Dining & Nightlife | Astronomy

John Glenn entered space history on February 20, 1962 when he orbited Earth three times in space for four hours and 55 minutes; he was the first astronaut to circle the globe in a space vehicle. Just nine years later, on February 5, 1971, Shepard and Mitchell landed on the Moon. They collected samples of moon rocks, which they brought back to Earth for scientists to study. It should be noted, however, that the first soft landing on the Moon was achieved, not by an American spacecraft but by a Russian one. The craft in question, Luna 9, softly touched down on the Moon on the 3rd of February in 1966. The Russians were also the first to build and launch a “space mirror” intended to collect solar energy for use on Earth. This took place with the deployment of Znamya 2 on February 4, 1993.

• The Winter Solstice is now behind us and we are gaining about 2.4 minutes of daylight with each passing day.
• Venus will be visible in the early evening, setting an hour or so after the Sun. Look for it in western skies at or just after dusk.
• Jupiter will appear east of Venus and, thus, higher in the sky.
• Mars will once again grace the skies. No, it will not be as large as the Moon, but it will appear as a bright orange-tinged star rising in the eastern skies during early evening hours. Best viewing will be somewhat later, say after 9:30pm, when a telescope may reveal the planet’s polar ice caps. Mars reaches opposition on the 3rd of March, 2012.
• There are no significant nighttime meteor showers in February.

If you visit Custer, you can observe these fascinating planets and the Galilean moons through one of the institute’s telescopes.