Five New Cosmic Events Give Sky-Watchers an Eventful Week
NASA has announced that there will be five significant cosmic events occurring in outer space this week that include stars and planets, which should keep sky-watchers entertained from February 3rd until February 8th.
The first occurred last evening after nightfall. Watchers in the Northern Hemisphere were able to spot the Great Square of Pegasus. The naked eye could see the four-sided pattern of the mythological horse's chest, with the moon appearing to the left of the constellation. Beyond Pegasus, you'll need binoculars or a clear dark sky away from any other lights to see more detail. The Great Square spans the width of over 30 moons, and the corners are easy to spot because there aren't any stars near them that are as bright.
The Green Giant Companion also arrived last night. The moon served as a perfect guide for spotting Uranus. Although it could be seen with the naked eye, more helpful techniques would include using binoculars, a telescope or viewing from a clear, dark sky. The green gas giant appears below and to the left of the moon, about 1.9 billion miles from Earth, and looks a bit like a faint, green star.
This Thursday, February 6th, double shadows on Jupiter can be seen in the early morning hours. Two of Jupiter's largest moons, Europa and Callisto, will simultaneously cast their shadows, creating two tiny black dots on the upper cloud deck of the solar system's largest planet. The shadow from Europa can be seen at 3:22 a.m. and Callisto's shadow can be seen at 5:40 a.m.
On Friday February 7th, just above the upper right side of the moon, the Seven Sisters from Greek mythology can be seen with the naked eye. This constellation will look like a tiny version of the Big Dipper, and is known as the Pleiades star cluster. Again, these stars can be seen more clearly through a telescope since they're located 400 light-years away from Earth.
And finally, on Saturday February 8th the Eye of the Bull can be spotted in the evening. By this time, the moon will have slid farther south and to its right will be the sparkling red star of Aldebaran, the eye of Taurus. 65 light-years away, the big red star can be located during the day with binoculars if you look closely enough.
To view some pictures of the formations of these constellations, visit this National Geographic article.
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