Overview
- Just after dark on Friday, Jan. 30, the almost-full Moon sits about four degrees from Jupiter in Gemini, framing a loose rectangle with Castor and Pollux.
- Despite bright moonlight, Jupiter remains a good telescopic target, with cloud bands visible and its Galilean moons arrayed to the planet’s west for much of the evening.
- February’s Snow Moon reaches full phase at 12:09 p.m. EST on Sunday, Feb. 1 and will rise around dusk low in the east-northeast near Regulus in Leo.
- Taurus dominates the southeastern sky after dark, with Aldebaran, the V-shaped Hyades, the Pleiades above, and Orion’s Belt below serving as clear guideposts.
- Looking ahead, an annular solar eclipse on Feb. 17 shows a ring only from Antarctica, and a rare total solar eclipse on Aug. 12 will be visible from parts of eastern Greenland, western Iceland and northern Spain for over two minutes of totality.