{"id":3599,"date":"2026-02-09T22:12:47","date_gmt":"2026-02-09T22:12:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sternwarte-zweibruecken.de\/?p=3599"},"modified":"2026-02-09T22:13:35","modified_gmt":"2026-02-09T22:13:35","slug":"the-starry-sky-in-february-2026","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sternwarte-zweibruecken.de\/en\/archive\/3599","title":{"rendered":"The starry sky in February 2026"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"aligncenter size-large is-resized\"><a href=\"https:\/\/sternwarte-zweibruecken.de\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/VdS-Sternkarten_2026_02.jpg\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\" noreferrer noopener\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"722\" src=\"https:\/\/sternwarte-zweibruecken.de\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/VdS-Sternkarten_2026_02-1024x722.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-3601\" style=\"aspect-ratio:1.4182650278533284;width:784px;height:auto\" srcset=\"https:\/\/sternwarte-zweibruecken.de\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/VdS-Sternkarten_2026_02-1024x722.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/sternwarte-zweibruecken.de\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/VdS-Sternkarten_2026_02-300x212.jpg 300w, https:\/\/sternwarte-zweibruecken.de\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/VdS-Sternkarten_2026_02-768x541.jpg 768w, https:\/\/sternwarte-zweibruecken.de\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/VdS-Sternkarten_2026_02-1536x1083.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/sternwarte-zweibruecken.de\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/VdS-Sternkarten_2026_02-18x12.jpg 18w, https:\/\/sternwarte-zweibruecken.de\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/VdS-Sternkarten_2026_02.jpg 1600w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/a><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<p class=\"has-black-color has-text-color has-link-color wp-elements-512e81b2e9960e75092586bdc3b3c949 wp-block-paragraph\"><br>In the evening hours of February, the starry sky really sparkles: the winter constellations around the <strong>Orion<\/strong>&nbsp;are famous for their bright stars. At 10 p.m. (the star chart shows this view), these constellations have already moved across the meridian. Below Orion, Sirius flickers in the constellation of the <strong>Big dog<\/strong>&nbsp;the brightest star in the entire sky. Above Orion on the right is the&nbsp;<strong>Bull<\/strong>&nbsp;with its main star Aldebaran. Even higher in the sky are the constellations of&nbsp;<strong>Carters<\/strong>&nbsp;with the yellowish Capella and to the left above Orion the&nbsp;<strong>Twins<\/strong>&nbsp;with the two bright stars Castor and Pollux. Prokyon, the brightest star in the Little Dog, shines below the twins.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-black-color has-text-color has-link-color wp-elements-23cdc8040ea7e973b487a254bd55c0df wp-block-paragraph\">The spring constellations can already be observed in the eastern sky. The constellation of the&nbsp;<strong>Lions<\/strong>&nbsp;with its main star Regulus has already risen completely. Below it, the star Alphard shines in the&nbsp;<strong>Water snake<\/strong>. The constellation of the&nbsp;<strong>Virgo<\/strong>&nbsp;does not fully rise until after midnight. The planet shines in Gemini&nbsp;<strong>Jupiter<\/strong>. Around the planet further west <strong>Uranus<\/strong>&nbsp;in Taurus, you should use binoculars.<\/p>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"aligncenter size-full is-resized\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"122\" src=\"https:\/\/sternwarte-zweibruecken.de\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/VdS-Mondphasen_2026_02-1024x122-1.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-3600\" style=\"aspect-ratio:8.392831272696421;width:773px;height:auto\" srcset=\"https:\/\/sternwarte-zweibruecken.de\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/VdS-Mondphasen_2026_02-1024x122-1.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/sternwarte-zweibruecken.de\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/VdS-Mondphasen_2026_02-1024x122-1-300x36.jpg 300w, https:\/\/sternwarte-zweibruecken.de\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/VdS-Mondphasen_2026_02-1024x122-1-768x92.jpg 768w, https:\/\/sternwarte-zweibruecken.de\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/VdS-Mondphasen_2026_02-1024x122-1-18x2.jpg 18w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><br><strong>The planets in February 2026<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Mercury<\/strong>&nbsp;can be seen in the evening sky in mid-February. It reaches its greatest eastern elongation on February 19. Venus can also be seen again to the south of Mercury. On the 18th, the narrow crescent Moon will be below Mercury and on the 19th above Mercury next to Saturn.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Venus<\/strong>&nbsp;can be seen in the evening sky from mid-February.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Mars<\/strong>&nbsp;The red planet remains invisible because it is below the horizon at night.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Jupiter<\/strong>&nbsp;The giant planet is still located in the constellation of Gemini and shines very brightly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Saturn<\/strong>&nbsp;bids farewell to the evening sky in February. It passes by distant Neptune after the middle of the month.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Uranus<\/strong>&nbsp;in Taurus becomes retrograde again, the greenish planet ends its opposition period and becomes the object of the first half of the night.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Neptune<\/strong>&nbsp;in the constellation of Pisces is located not far from Saturn and, like the ringed planet, can be observed in the early evening hours. It is overtaken by Saturn after the middle of the month.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In modified form from <a href=\"https:\/\/sternfreunde.de\/astronomie-entdecken\/der-sternenhimmel\/aktuelle-sternbilder-und-planeten\/der-sternenhimmel-im-februar\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">The starry sky in February 2026<\/a> - Association of Star Friends e.V.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>In the evening hours of February, the starry sky really sparkles: the winter constellations around Orion are famous for their bright stars. At 10 p.m. (the star chart shows this view), these constellations are already visible above the...<\/p>","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_crdt_document":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[38],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3599","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-die-himmelsvorschau"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sternwarte-zweibruecken.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3599","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sternwarte-zweibruecken.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sternwarte-zweibruecken.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sternwarte-zweibruecken.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sternwarte-zweibruecken.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3599"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/sternwarte-zweibruecken.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3599\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3602,"href":"https:\/\/sternwarte-zweibruecken.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3599\/revisions\/3602"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sternwarte-zweibruecken.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3599"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sternwarte-zweibruecken.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3599"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sternwarte-zweibruecken.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3599"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}