February’s full moon, the Snow Moon, will be visible until Sunday morning, February 28, 2021.Aristide Economopoulos | NJ Advance Media
If you looked at the sky last night, you probably noticed that the moon looked full. The February snow moon won’t be full until early Saturday morning, but it will look like that on Sunday morning, according to NASA’s Gordon Johnston, who makes a monthly skywatch report.
This month’s moon name, derived from Native American traditions, refers to the abundant amount of snow that usually falls at this time of year – and the resulting difficulty in hunting. Their names include Snow Moon, Storm Moon and Hunger Moon.
The full moon will not be the only thing shining in the sky this weekend. Johnston’s NASA blog describes some other things sky watchers should be aware of.
- Early Saturday, when morning twilight begins, the planet Mercury will appear just above the horizon in the east-southeast with the weaker planet Saturn appearing nearby. Soon after that, Jupiter will appear in the same area, shining brighter than the other two planets – it will take a very clear view of the horizon to see the three planets.
- As the twilight of the night ends on Saturday, the only visible planet will be Mars, appearing above the west-southwest horizon. The brightest star that appears closest directly overhead will be Capella – look for it above the horizon to the north.
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