Total lunar eclipse in store for Maine

On the night of Feb. 20-21, residents of Maine will be treated to their first total lunar eclipse in nearly three years. These occur only at a full moon when the Earth passes between the sun and moon and the latter passes through the Earth’s shadow. For this region, a partial eclipse begins at 8:43 p.m., enters totality at 10 p.m., is at its midpoint at 10:26 p.m., with totality ending at 10:52 p.m. and the eclipse essentially over at 12:45 a.m. These values are from the February issue of Sky & Telescope magazine and may vary slightly in some other publications. The moon is likely to appear as a dull coppery-red disk at the midpoint of the eclipse.

Focus on the planets

Mercury pops into view low in the southeast as February draws to a close. The innermost planet will be hard to spot in the glow of twilight with the best chance coming on the 27th of the month when it lies very close to Venus.

Venus starts the month undergoing a spectacular pairing with Jupiter fairly low in the southeast about an hour before sunrise. This is the closest readily observable meeting of the two bright planets until 2014.

Mars rises high in the southeast during the early evening hours and remains up until well after midnight. The Red Planet will diminish in size and brightness throughout the month as it recedes from Earth.

Jupiter rises in the southeast along with Venus on Feb. 1 but then they separate as Jupiter continues to ascend while Venus falls toward the horizon.

Saturn is closest to Earth, and offers the best viewing, around Feb. 24 when it rises in the east at sunset, is high in the south at midnight, and sets in the west at dawn. Saturn’s rings are approaching edge-on to Earth but this makes a lineup of its four major moons easy to spot on Feb. 10.

Uranus is possibly visible as a small green disk in Aquarius but is more likely to be lost in the evening twilight.

Neptune is not visible during February.

February events

1 Sunrise, 6:55 a.m.; sunset, 4:43 p.m. Be sure to check out the conjunction of Venus and Jupiter in the southeast at dawn.

7 New moon, 10:44 p.m.

14 Happy Valentine’s Day! Moon in first quarter, 10:33 p.m. The moon is also at perigee or nearest approach to Earth.

16 Orange-red Mars and the moon lie close together in the early predawn hours.

17 The sun enters Aquarius on the ecliptic.

19 The sun enters the astrological sign of Pisces but, due to precession, astronomically has just entered Aquarius.

20 A total lunar eclipse is visible for all parts of North America tonight. See the column opening for details. Full moon, 10:29 p.m. The full moon of February is known as the Snow Moon or Hunger Moon.

27 Mercury and Venus are low on the southeast horizon about an hour before sunrise. Jupiter is far to their upper right.

28 The moon is at apogee or farthest distance from Earth today.

29 Today is that rare bird, the “leap day.” It is a method of bringing the calendar into synchronization with the actual astronomical year. The last “leap day” was added in 2000. Sunrise, 6:15 p.m.; sunset, 5:22 p.m.

Send astronomical queries to Clair Wood at cgmewood@aol.com or care of the Bangor Daily News, Lifestyle Desk, P.O. Box 1329, Bangor, Maine 04402.