Unfortunately, it is a minor shower and only well visible from the southern hemisphere. It’s radiant is in the constellation of Centaurus that is below the horizon of this country.
The grand constellation of Orion is rapidly disappearing in the west, just after sunset. The brightest star in the night sky is Sirius, in the constellation of Canes Venatici, and it is now well visible low in the south at night fall. The constellation of the Great Bear, or Ursa Major, is now moving overhead when it is fully dark.
This month we have six planets in the early night sky. These are Mercury, Venus, Neptune, Saturn, Uranus and Jupiter.
Mercury is at its maximum elongation from the Sun, and it will be seen low in the west in the evening sky.
The planet Venus is now past its conjunction with the Sun and can be seen low in the west at sunset.
The red planet Mars is too close to the Sun to be easily seen this month.
The gas planet Jupiter is past opposition that was on January 10. It is now high overhead in the constellation of Gemini.
The ringed planet Saturn is to be seen at nightfall in the southwest and will be too low to see by the end of February. The gas planet Uranus is near the Pleiades and Neptune is close to Saturn.
On the 3rd, the just past full Moon will be close to the bright star Regulus in the constellation of Leo the Lion. On the 18th, the just past new Moon is close to Venus. On the 24th, the Moon is close to the Pleiades star cluster.
The Moon is full on the 1st, last quarter on the 9th, new on the 17th and first quarter on February 24.
Emails: planetalucido@gmail.com / cdepa@mail.telepac.pt
Read Clive Jackson’s last month’s article of January 2026 or the following month of March 2026.
