Hourly Sky Charts

In the table below you can access whole sky charts for each hour of the night in February. These are purely star maps, i.e., the moon and planets are not shown. Stars are shown down to magnitude 5.0, the zenith is marked as a green cross at the center, and the yellow line on each map is the ecliptic, which is the line the moon and planets follow in the night sky. The North horizon is at the top, South at the bottom, East at the left and West at the right.

The early February maps are most accurate to the middle of the month, whereas the late January maps are more accurate for the second half of the month. All of these maps are accurate at 40° North, which is roughly the middle of the United States. If you live further north than this, your zenith (the point directly overhead) will be closer to Polaris on the chart; if you live further south, your zenith will be closer to the southern horizon on these maps.

Click the time you plan to observe in the table below to get a full-screen color map. If you prefer an inverse monochrome map, i.e., one where the sky is white and the stars are black, then click the links in the ‘Inverse Monochrome’ columns instead.

All maps linked to from this page were produced in Simulation Curriculum’s SkySafari 6 software. Simulation Curriculum neither sponsor nor endorse the Virtual Astronomy Club. Please check out their website for your own copy of SkySafari 6: https://skysafariastronomy.com/