OBSERVING February 2017 1 MORNING: Jupiter and Spica open the month separated by 3.6°°, highest in the south about 2½ hours before sunrise. They remain about this close all month. 2 EVENING: Algol shines at minimum brightness for roughly two hours centered at 7:54 p.m. EST; see page 50. 5 EVENING: The waxing gibbous Moon beams left of Aldebaran as twilight deepens for North America. The Moon occults Aldebaran for southern Europe and northern Africa. 10 EVENING: A very deep penumbral eclipse of the Moon is visible around sunset or early evening for most of the Americas; see page 48. 19 NIGHT: Algol shines at minimum brightness for roughly two hours centered at 9:50 p.m. PST. 20 MORNING: The waning crescent Moon rises about two hours past midnight. Saturn, fairly bright at magnitude +0.5, follows about an hour behind. By dawn they're shining in the south-southeast. 22 NIGHT: Algol shines at minimum brightness for roughly two hours centered at 9:39 p.m. EST. 26 DAYTIME: An annular solar eclipse is visible in the morning along a line stretching from Chile and Argentina across the Atlantic Ocean through Angola. A partial solar eclipse occurs for viewers in much of South America and Africa; see page 49. 10-11 ALL NIGHT: Regulus travels with the full Moon. Watch through the night as they edge closer to each other. 15 MORNING: The waning gibbous Moon, Jupiter, and Spica form a shallow arc 6°°- 8°° long. This composite image, which combines X-ray (pink) and optical data, shows the superheated gas surrounding the stellar core of the planetary nebula NGC 2392. º See more on page 58. X- R AY: N AS A / CXC / I A A- C S I C / N . RU I Z E T A L . ; O P TI CA L: N AS A / S T S C I s k y a n d t e l e s c o p e .c o m * FEBRUARY 2017 41http://www.skyandtelescope.com