February 3
The Pulsing Shield
Sun Position
The Sun is in Aquarius at about +15° declination. Northern mid-latitude daylight is near 10 hours; southern near 14.
Sky Highlight
No major annual meteor shower or solstice event today. Puppis (the Stern of the Argo) rides high in southern hemisphere skies this month, offering a sweep of open clusters for binocular observers.
Deep Sky Object
M46, an open cluster about 5,400 light-years away. A rich cluster in Puppis with roughly 500 stars, notable for containing a planetary nebula (NGC 2438) that appears superimposed on it but actually lies much closer. Visible from both hemispheres; better placed for southern observers in February.
Featured Star
Tureis (ρ Pup) is a yellow-white bright giant just 63.5 light-years away, spectral class F6IIp, and one of the brightest delta Scuti-type pulsating stars known. Every three hours its surface expands and contracts in a tide no ocean has, a little shield that breathes.
Around This Date
- February 3, 1972Soviet Luna 20 landed on the Moon in the Apollonius highlands, collected a soil sample, and returned it to Earth five days later.
- February 3, 1966Luna 9 made the first soft landing on the Moon, on this date it began transmitting the first close-up photographs ever taken from the lunar surface.
A star barely 63 light-years away ticks its own three-hour clock, indifferent to ours.