Given clear skies, all of the U.S. (except Alaska and Hawaii) can watch the red planet Mars disappear behind the moon – or reappear, or both – on the morning of February 18, 2020.

Talk about an awesome Valentine’s Day activity! Go outside and show your sweetie Venus, the planet of love. Astronomer Guy Ottewell provides a chart and more.

The full moon on February 9, 2020, ranks as the 4th-closest (and therefore the 4th-largest) full moon of 2020, but is it a supermoon?

In February 2020, Venus lights up the west after sunset, with Mercury beneath Venus at dusk until around mid-month. Before sunrise, you’ll find a string of planets in the east: Mars at top, Saturn at bottom, and very bright Jupiter in between.

During a penumbral eclipse, very observant people in the right spot on Earth will look up and notice a dark shading on the moon’s face. Others will look and notice nothing at all.

A solar eclipse can happen only at new moon. A lunar eclipse can happen only at full moon. Additionally – for an eclipse to occur – the new moon or full moon has to take place within an eclipse season.

The longest lunar month in 2020 starts with the new moon on February 23, and concludes with the new moon on March 24. Its duration will be 29 days 17 hours and 56 minutes.

The moon will swing to its farthest from Earth for 2020 on March 24, and then comes closest to Earth about 2 weeks later, on April 7.

The sun in our sky moved in front of the constellation Sagittarius on December 18, 2019. It’ll move in front of the constellation Capricornus on January 20. Click here for sun-entry dates to zodiac constellations in 2020, using boundaries for constellations set by the International Astronomical Union in the 1930s.