FLORENCE-The sky in February is dominated by the bright winter constellations centered upon Orion, the Hunter, which shines in the southern part of the sky in the early evening. You can follow the line of the belt of the Hunter downward to the bright star Sirius in the constellation of Canis Major. If you follow the direction of the belt upward you find the bright star Aldebaran, the eye of Taurus, the Bull. Attached to the Bull is Auriga, the Charioteer, which the bright star Capella which is nearly overhead. Capella is the sixth brightest star the night sky. Taurus also has the star cluster known as the Pleiades or Seven Sisters shining in its shoulders. Since the Sun is near the Pleiades in late May and early June, this star group was important for agricultural societies to help to know when to 
plant crops. In Japan for instance it was known as Subaru, and is the star group in the logo of the Subaru cars. While the constellations are made up of stars which all have different ages, distances and motions through the galaxy, the Pleiades is a group of at least 1000 stars that are physically associated with one another, having formed from the same gas cloud about 110 million years ago. We think most stars form in such clusters. The Pleiades is about the size of the full Moon on the sky and a pair of binoculars or small telescope will give a magnificent sight. The major planets in the evening sky this month are Jupiter and Mars. Jupiter draws the eye, shining in the constellation of Gemini, not far from the stars Caser and Pollux that give the constellation its name. Mars is very close to the Star Spica in the constellation Virgo, and rises around 10:30PM from the latitude of Florence. It will be the star of the spring sky. Learn more about the constellations by visiting UNA Planetarium, which has public nights at 7PM Tuesdays in February. www.una.edu/planetarium.
