February Night Sky
Sky events for this month & objects for observation can be found here.
Courtesy of Orion Telescopes & Binoculars
Click to enlarge. A larger printable version of this chart can be found here.
PLANETS FOR FEBRUARY
In the chart above for mid-month, the colored arrows show the motion of each planet and the Sun during the month. The Moon is plotted for the evening dates in the Americas when it's waxing (right side Illuminated and the visible surface of the moon increases) or full, and for the morning dates when it's waning (left side illuminated visible surface of the moon decreases). Right Ascension and Declination are the equivalent of longitude and latitude of celestial objects. The Ecliptic is the line followed by the Sun in the sky throughout the year. Note that most of the planets and the Moon are located close to this plane. The Local Time of Transit indicates when the area of sky passes the meridian line from directly south to north. Sky & Telescope.
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PLANET SIZES & ILLUMINATION
Using a telescope one can observe Mercury's and Venus's phases, Jupiter's cloud belts and moons, and Saturn with its magnificent ring system. Venus is the bright "evening star" in the southwest. Jupiter remains large and bright, while Mars' disc is now smaller than Saturn's, but remains high in the sky for northern hemisphere observers. Saturn is in conjunction with the Sun on February 4, and unobservable. Neptune and Uranus remain very far away, have relatively small discs, and generally reveal little if any detail. 
Graphics - Sky & Telescope
THE SUN HAS AWAKENED! Daylight hours are getting longer, and solar activity is increasing as well. Telescopes equipped with approved solar filters are a safe way to see sunspots and other solar activity.
NATIONAL OCEANIC AND ATMOSPHERIC ADMINISTRATION
Solar activity continues to increase with the Sun's 11 year solar cycle progressing and providing increased numbers of sunspots, flares, and geomagnetic storm activity. Solar Cycle 24 ended a little earlier than predicted in late 2019, and Cycle 25 is now predicted to peak in late 2024, and currently looks to have a significantly greater number of sunspots than Cycle 24.
Solar activity near the peak of Solar Cycle 24. Images - Bob Yoesle
COMET C/2022 E3
A celestial visitor - a Comet named C/2022 E3 (ZTF) - will make a possible naked-eye appearance in the sky this month as it aproaches the Sun and passes nearby the Earth. No matter what, it will be a wonderful binocular and small telescope object. More detailed information and charts for finding the comet can be located here.
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MARS RECEEDS
Mars as seen in a Celestron 14 inch telescope with excellent atmospheric seeing conditions. Damian Peach.
Mars is fading in brightness due to its distance from Earth increasing, and its apparent size has decreased appreciably. Nevertheless, Mars remains ideally placed high in the sky for observation, and the “red planet” should still be able to reveal faint details in backyard telescopes on the planet's surface and the polar ice caps when the atmosphere is steady enough. Detailed observation information can be found here.
GROUNDHOG DAY
February 2 is the 1st "cross-quarter" day of 2023, marking the midway point of the Sun's path from the Winter Solstice to the Spring (Vernal) Equinox. Like many of our traditions related to the sky that have come down from antiquity, this is celebrated in the US as Groundhog Day. Other cross-quarter days include May Day and Halloween.
The Earth's orbit around the Sun is not a perfect circle, but rather a slightly elongated ellipse. Even though the Sun is closer to the Earth in the northern hemisphere winter, the distance to the Sun has little effect on the actual seasons in either hemisphere; the ~ 3% difference is small and not enough to overcome the much greater effect of the Earth's axial tilt which results in the seasons.
Following the Winter solstice in December, the Sun has begun to move northward in the sky along the ecliptic - the observed path of the Sun in the sky - toward the Vernal Equinox in March and the following northern hemisphere Summer Solstice in June; the days are becoming increasingly longer and the nights shorter. Although more cold months are ahead, we’ll gain a few minutes of daylight each day until the Summer Solstice on June 21, 2023.
This apparent movement and changing of the seasons is due to the Earth's axial tilt as it orbits around the Sun.
Mid northern latitude seasonal changes in the Sun's path in the sky. György Soponyai
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