Evening sky in February 2008

This time of year sees the constellation of Orion - arguably the most distinctive in the night sky - at its highest above the northern horizon. Its line of three stars, almost in a straight line, within an irregular box of four bright stars, makes it easy to recognize. Betelgeuse is a reddish star - bottom right - near the end of it’s life. Its nuclear 'burning' has shifted from the core to a shell, greatly increasing its energy output - it is 6000 times more luminous than our Sun - and causing the outer layers of the star to swell enormously. Were it in the centre of our Solar System, the Earth would fall inside it. However it is so far away - 427 light years distant - that it still seems a pinpoint when viewed through a telescope. In time, its core will collapse and the outer layers, now enriched in heavier elements, will drift off into space.

Planet Mars (bright and reddish) is conspicuous well below Orion, while Saturn (yellowish) is rising in the east.

The Moon is in the evening sky Feb 8 to 23; an eclipse of the Moon occurs during the early hours of Feb 21.