Sky Excitement – February 2026

Credit: Orbital Today

February’s full moon, known as a full snow moon, will reach its peak illumination around 5 p.m. ET on Feb. 1. While it isn’t a supermoon, it’s still a striking sight, especially if you watch it rise above the horizon around sunset.

That’s when it looks not only larger, but bright orange. The name “snow moon” reflects the heavy winter snowfall typical of this time of year

8 February: Alpha Centaurids Meteor Shower

Credit: Deposiphotos
The only notable meteor shower this month, active from late January through about 20 February, pushes its best display right into the heart of the Southern Hemisphere’s late night sky. Around the peak night of 8 February into the early hours of 9 February, the shower typically produces around 6 meteors per hour.

Midway through February 2026, the sky pulls off a rare sleight of hand: an annular solar eclipse paired with the New Moon, carving a blazing “Ring of Fire” across one of Earth’s most unforgiving frontiers – remote Antarctica. This event won’t plunge skies into darkness the way a total eclipse does.

February closes with a grand finale that feels like the solar system flexing for your eyes: a rare six-planet alignment that turns the western horizon into a subtle but striking planet parade. At roughly an hour after local sunset, six planets — Mercury, Venus, Saturn, Jupiter, Uranus and Neptune — will be arrayed along the ecliptic, the path the Sun and planets trace across the sky, forming a gentle arc that stretches from low in the west up toward the southeast where Jupiter glows brightest.