We are through the month of January now and launching ourselves into February.

Many of the club members had travel plans through the month of January, so no events were scheduled. Also unplanned was what appears to be the early start of the not-so-gentle spring "breezes" in New Mexico. Maybe the early start means that the end will come early too, although that has never happened in the past, to my experience. We will attempt to make the most of the nice days that we have however.

Valentine's Day SunTree Event in Elephant Butte, New Mexico

The club members and friends have been invited back to Elephant Butte for a Valentine's Day potluck on 13 February, the day prior to Valentine's Day.

If you happen to be one of those people who actually look at the What's Happening page on the website, you will see that this event also happens on the day before the lunar New Year.

If you did not get enough of the New Year's celebrations last month, then you can do it all over again, but with dragons this time. If Valentine hearts and New Year dragons are not your thing, then you might want to drag out your costumes from last year’s (or next year’s) Halloween and prepare yourself for the celebration of Mardi Gras which happens on the Tuesday (16 February) following our event. This is a catch-all SunTree event, even for those who only want to ignore it all to spend their time prunifying themselves in the hot tub.

Planning is needed on the part of the hosts of this (and all other SunTree) events, so be sure to contact SunTree (see contact us) to let us know that you plan to participate, what you plan to bring for the potluck and when you expect to show up. We will pass your information along to the members who are so generously hosting this event

Evening into Morning: This month, Jupiter tumbles into the Sun's glare at dusk and vanishes for the season. The mighty Jupiter will have a meeting with the newly emerging Venus at an undisclosed date around midmonth. They both remain somewhat hidden for this meeting in the glare of the Sun.

Evening for Purists: With the loss of those brassy show-offs (Jupiter and Venus) from the night sky, Mars makes the most of his bright place in center stage. Mars will still be brilliant all night long even while it loses half of its brightness as the Spaceship Earth pulls away from him. Mars has made an agreement with the Moon for some mid-month high jinks from 14 to 17 February. The show starts off with a big bright smile as the thin crescent Moon lies on its back in the fading dusk on those dates. The smile widens until finally on 25 February, the now full Moon will join up with Mars for a celestial duet.

Seeing that Mars has plans to hog the evening sky, Saturn decides to schedule his rise time to allow for convenient viewing hours, rising by 8:30 PM at mid month, due east. By midnight, the Saturn is high enough to appear through thinner air, its rings still very much edge-on.

There are a couple of neat bright stars to look for this month (real stars instead of plain ole planets pretending to be stars). The hunter Orion jumps up early this month so that you can find him high in the sky just south of the top of the dome of the sky soon after sunset. You need to look for those bright buckles along his belt. There appear to be three bright ones together in line along his belt. Up and to the right of Orion is the fearsome bull, Taurus. Taurus is always backing away from the hunter, but he keeps an ill tempered, brilliant, bloodshot eye to look back at the hunter. That red eye is Aldebaran. To the other side of Orion and below him, near his foot, is his loyal dog, Canis Major with the bright, loyal, shining heart star, Sirius. The bright buckle on Orion's boot opposite from Canis Major is Rigel and upon Orion's shoulder opposite from the glare of Tarus is Betelgeuse.