Lunar Eclipse From Victoria, Australia Found Here

What’s Up - February 2018

What’s Up For February?

This month, in honor of Valentine’s Day, we’ll focus on celestial star pairs and constellation couples.

Let’s look at some celestial pairs!

The constellations Perseus and Andromeda are easy to see high overhead this month.

According to lore, the warrior Perseus spotted a beautiful woman–Andromeda–chained to a seaside rock. After battling a sea serpent, he rescued her. 

As a reward, her parents Cepheus and Cassiopeia allowed Perseus to marry Andromeda.

The great hunter Orion fell in love with seven sisters, the Pleiades, and pursued them for a long time. Eventually Zeus turned both Orion and the Pleiades into stars.

Orion is easy to find. Draw an imaginary line through his belt stars to the Pleiades, and watch him chase them across the sky forever.

A pair of star clusters is visible on February nights. The Perseus Double Cluster is high in the sky near Andromeda’s parents Cepheus and Cassiopeia.

Through binoculars you can see dozens of stars in each cluster. Actually, there are more than 300 blue-white supergiant stars in each of the clusters.

There are some colorful star pairs, some visible just by looking up and some requiring a telescope. Gemini’s twins, the brothers Pollux and Castor, are easy to see without aid.

Orion’s westernmost, or right, knee, Rigel, has a faint companion. The companion, Rigel B, is 500 times fainter than the super-giant Rigel and is visible only with a telescope. 

Orion’s westernmost belt star, Mintaka, has a pretty companion. You’ll need a telescope.

Finally, the moon pairs up with the Pleiades on the 22nd and with Pollux and Castor on the 26th.

Watch the full What’s Up for February Video: 

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Make sure to follow us on Tumblr for your regular dose of space: http://nasa.tumblr.com.  

that’s just the actual dialogue from the film, right

(Ten episodes later…)

Bones clearly made it his mission to have an equally damaging influence on Chekov’s personality

M42 - Orion Nebula - For more images of the cosmos Click Here

read 22:06

What if aliens have already received our attempt at contact, but decided to not respond.

Galaxy NGC 7331

Image credit: NASA/ESA, Hubble

Astronauts activities during EV-1. Here Astronaut Robert Stewart during Manned Maneuvering Unit (MMU) Exercise untethered above the Earth.[4209 x 4209] - For more images of the cosmos Click Here

Wide Field M42 Orion - For more images of the cosmos Click Here