January 28th marked the halfway point of my stay in St. Pete, Florida. Now, with only 24 days remaining until I leave Florida for at least another year, here’s what’s coming up in astronomy the next month.
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January 30th: Moon Meets Jupiter
People often ask me: “What’s that bright dot I always see next to the Moon?” The truth is, you likely only saw it one or two days (maybe three, depending on angles). But those bright dots tend to be Jupiter or Venus, the two brightest planets in the sky. The Moon moves counterclockwise by 14 degrees each day (in winter, equating to rising 1 hour later each day), and actually passes ALL of the planets during its 27.5-day orbit–or 29.3 days from phase-to-phase.
If you have clear skies Friday night, look for the Moon after sunset! Under it will be a bright white dot: Jupiter! If you’ve stopped at my telescope anytime in the past month, you’ve seen Jupiter shining in the night sky every night, and a closer look in the telescope reveals it’s Galilean Moons.
So, nope! It’s not a once-in-a-while thing. In fact, the remaining “close” nighttime conjunctions of Jupiter and the Moon for 2026 are as follow:
- February 26th
- March 26th & 27th
- April 22nd
- May 20th
February 1st: The Full Snow Moon
You’ve heard of the Harvest Moon, the Pink Moon, the Beaver Moon, etc etc. Traditionally, and across many cultures and geographic regions, the Full Moon for that month has a designated nickname, often signaling an event that occurs during that period of time. The Harvest Moon signals autumnal crop harvests. The Pink Moon signals the blooming of flowers in mid spring (northern hemisphere). The Beaver Moon signals the time for archaic hunters to set beaver traps in swamps to supply winter furs.
The name of February’s Full Moon is the Snow Moon, due to February being, on average, the snowiest month of the year in North America. Notice how this would not apply to southern hemisphere landmasses, which are experiencing summer at this time.
February 6th: Artemis II Launch
Did you know we’re sending astronauts back to the Moon next week? *gestures at events in the US* Of course you haven’t, because it’s barely on national radar.
But now you know.
In November 2022, we launched the Artemis I mission, which pushed an uncrewed capsule into a loop-the-loop around the Moon and back to Earth. After a year of delays, Artemis II is ready for launch. The Big Orange Rocket (the Space Launch System, aka SLS) with the next Orion capsule sitting atop is now standing on the launch pad, and the astronauts and their families have been in quarantine for the past week to prevent spread of illness while confined to the capsule for 7 days.
Artemis II is the next phase of the Artemis program, which will send four astronauts–three US and one Canada–to an orbit around the Moon. The basic goal of this mission is to continue testing launch systems and capabilities that will guide future lunar orbit infrastructure (a space station) and prepare the way for the next crewed Moon landing, which, according to the penciled-in schedule, is supposed to happen in 2027 (but will likely get pushed to 2028, and you know, let’s just push it to 2029 for the 60th Apollo anniversary at this point).
What am I most excited about for the launch of Artemis II? This will sound dumb, but I am excited to see a cell phone picture of the Moon’s surface from up close. I think in today’s terms, that will be one of the most humanizing events of this mission. We all have a cell phone, and getting pictures of the Moon through the telescope is cool, BUT to know a real person is up there, taking that picture only 4,000 miles off the surface?
That’s seriously cool.
February in general: Saturn sets…Venus rises
Jupiter and Saturn are each visible in the post-sunset sky for about 6 months each. Saturn has been visible since September 2025, but its time with us is nearing an end (so sad). If you’ve been to my telescope recently, you’ve seen Saturn over by the tower in St. Pete, where it disappears for an hour before reappearing out the lower half. We’re getting to the point where it will begin the night behind the tower and only appear after dark, and by the time February comes to an end, it won’t be visible at all from my downtown St. Pete location.
By mid-February, you’ll start noticing a bright dot in the west just after sunset (not visible from my spot before I leave town). That will be Venus! As it rises higher in the sky March through August, it will begin to outshine Jupiter, and in September and October, will drop low in the sky and swing back toward the Sun, increasing in size (in the telescope) by nearly 16x overall visual surface area as it does.
What are you looking forward to in astronomy over the next few months?
This world is beautiful.
Alex
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