Are you making it through winter? Is there any choice?
At least day length has increased. In Duluth, we’ve gained 67 minutes since the winter solstice.
There’s still no better season for bright stars, which now congregate with brilliant Jupiter in the southern sky. Saturn is still with us, low in the southwestern sky at dusk. Below it you’ll find horizon-hugging Venus, a fresh face in the evening sky. By mid-month it’s visible about 20 minutes after sundown very low in the west with binoculars and about 30 minutes at month’s end.
Mercury puts in a decent appearance at dusk not far from Venus. It will be easier to spot because it’s higher up in a darker sky. The smallest planet and closest to the sun pops into view during the first week of February. But the most exciting time to see it will be on Wednesday, Feb. 18. That evening, Mercury will be in close conjunction with the thin crescent moon. Together with Venus and Saturn, the celestial foursome will cluster together low in the western sky. If you wait till it’s a little darker, you’ll find an additional planet in the group – Neptune. It will be less than a degree to the upper right (north) of Saturn.
Despite the winter constellations’ sway, new groups are pushing up in the east. Watch for the bright outline of Leo the lion, which really does look like a stick-figure lion, padding up the eastern sky around 9 p.m. local time. The Big Dipper is also ascending, and stands on its handle high in the northeastern sky right around the same time.
Canis Minor is easy to find about a fist and a half below brilliant Jupiter in Gemini. Look to the upper right of bright Procyon to find a second star that completes the stick figure.
Contributed / Stellarium
Our featured constellation is Canis Minor the Lesser Dog, which stands high in the southeastern sky below the bright planet Jupiter around 9 p.m. This simple constellation, comprised of two stars, looks more like a stick you’d play fetch with than a dog. According to ancient Greek myth, Canis Minor and his bigger brother, Canis Major the Greater Dog, accompanied Orion on his many hunts.
Procyon, the little pup’s brightest star, is one the closest stars in the nighttime sky, located just 11.5 light-years away. It’s also a close binary, with a tiny, massive white dwarf companion. Its name means “before the dog” (pro-cyon) because Canis Minor rises before Canis Major.
Download the free
for Android and iPhone to help you find and identify the current planets and constellations. It will also display Jupiter’s moons, which can help you track them down with binoculars or a telescope. Do a Google search, then install the app, set it in night mode (red screen) and point your phone skyward. For a free February 2026 sky map and calendar go to
www.skymaps.com/downloads.html
. For updates, aurora alerts and news, check out my Facebook at
https://www.facebook.com/astrobobking
.
Events (a.m. indicates the event happens in the morning sky)
Feb. 1 – Full Snow Moon. Rises in Cancer the Crab around sunset and shines all night. For the Duluth area, the moon rises in the northeastern sky at 5:02 p.m., 9 minutes before sunset.
Use Capella and the Pleiades cluster to triangulate to Algol. Every 2.9 days, Algol’s companion eclipses it, causing the star to fade for several hours. The pair is about 93 light-years from Earth.
Contributed / Stellarium with additions by Bob King
Feb. 1 – Algol the Demon Star dips to minimum brightness around 6:30 p.m. CST as its orbiting companion star eclipses it. Several hours later, as it comes out of eclipse, the star gets bright again. Use the map to locate Algol. When brightest it’s similar to Almach. At minimum it’s closer to Kappa Persei.
Feb. 1-20 – Mercury puts in a nice evening appearance low in the western sky about 45 minutes to an hour before sunset. It’s joined by Venus — newly arriving in the evening sky — very low in the twilight glow. As Mercury moves back toward the sun after mid-month, Venus slowly climbs out of the solar glare. Use binoculars to help you spot either or both.
The moon covers the bright star Regulus in the Duluth area on Feb. 2 at 7:44 p.m. and uncovers it about an hour later. Use larger binoculars or a small telescope to see it.
Contributed / Stellarium with additions by Bob King
Feb. 2 – Nearly full moon occults Leo’s brightest star Regulus. For a list of times when the moon covers and then uncovers the star, go to
http://www.lunar-occultations.com/iota/bstar/0203zc1487.htm
and scroll up to find your city. The times given are Universal Time (UT), so remember to subtract 5 hours for EST, 6 for CST, 7 for MST and 8 for PST and move the calendar date back one to Feb. 2.
Feb. 7 – Waning gibbous moon shines just below Spica, Virgo’s brightest star
Feb. 9 – Last quarter moon. Rises around midnight and stands due south around sunrise.
Feb. 11-28 (a.m.) – The International Space Station makes passes across the dawn sky. For a complete list of flyovers for your city, log in to
, select your location and then click the blue ISS link. Or download and install NASA’s Spot the Station app at the app store or Google Play.
Feb. 11-21 – China’s Tiangong space station makes passes across the southern sky during the early evening hours. Like the International Space Station, it orbits the Earth with a crew of astronauts, but being smaller it looks fainter. For a complete list of pass times for your location, click the blue Tiangong link at Heavens-Above.
Feb. 17 – New Moon. The moon is near the sun in the daytime sky and not visible. There will be an annular solar eclipse this day visible from Antarctica.
A string of planets appears low in the western sky at dusk around mid-month, but the highlight will be a close conjunction of Mercury and the young moon. Be sure you have an unobstructed view west to see it, and bring binoculars to assist.
Contributed / Stellarium with additions by Bob King
Feb. 18 – Very close conjunction of the thin lunar crescent and Mercury low in the western sky in twilight. The two will be less than half a moon-diameter apart. Mercury has phases just like the moon. Through a telescope magnifying 40x or more, it will look like a half-moon tonight. Saturn appears just above Mercury and Venus below, making for quite the planetary gathering!
Feb. 18 – Algol at minimum brightness around 11:30 p.m. CST. Look as soon as it gets dark to see the star close to peak brightness, then check again around 11-11:30 p.m. to see it in eclipse.
Feb. 19 – Waxing crescent in conjunction with Saturn about 4 degrees to the upper right of the planet.
This is a simulated binocular / small telescope view of the half-moon in the Pleiades star cluster at 9:45 p.m. on Feb. 23 viewed from the Duluth region. The moon will occult some of the lesser-known Pleiades stars between about 8:45 p.m. and 10:30 p.m.
Contributed / Stellarium
Feb. 23 – For skywatchers in the northern U.S. and Canada the moon crosses the northern part of the Pleiades star cluster for a couple hours starting around 8:45 p.m. CST. Stars will disappear at the moon’s dark edge (left side) and reappear along the bright side.
Feb. 24 – First quarter moon. The moon shines high in the southern sky around sunset.
Feb. 26 – Waxing gibbous moon shines above Jupiter