Events in DARK text happen during darkness. LIGHT text during daylight, i.e. we can't see them.

Note: Times are calculated for Liverpool and will vary slightly across the UK

Planet

Event ?

Date

Time

Sun Angle ? Each month, we identify the best constellations to be seen from the UK between 9pm and 10pm. This month we'll be looking for the winter constellations of Auriga, Canis Major and Gemini, which can be found towards the south in the February night sky. Auriga - is named after the Latin word for 'Charioteer' - someone who rides on a chariot. In terms of area, it is the 21st largest of the 88 modern constellations and contains 4 bright stars, the brightest of which is the giant star Capella. Although it appears as a single point, Capella is actually a bright close-binary star. That is to say, it is two bright stars that are separated by 100 million km (about the distance of the planet Venus from the Sun) and orbit each other every 104 days. Both are yellow-giant stars that pump out around 60 times as much energy as our Sun. Capella appears to be about the same brightness as the nearest star to the Sun, Alpha Centauri, but is 10 times further away. It's only because it shines with 70 times the power of Alpha Centauri that they look similar. Canis Major - is named after the Latin words for 'Big Dog', and is said to represent one of the two hunting dogs of Orion (see 'Night Sky in January'). Canis Major is the 43rd largest constellation and contains 5 bright stars, the brightest being Sirius, which also happens to be the brightest in the whole night sky. Sirius is also known as the Dog Star and is a normal, albeit hot, star in the middle of it's lifetime. It appears so bright because it is very close to us at just 8.6 light-years away - the 5th closest star system. Sirius is also a binary system with two stars; the bluish-white Sirius A that we see, and an unseen companion star known as a white dwarf that has already come to the end of its normal lifetime. Canis Major is one of the few constellations that can be seen from both hemispheres, although it appears upside down to those in the Southern hemisphere. Gemini - is the Latin word for 'Twins' and this constellation is thought to represent twins standing side by side, with the bright stars Castor and Pollux marking their heads. The names originate from Greek mythology, where Castor and Pollux were the twin brothers of Helen of Troy. Gemini is the 30th largest constellation and contains 4 bright stars, the brightest of which is Pollux. It is also one of the 12 constellations through which the ecliptic passes and is therefore one of the signs of the zodiac. The ecliptic is an imaginary line across the night sky that the planets never stray far from during their orbits of the Sun. It marks out the plane of our Solar System, or alternatively, the direction of its rotation axis. News Item © National Schools' Observatory : 2004 - 2012