Skywatcher's Guide: February and March 2025

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• Stars and Constellations
• Solar System
• Calendar of Night Sky Events
• Deep Sky
• Frequently Asked Questions

Stars and Constellations

In February, the center of the Milky Way is well below the horizon, but there is still a good portion of our galaxy we can see streaking high across the sky. The fall sky is still prominent in the west.  The "W" of Cassiopeia is high in the northwest. In the absence of the Big Dipper (part of our spring sky) Cassiopeia can be used to locate the north star: The top (open side) of the "W" faces to the north, so in that direction look for a star about the same brightness as the main stars in Casssiopeia, and that will most likely be Polaris.  The Big Dipper is beginning to come up again, but it is likely to be hidden behind trees and mountains along the horizon.  Next, the Great Square of Pegasus is getting low in the west.  Andromeda is just above that, with Perseus even higher, nearly in the middle of the sky.  Finally, the winter sky is now getting very high in the east.  Taurus the bull with the bright star Aldebaran is very high (near Perseus) along with the Pleiades (aka the seven sisters or Subaru) star cluster.  Auriga the charioteer with the bright star Capella is very high as well, slightly more to the northeast.  Gemini the twins is just below that in the east, and Canis Minor (the little dog) with the bright star Procyon is just below.  Orion the hunter is up in the southeast, with his easily recognizable belt, and Canis Major (the big dog) is just below.

In March, the winter portion of the Milky Way continues to streak across the sky.  The fall constellations are now getting low in the west, with Pegasus now partly below the horizon.  The winter constellations are now in the middle of the sky, and some of the spring constellations are beginning to come up.  Leo the lion is just above the horizon in the east, and the Big Dipper (Ursa Major) is now up in the northeast.

Interesting Stars Visible in February and March (from 7-10 pm)

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Solar System

Learn about the February "Planet Parade" here!

Mercury passes behind the Sun in early February but will be visible in the evening sky by the end of the month.  Then in mid-March it will disappear again as it begins to move between Earth and the Sun.

Venus begins February high in the southwest after sunset but descends faster and faster until it passes between Earth and the Sun in late March.

Mars is now up before sunset, starting off low in the east in February and gradually moving higher and more towards the south.

Jupiter begins February high in the east at sunset, gradually moves through the south, and then ends March high in the west.

Saturn starts off low in the southwest after sunset, slowly descending until it disappears.  It passes behind the Sun in mid-March.

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Jupiter Great Red Spot Transits in February and March (from 7-10 pm)

Note: The GRS is visible on the disk of Jupiter for 50 minutes before and after meridian transit time.

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Calendar of Night Sky Events

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Deep Sky

The winter Milky Way is now prominent in the sky.  There are many spectacular deep sky objects we can see now.  Starting with open clusters, we first have the Pleiades (Seven Sisters, M45) nearly in the middle of the sky.  Next to that, the Hyades cluster (C41) makes up the face of Taurus the bull.  Also nearby, the constellation of Auriga contains M36, M37, and M38, which are visible with binoculars.  We also have Perseus's Double Cluster (C14) still fairly high in the northwest, and the Beehive (Praesepe, M44) up in the east.

This is not a good time of year to see globular clusters, as most of them are concentrated in the summer sky.  The brightest one we can see now is M79 below Orion in Lepus the hare, but it is nearly 8th magnitude.

For nebulae, we have the spectacular Orion Nebula (M42) now prominent in the south. This is the closest star-forming region to our solar system.  We also have some good planetary nebulae, which come from dying stars.  The Blue Snowball (C22) in Andromeda is towards the west, the Eskimo (C39) in Gemini is high in the east, and the Owl (M97) in Ursa Major is low in the northeast.

And now the galaxies:  Our neighbor the Andromeda Galaxy (M31) is now heading towards the west and is visible on dark nights with the naked eye.  Also nearby is the Triangulum Galaxy (M33), visible with binoculars.  In Ursa Major to the northeast we have Bode's Galaxy (M81) and the Cigar Galaxy (M82), close enough to be seen together in a low-power telescope.

Interesting Deep Sky Objects to Observe during February and March (from 7-10 pm)

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Frequently Asked Questions

What will happen when the Andromeda Galaxy collides with our Milky Way?

You may have heard that Andromeda and the Milky Way are getting closer together and will eventually collide.  But what will that look like, and how long do we have to wait?

We can measure how fast Andromeda is approaching us by looking at its spectrum.  We look for certain features called emission lines and notice that they are shifted when compared to a stationary object.  Specifically, they are blue-shifted, meaning that the wavelengths are compressed.  We measure a relative speed of 110 km/sec (68 mi/sec).  That is really fast, but Andromeda is still about 2.5 million lightyears away from us, so it will take about 4 to 5 billion years to reach us at that speed.

It is harder to measure the tangential speed, or the speed perpendicular to the imaginary line connecting our two galaxies.  But using the Hubble Space Telescope, our best estimate is around 17 km/s (11 mi/s).  If it were much faster, it would not collide with us, but rather it would mean that our two galaxies were orbiting each other.  This possibility was finally ruled out in 2012.

Ok, so fast forward a few billion years and now our galaxies are beginning to collide.  Will stars actually be hitting other stars?  Even though both galaxies have hundreds of billions of stars, they are spread out so much that actual star-star collisions are pretty unlikely.  If you shrunk our Sun down to the size of a ping pong ball, the next closest star would be 1100 km (680 mi) away.  Even near the center of the galaxy where stars are much closer together, it would still be like having one ping pong ball every 3 km (2 mi).  Thus our two galaxies could easily pass through one another without any stars hitting other stars.  However, it's not impossible that we could see a nova or two (explosions smaller than supernovae) as stars bump into each other.

Even though there will be little to no physical contact, the gravity of that many stars will affect what happens next.  Andromeda and the Milky Way will more or less pass through one another, but with much less speed than before. Their shapes will also be greatly distorted, with stars getting flung in all directions.  The galactic cores will slow down, stop, and then come back together again a couple billion years later, finally merging into one larger galaxy.  The surrounding stars will eventually settle into a more stable configuration, likely as an elliptical galaxy, which has already been named Milkomeda.

The fate of our solar system in all this is uncertain - but by then our Sun will be reaching the end of its life, so humans may have moved on to other places in the galaxy anyway.  I guess we'll just have to wait and see!

If you have any questions you'd like me to answer in the next issue of SWG, please let me know.  I'm also happy to take suggestions or comments, and also pictures if you'd like to send them.  Happy viewing!

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Date of publication: 2025