* Astronomy

This month you'll have an opportunity to see all five naked-eye planets - but not all at once. Two of them are evening objects, while the other three are clustered together low in the east-southeast sky deep in the dawn twilight.
The planets move around in our sky and become brighter and dimmer over time depending on where they are in their orbits around the sun. Uranus, Neptune and Pluto are never visible to the naked eye.

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The first comet of 2009 becomes visible during the month of February. Comet Lulin, discovered in 2007, is making its first ever trip to our part of the solar system.
The comet will pass through the constellation of Leo during the last part of February. Leo can be found in the southeastern sky during the later evening hours.

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February 2009


Feb 01 - Asteroid 2009 CG Near-Earth Flyby (0.088 AU)
Feb 01 - 10th Anniversary (1999), Galileo, Europa 19 Flyby
Feb 01-07 - Conference: Thirty Years of Magnetars - New Frontiers, Aspen, Colorado
Feb 01-07 - Snowbird Workshop on Particle Astrophysics, Astronomy & Cosmology, Snowbird, Utah
Feb 01-08 - 44th Rencontres de Moriond: Very High Energy Phenomena in the Universe, Val d'Aosta, Italy
Feb 02 - Omid Safir 2 Launch (Iran)
Feb 02 - Cassini, Distant Rhea Flyby
Feb 02 - Asteroid 216 Kleopatra Occults UCAC2 33505934 (11.9 Magnitude Star)
Feb 02 - Asteroid 2009 BK58 Near-Earth Flyby (0.004 AU)
Feb 02 - Asteroid 2009 BG81 Near-Earth Flyby (0.011 AU)
Feb 02 - Asteroid 2009 CC2 Near-Earth Flyby (0.013 AU)
Feb 02 - Asteroid 2008 CD119 Near-Earth Flyby (0.044 AU)
Feb 02 - Asteroid 6227 Alanrubin Closest Approach To Earth (2.642 AU)
Feb 02-06 - Workshop: Deep IR Studies of the Distant Universe, Leiden, The Netherlands
Feb 03 - Asteroid 2009 BP5 Near-Earth Flyby (0.053 AU)
Feb 03 - Lecture: Transiting Exoplanets, Baltimore, Maryland
Feb 04 - Comet C/2008 Y3 (McNaught) Closest Approach To Earth (3.654 AU)
Feb 04 - Asteroid 27 Euterpe At Opposition (8.8 Magnitude)
Feb 04 - Asteroid 976 Benjamina Occults HIP 91132 (6.5 Magnitude Star)
Feb 04 - Asteroid 10389 Robmanning Closest Approach To Earth (1.593 AU)
Feb 04 - Asteroid 51825 Davidbrown Closest Approach To Earth (1.943 AU)
Feb 04 - Asteroid 43844 Rowling Closest Approach To Earth (2.090 AU)
Feb 04-06 - Solar-Extrasolar Meeting, Moffett Field, California
Feb 05 - Comet C/2008 Y1 (Boattini) Closest Approach To Earth (1.654 AU)
Feb 05 - Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko Closest Approach To Earth (1.669 AU)
Feb 05 - Comet 11P/Tempel-Swift-LINEAR Closest Approach To Earth (1.981 AU)
Feb 05 - Asteroid 2009 BW2 Near-Earth Flyby (0.022 AU)
Feb 05 - Asteroid 3351 Smith Closest Approach To Earth (2.489 AU)
Feb 05 - Alert Workshop, Noordwijk, The Netherlands
Feb 05-06 - 12th Annual FAA Commercial Space Transportation Conference, Arlington, Virginia
Feb 05-10 - TIARA Winter School on Star Formation, Hsinchu, Taiwan
Feb 06 - NOAA-N Prime (NOAA-19) Delta 2 Launch, Successful
Feb 06 - Comet C/2009 B1 (Boattini) Perihelion (2.426 AU)
Feb 06 - Asteroid 2009 BN58 Near-Earth Flyby (0.053 AU)
Feb 06 - Asteroid 2009 BR5 Near-Earth Flyby (0.072 AU)
Feb 06 - Asteroid 6433 Enya Closest Approach To Earth (1.399 AU)
Feb 07 - Cassini, Titan Flyby
Feb 07 - Comet 202P/Scotti Perihelion (2.527 AU)
Feb 07 - Asteroid 3169 Ostro Closest Approach To Earth (0.898 AU)
Feb 07 - Asteroid 2830 Greenwich Closest Approach To Earth (1.233 AU)
Feb 07 - Asteroid 5000 IAU Closest Approach To Earth (1.753 AU)
