.
We just passed the Full Snow Moon (February 1) a so-called “micro-moon”, when the Full Moon happens near apogee. It is now a waning gibbous, rising later with each passing evening. This evening (February 2nd) the moon occults (passes in front of) the bright star Regulus as seen by most of the U.S. Binoculars would be needed for this due to the bright, almost-full Moon. For more specific information for a given area, including times of disappearance and reappearance, visit http://www.lunar-occultations.com/iota/bstar/0203zc1487.htm. By February 6-8 the waning gibbous Moon passes below the Virgo constellation, coming within about 1-1/2 degrees of Spica on the night of February 6/7. They are visible low in the East Southeast around 12:15 am, but high in the south southwest just before dawn.
Venus is starting to make a return as the Evening Star this month. It is very low in the west-southwest 30 minutes after sunset. A flat western horizon with clear, transparent skies would be essential to find it. Joining it is Mercury, which becomes higher and a bit better placed early in February. Jupiter, having passed opposition last month, is now well up in the east northeast as it gets dark, along with the stars of Gemini and the stars and constellations of winter. Saturn lingers in the southwestern sky, getting lower and lower each week.
The Moon returns to the evening sky on February 18, when it occults (covers) the planet Mercury for the southern part of North America. More information can be found at http://www.lunar-occultations.com/iota/bstar/0218mercury.htm. One night later, the waxing crescent Moon is much higher up, near Saturn. Five days after its meeting with Mercury, on February 23,the nearly First Quarter Moon meets with the Pleiades star cluster. Binoculars will help to see both the Moon and the cluster. As darkness falls, both are high in the south, with the Moon to the right of the Pleiades (as seen from North America). Over the course of the evening the Moon slides left, approaching then passing above (north) of the cluster as these objects sink toward the west northwestern sky after local midnight.
The month ends with the Moon passing through the Gemini constellation. In the predawn hours of the 27th, the Moon sits about 3 degrees to the upper right of Jupiter low in the west northwest. That same evening, the pair is seen in the east north east with the Moon now moving away from Jupiter and forming a line with Pollux and Castor, Gemini’s two brightest stars. Then in the predawn of March 3, from North America, the Moon experiences a total eclipse. More on this event will be posted later this month. You can also check it out at this website (with a visualization) https://www.timeanddate.com/eclipse/lunar/2026-march-3.
Images of the March 14, 2025 total lunar eclipse can be viewed here.
We observed two solar eclipses less than six months apart. Check out images from these celestial events at this site.
We observed and imaged the total lunar eclipsed that occurred during the predawn hours of 8 November 2022. The images and report can be viewed at https://www.pvamu.edu/pvso/cosmic-corner/total-lunar-eclipse-2022-1-2/. Partial lunar eclipse began at 3:09 am CST, total eclipse started at 4:16 am CST, maximum eclipse (when the Moon should appear darkest) at 4:59 am CST, total eclipse ended at 5:42 am CST, and partial eclipse finished at 6:49 am. The subtle penumbral shading was detectable some 30 to 40 minutes before and after the partial stages. Lots more information can be found at Sky and Telescope’s eclipse page.
Over a year ago, a Total Lunar Eclipse, with totality lasting nearly 85 minutes, was visible across North and South America (except the far northwest part of North America). Partial eclipse began at 9:28 pm CDT (May 15), totality began at 10:29 pm, mid eclipse was 11:12 pm, total eclipse ended at 11:54 pm and partial eclipse ended at 12:56 pm, CDT (May 16). We did observe the event and got pictures, check out this website for these.
Jupiter was hit by a meteor in 2021, see https://skyandtelescope.org/astronomy-news/jupiter-whacked-again-japanese-astronomers-record-possible-impact/, for more information on what is the 11th confirmed observation of a fireball to burn up in its atmosphere. We plan to organize a campaign to watch for fireballs in Venus’ atmosphere early this summer; check back for more details in the near future. There was another event documented on 28 August 2023. You can read all about it at this website.
The Perseverance rover continues to perform wonderful feats of science, from finding evidence of a raging river, to making 10 g of pure oxygen from the Martian air to watching a small drone helicopter take its 51st flight over the Martian wasteland. For more information on it and other activity on Mars, visit mars.jpl.nasa.gov. Also, Curiosity has returned some beautiful sunset pictures of cirrus-like clouds in the Martian sky.
Observations of the partial phase of the May 2021 lunar eclipse (taken with smartphone and a University telescope), along with unfiltered, stacked galaxy and cluster images, can be viewed from the project update website https://www.pvamu.edu/pvso/cosmic-corner/project-summary-2/. We are currently experiencing an extended spell of inclement weather, preventing much observing, but as conditions improve we plan to resume nighttime observations along with regular solar observations. Information on all the eclipses that will occur in 2022 can be found at this link.
The PVO complex has 3 domes, including the existing “Classic” Solar Observatory, and two new domes. For updates on this progress check out https://www.pvamu.edu/pvso/cosmic-corner/project-summary-2/. Also, more information and images can be viewed at https://sites.google.com/view/saganti-astro/home. The two newer domes contain our Meade 16-inch advanced telescope (east dome, an Astrohaven clamshell-type dome) and a new 0.6 meter (24-inch) PlaneWave Corrected Dall-Kirkham telescope (west dome, an Ash dome). The design features these two domes situated east and west of a visitor’s center, which is immediately north of the existing Solar Observatory. Work is planned to resume on the 24-inch in early 2024.