Night Sky

Week of February 16 - February 22

This illustration of the night sky on Feb. 21 shows the position of the crescent moon forming below Venus and Jupiter. (Image credit: Space.com from Starry Night Software)

On Tuesday, Feb. 21, the slender crescent of the waxing crescent moon will form a line below Jupiter and Venus — setting up a wonderful widefield photo opportunity in the western sky after sunset. The moon, positioned a generous palm's width below Venus, may exhibit Earthshine (also known as the Ashen Glow or the Old Moon in the New Moon's Arms), a phenomenon seen within a day or two after a new moon, when sunlight reflecting off the Earth slightly brightens the unlit portion of the moon's Earth-facing hemisphere.

Looking slightly to the right, between the moon and Venus, observers will see the Circlet, an asterism of six 4th and 5th magnitude stars organized in a somewhat distorted hexagram at the western boundary of the constellation Pisces, the Fish.

While not visible to the naked eye, and not easily observable with binoculars or telescopes while this low in the sky, distant Neptune will be lurking several finger widths to the right of the moon for a brief time, shortly after the sun sinks below the western horizon.