The Night Sky February 2025

With January over (finally), it’s time to look forwards to what delights The Night Sky February 2025 will bring us!

The Night Sky is a curated list of deep sky objects such as galaxies, nebulae and star clusters that I think are interesting to photograph throughout February’s night skies.

What you can expect is targets chosen for specific focal lengths ranging from 200mm all the way up to 2000mm. They’re all based on a full-frame DSLR camera sensor. However, I also include equivalents for popular cameras out there as well. This means that no matter what your camera, what your telescope, you will almost certainly find a suggestion for your skies.

Any planets I include also are chosen only if they raise above 20° altitude for about 2 hours at least. This means the planet clears the worst of the atmosphere, giving you a better chance to get good seeing on it for a better image!

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The Night Sky February- Deep Sky Objects

200-300mm

Your Camera SensorFocal Length Needed
183 / 533 74mm – 111mm
294 / 1600 100mm – 150mm
Canon APS-C125mm – 187mm
Nikon APS-C/ 071 / 2600133mm – 200mm
Full Frame / Canon 5D / 6200200mm – 300mm

There’s always something so satisfying with wider field of views. I think it’s the ability to put things into perspective. Or, most likely, the sheer pleasure of fitting multiple targets in one frame!

My suggestion for 200-300mm imaging for The Night Sky February is the Heart and Soul Nebula. Located within the constellation of Cassiopeia. IC1805 and IC1848 respectively. The Heart and Soul Nebulae are relatively large emission based nebula. Ideal for dual narrowband filters or HaRGB imaging.

IC1805 and IC1848 located within Cassiopeia
The Heart and Soul Nebula at 300mm

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400mm

Your Camera SensorFocal Length Needed
183 / 533 148mm
294 / 1600 200mm
Canon APS-C250mm
Nikon APS-C/ 071 / 2600266mm
Full Frame / Canon 5D / 6200400mm

Moving up to 400mm focal length when used on a full frame camera. My recommendation this month is NGC7822. Otherwise known as the Question Mark Nebula. This emission nebula is located within the constellation of Perseus, and for a while I didn’t know it was known as the Question Mark Nebula.

One form of this target I think works well is being presented purely in Hydrogen Alpha. There’s a lot of intricate details locked away in this, that a good aperture and narrowband filters will really excel in pulling out.

The Question Mark Nebula framed at 400mm located within Perseus.
Question Mark Nebula NGC7822 at 400mm

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500mm – 600mm

Your Camera SensorFocal Length Needed
183 / 533 185mm – 222mm
294 / 1600 250mm – 300mm
Canon APS-C312mm – 375mm
Nikon APS-C/ 071 / 2600333mm – 400mm
Full Frame / Canon 5D / 6200500mm – 600mm

An iconic reflection nebula located within the excellent Cepheus. Within 500 and 600mm of focal length, may I suggest looking at Caldwell 4 or NGC 7023. Also known as the Iris Nebula.

Twinkling beautifully within a shell of reflective dust. The Iris Nebula is a blue gem of a target to image at any time. It has something for everyone – if you have some light pollution you’ll still be able to see the Iris itself, as well as the glimpse of the dust surrounding it. From darker skies, the dust lanes will become extremely prevalent and have some real structure to them. Darker skies are better, and no filters!

The Iris Nebula NGC 7023 presented at 600mm
NGC 7023 Iris Nebula at 600mm
The Iris Nebula: Credited HeWhoLooks
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Iris1HunterWilson.jpg

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700mm – 800mm

Your Camera SensorFocal Length Needed
183 / 533 259mm – 296mm
294 / 1600 350mm – 400mm
Canon APS-C437mm – 500mm
Nikon APS-C/ 071 / 2600466mm – 533mm
Full Frame / Canon 5D / 6200700mm – 800mm

February and into the beginning of spring marks the start of Galaxy Season. And to celebrate this, my recommendation for The Night Sky February will be Markarian’s Chain. Located within the constellation of Virgo, the Virgin Maiden.

As the name suggests, Markarian’s Chain is a collection of galaxies all forming to create a chain with a very iconic and discernible smiling face at the end. It is a little uncanny and creepy. What I love about this is the seeming 3D nature. The galaxies at the end of the chain look smaller and further back than the eyes themselves, creating a popping illusion. I’d love to see this put through a parallax image generator!

