January has come to a close, and the second month of the year has begun! Along with the regular full moon and monthly meteor shower, February is sure to provide plenty of unique observation and learning opportunities. From the Snow Moon to the launch of NASA’s two latest payloads, here are some of February’s most anticipated astronomical events.
The Alpha Centaurids meteor shower has a predicted peak of February 9, though it has been active since January 30 and will continue through February 20. This is a fairly minor shower with an average rate between two and ten meteors per hour. Conditions will likely be unfavourable this year, with the brightness of the waxing gibbous moon likely interfering with the visibility of the shower, and the shower is already not always visible in the Northern Hemisphere to begin with. However, observations are always possible! The Alpha Centaurids were officially first observed in 1969, though one alleged observation was made in 1938.
The full moon of February, commonly known as the Snow Moon, will become visible on February 12 at 8:53 AM (Eastern Time). Named after the periods of heavy snowfall that typically occur throughout February, the Snow Moon has also been referred to as the Bald Eagle Moon, the Black Bear Moon, the Groundhog Moon, and the Goose Moon. Some North American tribes have also called it the Hungry Moon due to the harsh hunting conditions and scarcity of natural food sources during the winter months.
A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket will launch NASA’s SPHEREx mission on February 27. The SPHEREx (Spectro-Photometer for the History of the Universe, Epoch of Reionization and Ices Explorer) mission will spend two years collecting data on more than 450 million galaxies and 150 million stars in the Milky Way, providing the first ever all-sky spectral survey in astronomy history and helping NASA to further investigate the origins of the universe. A map of the entire sky will be taken by SPHEREx every six months, which will be used to map out possible targets for deeper research in future missions similar to the James Webb Space Telescope (one of NASA’s advanced space telescopes that originally launched back in 2021). The SPHEREx mission will also scan for any life essentials– like water and organic molecules– present in the Milky Way, primarily in disks around stars where new planets are being formed. The SPHEREx payload itself was developed by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory and the California Institute of Technology, with the spacecraft being provided by Ball Aerospace.
NASA’s PUNCH (Polarimeter to Unify the Corona and Heliosphere) mission will be launching alongside SPHEREx. PUNCH is made up of four small satellites (each about the size of a suitcase) that will remain in low Earth orbit to observe the Sun’s corona. The corona is the outermost layer of the star’s atmosphere, which is usually not visible due to the brightness of the Sun’s surface. The exception to this is during any total solar eclipse. PUNCH is intended to investigate how mass and energy from the corona become solar wind. Solar wind (the constant charged particles being released from the Sun’s corona) can help to protect Earth and the rest of the solar system from other high-energy, potentially harmful, particles. However, it can also interfere with satellite communication and cause electrical storms. The PUNCH mission will explore all of this while also capturing 3D views of the corona itself. The PUNCH mission is being led by the Southwest Research Institute and is managed by NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center. Both the SPHEREx and PUNCH mission payloads will be launched from the Vandenberg Space Force Base in Santa Barbara County, California.
Whether you choose to do more research on the fascinating objectives of the SPHEREx and PUNCH missions or attempt to view an elusive Alpha Centaurids meteor, February has something for everyone in the world of the night sky.