Special to CosmicTribune.com, February 24, 2025

Excerpts from weekly Sky&Telescope report.

SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 23

■ Have you ever seen Canopus, the second-brightest star after Sirius? It lies almost due south of Sirius, by 36°. That’s far enough south that it never appears above your horizon unless you’re below latitude 37° N (southern Virginia, southern Missouri, central California). And near there, you’ll need a very flat south horizon. Canopus crosses the south point on the horizon just 21 minutes before Sirius does.

So, when to look? Canopus is due south when Beta Canis Majoris — Murzim the Announcer, the 2nd-magnitude star about three finger-widths to the right of Sirius — is at its highest due south over your landscape. (Murzim is the top front corner of the Meat Cleaver’s blade.) That happens about 8 p.m. now, depending on how far east or west you are in your time zone. Drop straight down from Murzim then.

MONDAY, FEBRUARY 24

■ It’s not spring for almost four more weeks, but the Spring Star Arcturus seems eager to climb into view. It rises above the east-northeast horizon around 8 or 9 now, depending on your latitude and longitude.

To see where to watch for Arcturus-rise, find the Big Dipper as soon as the stars come out; it’s high in the northeast. Follow the curve of its handle down and around to the lower right by a little more than a Dipper-length. That’s the spot on the horizon to watch.

By 10 or 11 p.m. Arcturus dominates the eastern sky.

TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 25

■ Want to try for Sirius B, the famous white dwarf? Sirius A and B are still 11 arcseconds apart, very near their widest apparent separation in their 50-year orbit. They will remain so for the next couple years before they noticeably start closing up again.

You’ll want at least a 10-inch scope and a night of really excellent seeing. Keep checking night after night; the seeing makes all the difference for Sirius B. Use extreme high power, and look when Sirius is at its very highest in the south like it is these evenings. See the Sirius-B-hunting tips in Bob King’s article Sirius B – a New Pup in My Life.

The “Pup” is northeast of the Dog Star and 10 magnitudes fainter: one ten-thousandth as bright. As Bob recommends, put a homemade occulting bar across your eyepiece’s field stop: a tiny strip of aluminum foil held to the field stop with a bit of tape, with one edge crossing the center of the field. Use a pencil point to nudge the edge of the foil into sharp focus as you look through the eyepiece, holding the eyepiece up to a bright background indoors.

In the telescope, rotate the eyepiece so you can hide dazzling Sirius A just behind the strip’s northeastern edge.

If a diffraction spike gets in the way, rotate the telescope’s tube if you can.

A few years back in 2008, Sirius A and B appeared considerably closer together. This stack of three 1-second exposures, made with a 20-inch telescope, shows how a diffraction spike can sometimes get in the way of the star and make it impossible to see even on an ideal night. Inset: The Pup’s apparent orbit around the Dog Star. Johannes Schedler / panther-observatory.com

WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 26

■ Certain deep-sky objects hold secret surprises within or near them. During evening in this dark of the Moon, get out your telescope and sky atlas for a go at Bob King’s eight Hidden Gems in Common Deep-Sky Objects that are now in view.

THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 27

■ It’s almost March. So quite soon after dark, the bowl of the Big Dipper rises as high in the northeast as Cassiopeia has descended to in the northwest. Midway between Cas and the Dipper, as always, is Polaris.

■ New Moon (exactly so at 7:45 p.m. EST).

FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 28

■ While twilight is fading 20 or 30 minutes after sunset, look 16° below Venus (about a fist and a half at arm’s length) for Mercury and, even lower, a very thin crescent Moon as shown below. Saturn is so dim and low that it’s probably out of reach even with binoculars.

Venus shines brightly in the western twilight, with Mercury finally in view far below it. The waxing crescent Moon steps past them from February 28th to March 2nd.

SATURDAY, MARCH 1

■ Now the crescent Moon, thicker and higher, hangs lower left of Venus as shown above (for North America). They’re 6° or 7° apart.

■ Look east after dark this week for the constellation Leo climbing nicely up in the almost-spring sky. Its brightest star is Regulus. The Sickle of Leo, about a fist and a half long, extends upper left from there. It’s shaped like a backward question mark.

Leo’s rear quarters and tail are a fist or so to the Sickle’s lower left.

SUNDAY, MARCH 2

■ February was Orion’s month to stand at his highest in the south in early evening. Now March pushes him westward and spotlights his dog, Canis Major with Sirius on his chest, standing center stage on the meridian.

Sirius is not only the brightest star in our sky after the Sun, it’s also the closest naked-eye star after the Sun, at 8.6 light-years, for those of us living at mid-northern latitudes.

  Feb. 23-March 2: Sirius, the closest brightest star and it dwarf companion, The Sky