Celestial phenomena in the first half of February 2023

Comet C/2022 E3 (ZTF) is near Earth

We could say a lot about the weather in recent weeks, but not that it was favorable for astronomical observations. We could not see too much of the comet, which was announced with great publicity in many places, in the domestic sky (but almost all of Europe was hit by the same bad weather). If there is still a chance, don’t miss it! It can already be observed in the evening hours, and it will be close to the earth on February 1st, however, we will have one, but even bigger, problem: the 86 percent illumination of the Moon. Unfortunately, this will certainly deprive you of the most beautiful view. By the time the Moon leaves the sky, however, after February 8, we can see the comet in an even more interesting place: it is getting closer to Mars every day. On the evening of the 11th, the green coma comet and Mars will be only one degree apart!

It is even worth taking photos with a slightly larger viewing angle, so that the stars of Taurus, with the orange-red Aldebaran, and Fiastyús shining in the blue dust nebulae are also in the company of the red Mars and the green comet. On the 13th, the comet will pass by the open cluster NGC1647, and on the 14th, it will approach Aldebaran. The current location of the comet is, for example, a The Sky Live can be viewed on the website.

If you want to take photos, of course, don’t wait for these opportunities, because of the unfavorable weather, we will take the opportunity as soon as the sky clears! The comet moves quite quickly, and this should be taken into account when taking photos, especially with a larger telephoto lens or possibly binoculars. While at the beginning of the month we will be able to see it even with simpler binoculars (forget the naked eye detection because of the moonlight), in the middle of the month it will become fainter so that we can see more with a more serious device. As with any other astronomical observation, it is also true that the experience is greater the less light-polluted the sky is when looking at the comet.

Full Moon on the 5th

Our celestial companion will be at a distance from Earth on the 4th, so this month’s full moon will be slightly smaller than usual, but no one will notice this, there is only a few minutes of arc difference between the smallest and largest apparent diameter. If someone wants to make such a comparison, take a photo of the current full moon far from Earth and then the full moon close to Earth in August at the same magnification. The two pictures side by side already show the difference.

At this twilight, we can expect the rising full moon to appear half an hour before sunset, that is, in a completely clear sky, which does not make it easy to observe. That’s why we should try to catch the moonrise on the 6th, half an hour after sunset, it will be a spectacular event. The time of moonrise is 17:14 at our eastern borders, 17:25 in Budapest, and 17:38 in the west.

We can see Venus excellently after dusk

Our inner planetary neighbor shines in the southwestern sky after dusk, in the early evening, and we can admire it for a good two hours after sunset. This also means that it will be dark before it sets, Venus will set at the end of astronomical twilight, and by the middle of the month it will be higher and higher. What special thing can we observe in this period of ever-improving evening visibility?

It’s not an easy task, but it’s worth trying: it may not occur to everyone, but Venus is so bright that able to cast a shadow! If we want to capture this, we will need two very important things: a dark location, where the southwest direction is absolutely lightless, and there are no lamps capable of casting shadows, even at a greater distance.

The other thing is a clean white surface, say a sheet of paper or a sheet, on which the shadow can be projected. The object that gives the shadow can be anything, the simplest is the camera on the tripod, but we can even play a little. Since you have to take a long shutter speed photo, make sure to choose something stable and fixed! The shadow can also be seen with the naked eye, of course we should not expect something similar to the one formed in the sun, because then there would be no challenge in the matter. Place the white surface in the right place and position, not too far from the object casting the shadow, as the sharpness of the shadow depends on this distance. Since Venus is a point source of light (as opposed to the Moon or the Sun, which is a large disk), the shadow will also have a much sharper boundary if we manage to set this distance well!

The light of the zodiac is already shining

The most beautiful phenomenon of late winter and early spring twilights is the ethereal glow of interplanetary dust particles circulating in the plane of the Solar System. We can see the light of the zodiac even at the end of December, but it shows its most beautiful face in February and March, for which you will need a dark sky free of moonlight and light pollution. It starts to appear about an hour after sunset, and is visible for at least another 1-1.5 hours if we are in a really dark sky location and the sky is also clear. The cone-shaped light appears tilted slightly to the left, and can extend from the horizon all the way to Fiastyú (sometimes even further). We can combine the observation of this phenomenon with the observation of Venus!