Markarian's Chain at 800mm Focal Length
Markarian’s Chain at 800mm
Markarian’s Chain

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1000mm

Your Camera SensorFocal Length Needed
183 / 533 370mm
294 / 1600 500mm
Canon APS-C625mm
Nikon APS-C/ 071 / 2600666mm
Full Frame / Canon 5D / 62001000mm

Keeping with the galaxy season theme, the last three entries are all going to be galaxies! At 1000mm focal length, or equivalent, I recommend imaging M101. Otherwise known as the Pinwheel Galaxy.

M101 the Pinwheel Galaxy is iconic in its face on appearance. It has a very defined spiral structure and appearance to it which makes it a joy to photograph. Again, as we enter these longer focal lengths, your guiding may start to have more demand on it. But the Pinwheel Galaxy is certainly a popular target to photograph.

The Pinwheel Galaxy M101 on Stellarium at 1000mm focal length.
M101 The Pinwheel Galaxy

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1500mm

Your Camera SensorFocal Length Needed
183 / 533 555mm
294 / 1600 750mm
Canon APS-C937mm
Nikon APS-C/ 071 / 26001000mm
Full Frame / Canon 5D / 62001500mm

For my second to last suggestion for The Night Sky February 2025, we have such an iconic northern hemisphere target. Located within the constellation of Canes Venatici, M51 the Whirlpool Galaxy is my suggestion for this focal length.

Combining the beauty of a distinct blue hue, a blazing orange/yellow core and a dusty companion galaxy that is sucking M51 in, this target, whilst a bit smaller, is certainly rewarding. So much intricate detail is present here also, that some high pass sharpening will certainly do wonders.

M51 The Whirlpool Galaxy
M106 The Splendid Galaxy at 1500mm
Telescope.Live M51 Whirlpool Galaxy data image.
The Whirlpool Galaxy with data from Telecope.Live

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2000mm

Your Camera SensorFocal Length Needed
183 / 533 740mm
294 / 1600 1000mm
Canon APS-C1250mm
Nikon APS-C/ 071 / 26001333mm
Full Frame / Canon 5D / 62002000mm

The final recommendation for Deep Sky Objects within The Night Sky February is a nice interesting and intricate galaxy called NGC3718. This has no real defined shape, it’s quite amorphous and at these focal lengths most people will revert to using Off-Axis Guiding. Really, the larger apertures are required to really pick up the intricate details, but don’t let that deter you from trying!

Located within Ursa Major, and featuring a red core stabbing through the middle of the blue amorphous surrounding. This is such a bizarre and yet captivating target to image.

NGC 3718 at 2000mm
NGC 3718
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Noao-n3718block.jpg
KPNO/NOIRLab/NSF/AURA/Adam Block

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The Night Sky February 2025 – Planets

If galaxies and nebulae aren’t your thing and you prefer imaging solar system objects like planets. Then never fear, as I am here to give you suggestions.

Again, I only mention planets that raise over 20° in altitude due to the murky atmosphere interfering and causing grief.

This month we have four planets to choose from:

  • Mars
  • Jupiter
  • Uranus

Mars will arguably be the best choice this month. Neptune is only around for a brief period and then sets below 20°, and whilst Jupiter is always a sound target with its iconic red dot. It’s Mars that has a certain event happening.

On the 9th February, Mars will be occluded by the Moon. Where, from our perspective, the Moon passes in front of the red planet and thus obscuring (occluding) it from our vision.

I’d recommend using a program like Stellarium just to completely check what time the occlusion will happen from your location though. Just to avoid disappointment.

The Moon will occlude Mars in the Night Sky February

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The Night Sky February 2025 – Moon Phases

If you fancy imaging something a bit closer, say, our own satellite. Or want to know when to get the Hydrogen-Alpha filters out, or even when to just have an early night. Here are the Lunar phases for February 2025:

  • 5th February- First Quarter
  • 12th February – Full Moon
  • 20th February – Last Quarter
  • 28th February – New Moon

The Snow Moon

The Moon in The Night Sky February is called the Snow Moon.

Within the North American continent, February is, or was, or may still be a traditionally cold month. The continent is of course very large so its hard to pinpoint where they meant! However, due to the weather during this time of the year it would be cold and snow a lot. Hence this Moon’s name. However, it can also be called the Storm Moon and even Hunger Moons. Hunger Moon going back from January’s Moon also, where its cold and barren and there’s not much food around.

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Events

Aside from the aforementioned occlusion of Mars by the Moon, there’s no other events to mention in February.

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The Night Sky February 2025 – Meteor Showers

No meteor showers will be taking place during February unfortunately. But they will begin to pick up again soon.

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Watch The Night Sky February 2025 Video

If you’d rather watch the video presentation, you can find it on YouTube here.

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