Look up and see the stars

In February

A Night Sky Guide for Aotearoa

If all goes well, the Moon is going to steal the show this month (again) as the four astronauts of the Artemis II mission venture around it, saying we are no longer a lonely planet. The 10-day flight will help confirm the systems and hardware needed for early human lunar exploration. Not bad, as far as lunar errands go.

Back on the farm in New Zealand, Taurus the Cow and Sirius the Dog slowly shift westward across the sky each day — not because they are going anywhere, but because our vantage point changes as Earth orbits the Sun. While we may be losing a sheep in February (Aries is slipping out of view), we get a Beehive (M44, or the Praesepe in Latin), the cluster that inhabits Cancer the Crab. It’s only a star cluster, but we’ll take it. In the middle of the ecliptic, the Twins roll in doing their cartwheel, and we see them upside down. As the night goes on, they, too, roll out to the west. The stars of the ecliptic — the zodiacal band — sit low in the summer February night sky. Leo the Lion pokes his head up from the east to remind everyone that this is, after all, a safari.

Now is the time to check out the Doppelgänger clusters — the Pleiades and the Southern Pleiades. Grab your binoculars (and maybe a tripod, unless you enjoy arm cramps) to explore the Beehive Cluster, the False Cross, and deep-sky gems like the Sombrero Galaxy and Omega Centauri. And just for fun: the Ghost of Jupiter is hanging out in Hydra, while the real Jupiter is in Gemini — both visible in roughly the same slice of sky in 2026, if you feel like comparing them.

Alpha & Omega.

Here’s a photo of Sam and our two telescopes Darth Vader and Princess Leia at Star Safari. The bright star on top of his right hand is Alpha Centauri, our closest neighbouring system. The bright dot above Darth Vader is Omega Centauri, a most exceptional globular cluster of 15,000,000 stars. Photo: Star Safari

Montly Update

The Southern Hemisphere is renowned for its fantastic deep-sky objects, dark skies, and crystal-clear atmosphere (with the occasional ozone-hole cameo), but less so for meteor showers. Yet this year, in 2026, we might catch a few extra meteors appearing from the general direction of Alpha Centauri — our closest stellar neighbour. This is thanks to the Moon not being in the sky at the right moment, making conditions unusually favourable for the (locally) world-famous Alpha Centaurid meteor shower. The star itself has nothing to do with the meteors, of course. The streaks of light come from Earth passing through the dusty remnants of an ancient comet tail, and that crossing just happens to line up with Alpha Centauri in our sky.

Low satellite passes are standard this month, thanks to twilight catching their reflective panels. They can look surprisingly bright and very smooth, especially when crossing a dark sky with no blinking lights.

While real spacecraft will be heading around the Moon on Artemis II, most unusual lights seen in February evenings will still be satellites passing over New Zealand shortly after sunset. If it’s bright, slow, steady, and straight? Satellite. If it blinks? Plane. If it performs physics-defying aerobatics? Congratulations — that one’s in your imagination.

Still, if you do see something unusual, wave. New Zealanders are famously friendly, and it would be rude not to.

The Planets

Jupiter takes all the credit this month — at least as far as planets you can actually see — and you can see it very well in Gemini. One planet is better than no planet, so we should be grateful. Shining steadily, it’s the unmistakable planetary highlight of February. Yes, Uranus is in Taurus too, but can we see it without a telescope? No. So Jupiter wins. It has eclipses, bands, 95 moons, and exciting things happening with the Great Red Spot (which is now more like the Little Red Spot). Venus, Mercury, and even Saturn (with Neptune hiding nearby) are keeping close company with the Sun, which means they’re effectively invisible from New Zealand — swallowed by twilight or setting too soon to be useful.

The Sun

Even the Sun needs a slower pace by late summer.

The Sun wakes up around 6:20 AM at the start of February and heads to bed around 8:40 PM. By the end of the month, it’s as if the Sun is catching up on sleep — turning in closer to 8 PM and taking an extra half-hour in the morning before rising.