Feb 07 - NASA Glenn Visitor Center Event, Cleveland, Ohio
Feb 07 - Astronomical Society of the Pacific's 120th Birthday (1889)
Feb 08 - Mercury Dichotomy/Half phase
Feb 08 - Comet 201P/LONEOS Closest Approach To Earth (1.466 AU)
Feb 08 - Asteroid 2009 CP Near-Earth Flyby (0.020 AU)
Feb 08 - Asteroid 5555 Wimberly Closest Approach To Earth (1.954 AU)
Feb 08-12 - 19th AAS/AIAA Space Flight Mechanics Meeting, Savannah, Georgia
Feb 09 - Full Moon, 14:49.2 UT
Feb 09 - Penumbral Lunar Eclipse
Feb 09 - Asteroid 2008 CQ116 Near-Earth Flyby (0.029 AU)
Feb 09 - Asteroid 2009 BD58 Near-Earth Flyby (0.070 AU)
Feb 09 - Asteroid 2004 BY1 Near-Earth Flyby (0.096 AU)
Feb 09 - Asteroid 4957 Brucemurray Closest Approach To Earth (1.198 AU)
Feb 09 - Asteroid 99942 Apophis Closest Approach To Earth (1.709 AU)
Feb 09 - Asteroid 3259 Brownlee Closest Approach To Earth (1.981 AU)
Feb 09-10 - Workshop on Fracture Control of Spacecraft, Noordwijk, The Netherlands
Feb 09-11 - Dark Matter Conference, Florence, Italy
Feb 09-13 - International Workshop: Europa lander, Moscow, Russia
Feb 10 - Progress M-66 Soyuz U Launch (International Space Station 32P)
Feb 10 - Cassini, Orbital Trim Manoeuvre #182 (OTM-182)
Feb 10 - Comet P/2008 Y2 (Gibbs) Closest Approach To Earth (0.665 AU)
Feb 10 - Comet C/2008 X3 (LINEAR) Closest Approach To Earth (1.579 AU)
Feb 10 - Asteroid 2009 BE58 Near-Earth Flyby (0.022 AU)
Feb 10 - Asteroid 2006 AS2 Near-Earth Flyby (0.024 AU)
Feb 10 - Asteroid 2009 CD2 Near-Earth Flyby (0.040 AU)
Feb 10 - Asteroid 2008 EE5 Near-Earth Flyby (0.045 AU)
Feb 10 - Asteroid 472 Roma Closest Approach To Earth (1.506 AU)
Feb 10 - Asteroid 10204 Turing Closest Approach To Earth (1.703 AU)
Feb 10 - Asteroid 1006 Lagrangea Closest Approach To Earth (2.581 AU)
Feb 10 - Kuiper Belt Object 55565 (2002 AW197) Closest Approach To Earth (45.576 AU)
Feb 10-11 - European Workshop on Far-Infrared Interferometry Technology Development, Edinburgh, United Kingdom
Feb 11 - Express AM-44/Express MD-1 Proton M-Briz M Launch
Feb 11 - Asteroid 2009 BL58 Near-Earth Flyby (0.012 AU)
Feb 11 - 1st Workshop on Technologies for Deployment Mechanisms, Noordwijk, The Netherlands
Feb 12 - Neptune Conjunction
Feb 12 - Hotbird 10/ NSS-9/ Spirale 1 & 2 Ariane 5 Launch
Feb 12-13 - Meeting: New Views on the Earth's Interior, London, United Kingdom
Feb 12-13 - Mechanisms Final Presentation Days, Noordwijk, The Netherlands
Feb 13 - Mercury, Greatest Elongation
Feb 13 - Asteroid 2009 BA11 Near-Earth Flyby (0.048 AU)
Feb 13 - Asteroid 2007 GX5 Near-Venus Flyby (0.026 AU)
Feb 13 - Asteroid 1877 Marsden Closest Approach To Earth (3.725 AU)
Feb 13 - Lecture: Future Exploration of the Jupiter and Saturn Systems, London, United Kingdom
Feb 13-14 - Workshop on Design of Antenna & Radar Systems, Bangalore, India
Feb 14 - Asteroid 1814 Bach Closest Approach To Earth (1.081 AU)
Feb 15 - Asteroid 4925 (1981 XH2) Occults HIP 32055 (6.8 Magnitude Star)
Feb 15 - Asteroid 3873 Roddy Occults HIP 78384 (3.5 Magnitude Star)
Feb 15 - Asteroid 5223 McSween Closest Approach To Earth (2.641 AU)
Feb 15 - Galileo Galilei's 445th Birthday (1564)
Feb 16 - Last Quarter, 21:37.2 UT
Feb 16 - Asteroid 2005 YR3 Near-Earth Flyby (0.069 AU)
Feb 16-18 - International Workshop in Honour of Agnes Acker, Sydney, Australia
Feb 16-19 - AKARI Conference, Tokyo, Japan
Feb 17 - Mars is close to Jupiter: only 33.6' separated
Feb 17 - Dawn, Mars Flyby
Feb 17 - Asteroid 2009 CZ1 Near-Earth Flyby (0.049 AU)
Feb 17 - Asteroid 2003 UX34 Near-Mercury Flyby (0.034 AU)
Feb 17 - Asteroid 4763 Ride Closest Approach To Earth (1.450 AU)
