MEMPHIS, Tenn. — Climatologically speaking, February is one of the more cloudy months in the Mid-South for viewing the night sky. With this being the case, you sometimes have to wait close to a week for a stretch of clearer weather. When we see those clear nights, there are some really interesting things that you can see over Memphis and the Mid-South.
This February is very unique; it features an extra night! There will be 29 days in the month compared to the normal 28 days. This has to do with how our calendar interacts with the Earth's orbit. The orbit around the sun takes right around 365.25 days. That means that every 4 years we are left with 1 entire day to fill in the orbit. That's where the leap year comes into play keeping our seasons steady along with our calendars.
Since we have that extra night, that means you will have 29 nights to take a look at the constellation Orion. One of the more well-known constellations, it features the star Betelgeuse as well as the Orion Nebula (which can be viewed with binoculars or a telescope. All you need to do is look almost straight up right after sunset to view this in our night sky.
On the morning of February 22nd, the planets Mars and Venus will appear .5° apart in the eastern sky. This is close enough that the two planets will almost appear to touch each other. This will be a tricky one to view but because it is so rare it is worth mentioning. You'll want a clear view of the east horizon around sunrise and might need some binoculars to see Mars as it is much dimmer than Venus in the morning twilight sky.
On the 24th "The Snow Moon" will be visible in the Mid-South. Just look to the East around sunset to view the Full Moon rising in the sky.
Looking at the weather for the 5th through the 11th the beginning of the week is looking clear before a cloudy and possibly wet pattern arrives to the Mid-South.
If you get any pictures or videos of the things mentioned in this article send them in on social media. You could be featured in a monthly night sky update on TV!