Moon Phases

Full Moon:
February 2, 26 11:09 am

Last Quarter Moon:
February 10, 26 1:43 am

New Moon:
February 18, 26 1:01 am

The First Quarter Moon:
February 25, 26 1:28 am

What to look for in the Milky Way

In February, the Milky Way starts lifting high and is almost overhead after sunset. Look up, and you’ll find Sirius, the brightest star in the entire night sky, just north of overhead in Canis Major — the Big Dog. Sirius is actually a double system, Sirius A and Sirius B, nicknamed “the Pup.” They’re notoriously tricky to photograph, but we did it anyway. (Read more about them here.)

From Sirius, follow the Milky Way west and you’ll arrive at Orion — known locally as the Pot, perfect for simmering on the summer nights. Turn south and the Milky Way spills into the Carina–Vela region, ending with the Southern Cross as the fish in the frying pan.

On the opposite side of the Milky Way from Sirius sits Procyon in Canis Minor — the small dog. If Canis Major is the Dog, and Orion is the Pot, then Procyon makes it the Hot Dog (Frank Andrews, 2005). It’s a full culinary constellation set: hot dogs, pots and pans — the annual gastronomy of the Aotearoa summer sky.

Circumpolar Stars - look to the south

In February, Vela and Eta Carinae regions, Omega Centauri and Crux, and our neighbouring galaxy, the Large Magellanic Cloud, are great targets to observe. This is a photo of the 16″ telescope at Star Safari (2024) featuring the Coalsack and Southern Cross just above the telescope, the Wishing Well and Eta Carina above. Immediately to the right of it is the Diamond Cross with the Southern Pleiades. The far-right is the Small Magellanic Cloud, featuring 47 Tucanae as the bright object just below it, and Achernar as a star with a blue tinge to the top far right. Canon Ra and Sigma Art 24 mm lens, no filters, 12-second exposure at f /2.0, and 4000 ISO.

Globe at Night this month features

Orion & Canis Major

Space Missions & Cool Science

What is cooler than Artemis II? Artemis III, though we will have to hold our horses for that. In the meantime let’s keep our fingers crossed this one launches in time.

Reference Material

These guides don’t change each month — they’re your evergreen reference library. Perfect for beginners discovering the NZ night sky for the first time, or regulars who want a quick refresher.

Did you know that the Milky Way is always in the sky?

Whether high overhead or hugging the horizon or anything in between, the Milky Way is always there. The reason we can’t always see it is … LIGHT POLLUTION! Even though the light pollution in question sometimes comes from our lovely Moon*.

The part of the Milky Way that will always be in our southern sky is the beautiful region of Vela, Carina and Puppis, as well as the Southern Cross. These stars are circumpolar.

By definition, our galaxy is the sum of about 100 billion stars (NASA; ESA). Our Solar System sits about two-thirds of the way from its center, so we see this vast collection of stars as a glowing band across the sky crossed by long dark lines. Some of these stars are bright enough to resolve (stargazer slang for ‘distinguish’) with the unaided eye, while others reveal their detail through binoculars or telescopes.

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*Yet, even under a full Moon, you can still glimpse the Milky Way from Star Safari—faint, but definitely there!

What is the Circumpolar Region?

The Circumpolar Region is that part of the sky we always see from our latitude here in Aotearoa. It contains some of the most spectacular objects visible in the entire sky.

The Milky Way intersects the circumpolar region in the Carina-Crux region.

Famous New Zealand asterisms in there are: The Fish in the Frying Pan, The Diamond Cross, and the False Cross.

In addition, the bright stars Canopus and Achernar are also circumpolar from New Zealand, as are the Magellanic Clouds, our pet galaxies.

Stars in the circumpolar region neither rise nor set; they continuously circle the celestial pole, completing one full rotation in 23 hours and 56 minutes. This means that at the same hour each night, they appear slightly shifted compared to the previous night, gradually changing their position over the course of the year.