Feb 17 - Asteroid 2688 Halley Closest Approach To Earth (2.458 AU)
Feb 17 - 50th Anniversary (1959), Vanguard 2 Launch
Feb 18 - Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko Perihelion (1.247 AU)
Feb 18 - Asteroid 1999 AQ10 Near-Earth Flyby (0.011 AU)
Feb 18 - Asteroid 9133 d'Arrest Closest Approach To Earth (2.040 AU)
Feb 19 - Lunar Apogee (distance to earth center: 405094.6 km)
Feb 19 - Sicral 1-B Zenit 3SL Launch
Feb 19 - Asteroid 2956 Yeomans Closest Approach To Earth (1.733 AU)
Feb 19 - Kuiper Belt Object 90482 Orcus Closest Approach To Earth (46.913 AU)
Feb 19 - Lecture: Galileo's Dream, Pasadena, California
Feb 20 - Raduga 1-9 (Globus 18) Proton K/DM-2 Launch
Feb 20 - Asteroid 2007 VU6 Near-Earth Flyby (0.028 AU)
Feb 20 - Asteroid 9016 Henrymoore Closest Approach To Earth (2.167 AU)
Feb 20 - Lecture: Galileo's Dream, Pasadena, California
Feb 20 - 15th Anniversary (1994), Clementine, Moon Orbit Insertion
Feb 21 - Venus at Perihelion
Feb 21 - Asteroid 2 Pallas Occults TYC 5904-00624-1 (12.7 Magnitude Star)
Feb 21 - Asteroid 1247 Wilburwright Closest Approach To Earth (2.741 AU)
Feb 21 - NASA Glenn Visitor Center Event, Cleveland, Ohio
Feb 21-28 - 25th Annual Winter Star Party, West Summerland Key, Florida
Feb 22 - STS-119 Launch, Space Shuttle Discovery (International Space Station 15A)
Feb 23 - Orbiting Carbon Observator (OCO) Taurus Launch
Feb 23 - Asteroid 2009 CV Near-Earth Flyby (0.012 AU)
Feb 23 - Asteroid 4923 Clarke Closest Approach To Earth (1.494 AU)
Feb 24 - Mercury is close to Jupiter: only 36.9' separated
Feb 24 - Comet C/2007 N3 (Lulin) Closest Approach To Earth (0.412 AU)
Feb 24 - 60th Anniversary (1949), Bumper WAC Launch
Feb 24-27 - 1st Symposium on Astrosociology, Huntsville, Alabama
Feb 25 - New Moon, 1:35.1 UT
Feb 25 - Comet C/2008 Y1 (Boattini) Perihelion (1.272 AU)
Feb 25 - Asteroid 1 Ceres At Opposition (6.9 Magnitude)
Feb 25 - Asteroid 2004 DA53 Near-Earth Flyby (0.051 AU)
Feb 25 - Asteroid 13801 Kohlhase Closest Approach To Earth (1.576 AU)
Feb 25 - 6th Meeting of VEXAG, Houston, Texas
Feb 25-26 - 4th GRID & e-Collaboration Workshop: Digital Repositories, Frascati, Italy
Feb 26 - Telstar 11N Zenit 3SLB Launch
Feb 26 - Comet P/2008 T1 (Boattini) Perihelion (3.045 AU)
Feb 26 - Asteroid 1 Ceres Closest Approach To Earth (1.581 AU)
Feb 26 - Asteroid 2007 AG Near-Mercury Flyby (0.025 AU)
Feb 26-27 - Conference: Venus Geochemistry, Houston, Texas
Feb 26-28 - 3rd Workshop on Titan Chemistry, San Juan, Puerto Rico
Feb 27 - Uranus at Aphelion (distance to sun: 20.099 AU)
Feb 27 - Asteroid 284 Amalia Occults HIP 94820 (4.9 Magnitude Star)
Feb 27 - Asteroid 2009 BD81 Near-Earth Flyby (0.047 AU)
Feb 28 - Space Technology 8 (ST8) Pegasus XL Launch
Feb 28 - Asteroid 2005 XV77 Near-Mercury Flyby (0.026 AU)
Feb 28 - Asteroid 2004 XN50 Near-Mercury Flyby (0.029 AU)
Feb 28 - Asteroid 2007 CX50 Near-Mars Flyby (0.031 AU)
Feb 28 - Asteroid 4148 McCartney Closest Approach To Earth (1.050 AU)
Feb 28 - Asteroid 117329 Spencer Closest Approach To Earth (1.059 AU)
Feb 28 - Sally Ride Science Festival, Beaumont, Texas
Feb 28 - 50th Anniversary (1959), Discoverer 1 Launch

-- Edited by Blobrana at 10:50, 2009-02-13

5 Winter Wonders For Kids
The sky darkens early in winter, so it's a great time to get outside with the kids for a little stargazing before bedtime.
But what to see?
 Here are 5 objects primed for viewing in February and March that are easy for kids to see with binoculars or telescope, or even with the naked eye.  

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