{"id":3126,"date":"2026-02-02T04:17:35","date_gmt":"2026-02-02T04:17:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.griffithmedia.org\/skyreport\/?p=3126"},"modified":"2026-02-02T04:17:35","modified_gmt":"2026-02-02T04:17:35","slug":"griffith-observatory-sky-report-through-february-2026","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.griffithmedia.org\/skyreport\/2026\/02\/02\/griffith-observatory-sky-report-through-february-2026\/","title":{"rendered":"Griffith Observatory Sky Report through February, 2026"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Click<\/strong><\/a>LISTEN to this week\u2019s Sky Report<\/p>\nhttps:\/\/www.griffithmedia.org\/skyreport\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/FEB_2026_Sky_Report.mp3<\/a><\/audio>\n

This is the Griffith Observatory Sky Report for the period between February 1<\/span><\/span> and February 28, 2026. Here are the events happening in the sky of southern California.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Mercury<\/b><\/span><\/span> begins April close to the sun and is not safe to observe. On the 6<\/span><\/span>th<\/span><\/sup><\/span>, the planet sets in the west-southwest at 6:24 p.m., PST, and the sun sets at 5:29 p.m., PST, 55 minutes earlier. The planet is 92-percent illuminated and 5.3 arcseconds wide. On the 28<\/span><\/span>th<\/span><\/sup><\/span>, the sun sets at 5:49 p.m., PST, and Mercury sets in the west at 6:45 p.m., PST, 56 minutes later. The planet is 14-percent illuminated and 9.3 arcseconds wide. Do not observe any planet when it comes close to the sun, for the danger to the eyes is great.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Venus<\/b><\/span><\/span> begins February close to the sun and is not safe to observe. On the 28<\/span><\/span>th<\/span><\/sup><\/span>, Venus sets in the west-southwest at 6:48 p.m., PST, 59 minutes after the sun sets.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Mars<\/b><\/span><\/span> is close to the sun all month long and not safe to observe.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

<\/a> Jupiter<\/b><\/span><\/span> is in Gemini the Twins. On the 1<\/span><\/span>st<\/span><\/sup><\/span>, the planet sets in the west-northwest at 5:30 a.m., PST, and is 45 arcseconds wide. On the 28<\/span><\/span>th<\/span><\/sup><\/span>, Jupiter sets in the west-northwest at 3:36 a.m., PST, and is 43 arcseconds wide. A telescope capable of magnification 50x will show the Red Spot and the four bright Galilean moons moving back and forth, across and behind Jupiter.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

<\/a> Saturn<\/b><\/span><\/span> is in Pisces the Fishes. On the 1<\/span><\/span>st<\/span><\/sup><\/span>, the planet sets in the west at 8:59 p.m., PST. Saturn is 16 arcseconds wide. On the 28<\/span><\/span>th<\/span><\/sup><\/span>, the planet sets at 7:27 p.m., PST. The rings and Saturn\u2019s largest moon Titan may be seen with a telescope capable of magnification 50x.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Uranus<\/b><\/span><\/span> is in the constellation Taurus the Bull. On the 1<\/span><\/span>st<\/span><\/sup><\/span>, the planet sets in the west-northwest at 1:46 a.m., PST, and is 3.7 arcseconds wide. On the 28<\/span><\/span>th<\/span><\/sup><\/span>, Uranus sets in the west-northwest at 12:01 a.m., PST. On the 15<\/span><\/span>th<\/span><\/sup><\/span>, Uranus is at Right Ascension 3<\/span><\/span>h<\/span><\/sup><\/span> 41<\/span><\/span>m<\/span><\/sup><\/span> 8<\/span><\/span>s<\/span><\/sup><\/span> with a declination of +19<\/span><\/span>\u00b0<\/span><\/span> 25<\/span><\/span>\u02b9<\/span><\/span> 29<\/span><\/span>\u02ba<\/span><\/span>. A telescope with a magnification of 150x is needed to show the disk.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Neptune<\/b><\/span><\/span> is in the constellation Pisces the Fishes. On the 1<\/span><\/span>st<\/span><\/sup><\/span>, the planet sets in the west at 9:06 p.m., PST, and is 2.2 arcseconds wide. On the 28<\/span><\/span>th<\/span><\/sup><\/span>, Neptune sets at 7:24 p.m., PST. On the 15<\/span><\/span>th<\/span><\/sup><\/span>, the planet is at Right Ascension 0<\/span><\/span>h<\/span><\/sup><\/span> 4<\/span><\/span>m<\/span><\/sup><\/span> 9<\/span><\/span>s<\/span><\/sup><\/span> with a declination of -0<\/span><\/span>\u00b0<\/span><\/span> 58<\/span><\/span>\u02b9<\/span><\/span> 41<\/span><\/span>\u02ba<\/span><\/span>. A telescope with a magnification of 150x is needed to show the disk.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Full moon occurs on the 1<\/span><\/span>st<\/span><\/sup><\/span>, last quarter on the 9<\/span><\/span>th<\/span><\/sup><\/span>, new moon on the 17<\/span><\/span>th<\/span><\/sup><\/span>, and first quarter on the 24<\/span><\/span>th<\/span><\/sup><\/span>.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

SPECIAL EVENTS<\/b><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

There are no special events in February.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Follow All Space Considered and Griffith Observatory on Facebook<\/a>, Instagram<\/a>, YouTube<\/a>, and Twitter<\/a> for updates on astronomy and space-related events.<\/p>\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

LISTEN to this week\u2019s Sky Report https:\/\/www.griffithmedia.org\/skyreport\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/FEB_2026_Sky_Report.mp3 This is the Griffith Observatory Sky Report for the period between February 1 and February 28, 2026. Here are the events happening in the sky of southern California. Mercury begins April close to … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3126","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-skyreport"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.griffithmedia.org\/skyreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3126","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.griffithmedia.org\/skyreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.griffithmedia.org\/skyreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.griffithmedia.org\/skyreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.griffithmedia.org\/skyreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3126"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.griffithmedia.org\/skyreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3126\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3132,"href":"https:\/\/www.griffithmedia.org\/skyreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3126\/revisions\/3132"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.griffithmedia.org\/skyreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3126"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.griffithmedia.org\/skyreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3126"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.griffithmedia.org\/skyreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3126"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}