Learn about the Zodiacal Band

As the Earth and the other planets in our solar system orbit around the Sun, they do so almost in the same plane – this is called the ecliptic. From our point of view on Earth, this looks like a band of about 8 degrees in the sky, which is smaller than the width of your fist held at arm’s length. The stars that are visible behind the path of the planets are the Zodiacal Constellations, they form the Zodiacal Band.

You are not who you think you are ... — This is the Zodiacal band, an excellent drawing by Eugene Georgiades. For one thousand years, when people stopped taking precision into account, the zodiacal constellations have shifted. Yes, we are once again not what we think we are. Here is an excellent site with more details about your real star sign.

When and where can we see the planets

The Inner Planets

Mercury and Venus, being close to the Sun, are only visible just after sunset or just before sunrise—never in the middle of the night. Their elongation, distance from the Sun, is always less than half the sky.

The Outer Planets

Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune can appear at any time of the night, depending on their position in their orbits.

Uranus and Neptune are too dim to be seen with the unaided eye, requiring binoculars or a telescope. In fact, their faintness kept them hidden until they were identified as planets—Uranus on 13 March 1781 and Neptune on 23 September 1846.

And a bit more about planetary alignments

Media often sensationalizes these events, but in reality, they are regular occurrences without significant impact**. The planets in our Solar System orbit the Sun in roughly the same plane, known as the ecliptic, with orbital inclinations typically within a few degrees of each other. For instance, Mercury has the largest inclination at about 7 degrees. Given this arrangement, alignments of planets are natural and frequent phenomena and most times rather than not we will see the planets in an arch across the sky.

Not all planets are visible at one given time, always: some are in the morning sky, some are in the evening sky and some are hiding behind the Sun.

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**Except for the famous planetary alignment that led to the launch the Voyagers.

The Voyager mission took advantage of a rare planetary alignment in the late 1970s and 1980s, enabling a four-planet tour—Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune—with minimal fuel and time. This alignment, occurring once every 175 years, allowed the spacecraft to use gravity assists instead of large onboard propulsion (NASA).

When to best see satellites and other 'UFO's

The best time to see satellites is just after sunset or before sunrise. Why? Because of the angle at which light falls onto them.

UFOs: Unidentified? Not for Long!

Every stargazing night, someone inevitably spots a mysterious moving light and whispers, “What was the weirdest thing you guys have seen?” And even with more than 12,000+ satellites orbiting above us, the answer is usually, “No, that’s just Elon Musk’s space WiFi.”

Satellites Orbits at Star Safari, photo Sam Leske, 2025

But let’s not ruin all the fun—because historically, UFO sightings have ranged from military test flights to overenthusiastic birds reflecting city lights. The real trick is knowing what’s actually up there:

🛰 Satellites – They glide steadily across the sky, sometimes in long trains (looking at you, Starlink).

🔥 Space junk re-entry – They can make for a good light show, but they look more like a match catching on fire rather than an alien invasion.

☄️ Meteors – Quick, bright streaks that don’t hover, so if it’s zooming and gone in a flash, you’re probably safe from abduction.

🛸 Actual UFO? – Well… statistically unlikely, but if they do land in NZ, make sure to ask them “So… what did you get up to in the weekend?” That should send them straight back to their spacecraft.

Be a citizen scientist and contribute to Globe at Night

Is stargazing a hobby? Turn your passion into science!

The best way to learn the night sky is to observe it—and you can also contribute to science! Globe at Night is a citizen science project where you count stars in specific constellations to help track light pollution worldwide.

Also checkout our Stargazing Guide

Stargazing in Aotearoa New Zealand

The Night Sky Monthly series from Milky-Way.Kiwi shares what’s above Aotearoa each month — the stars, the planets, and the odd deep-sky treasure. It’s written from the Wairarapa Dark Sky Reserve, which Lonely Planet recently called one of the world’s top stargazing experiences.