Mercury reaches its greatest western elongation on February 16. Despite the ecliptic standing flat to the eastern horizon in the morning, there is a borderline morning visibility, which stretches from the beginning of the month to the second half of February (see "Hard to catch"). The reason for this is firstly the rather early date, secondly Mercury's northern position relative to the ecliptic and thirdly its particularly large angular distance to the Sun at 26.3 degrees. However, Mercury does not reach particularly pronounced horizon heights. At the beginning of the civil twilight, i.e. around 07:00 CET in the middle of the month, it is less than five degrees above the eastern south eastern horizon. Its apparent brightness is also modest: it increases from 1.0 to 0.1 mag by the middle of the month. Last but not least, there is a lack of useful search aids: The bright Venus (see "Rocky planets in a constellation of three") is a little too far away with a good 13 degree distance to be helpful.
Venus is at –4.6 Mag Heller Morgenstern. In the course of February, thanks to its northern position, it opens up two hours before the sun relative to the ecliptic and at the beginning of bourgeois twilight (07:19 a.m. CET on February 1, 6:33 am on 28) between 12 and 14 Degree above the southeastern horizon. Telescopic observers can follow how our neighboring planet moves away from the earth and on the one hand shrinks its angle diameter, and on the other hand, an ever larger part of its illuminated surface is visible: On February 1, Venus will appear 49 arc second and is 15 percent illuminated, on February 28th On the other hand, there are 32 arc seconds and 37.5 percent. The decreasing moon stands on the morning of February 27, 9.5 degrees southwest of Venus, and thus very close to the horizon (see "Hunting for the narrow crescent moon").
Mars can also be found in the morning sky. Unlike Mercury and Venus, however, it stands south of the ecliptic and therefore hardly rises from the horizon haze. At the beginning of dawn, it is only 7.5 to 8.5 degrees high. This and its 1.3 mag quite low brightness make it a challenge to spot it at all. On February 27, the moon could help (see »Hunt for the narrow crescent moon«) – Mars is about in the middle of the Venus-Moon connecting line.
Jupiter, the largest planet in the solar system, says goodbye to the evening sky. At the beginning of the month it is still -2.0 mag bright at dusk. But if you want to look at it through the telescope again, you have to hurry up: on February 1, the giant planet will set at 19:26 CET, on the 15th at 18:50 and thus exactly at the end of twilight. In the second half of the month he can hardly be seen anymore. In early March, Jupiter will reach its conjunction. On the evening of February 2, the waxing moon is located 6.5 degrees to the southwest (see "Hunting for the narrow crescent moon").
Saturn reached the conjunction on February 4th. He stands with the sun in the day sky and is unobjectionable; Until the end of the month, he cannot detach himself from dawn.
Uranus is located in the constellation Aries, about 11 degrees southeast of the 2.0 mag bright star Alpha Arietis (α Ari). It is 5.8 mag bright and is located in the evening sky; its sinkings were delayed from 01:26 CET on 1 February to 23:41 on 28 February. In the telescope, the planet appears about 3.5 arc seconds in size.
Neptune can be found in the evening sky in the first half of the month: you can find it, 7.9 Mag Hell, in the constellation Aquarius, around four degrees northeast of the 4.2 Mag bright star Phi aquarii (φ aqr). It can only be seen with optical aids. On February 1st, the distant planet will go under at 8:45 p.m. CET. Until the middle of the month, these times are bustling at 7:50 p.m., i.e. about an hour after the end of the twilight. If one takes into account its low brightness, there is no more sensible observation opportunity in the second half of the month: on March 13, the Neptune gas giant will also reach its conjunction.
