Home > Constellations, Deep Sky Object, Ephemeris Program, Observing > Ephemeris: 02/05/2026 – The celestial unicorn

Ephemeris: 02/05/2026 – The celestial unicorn

February 5, 2026

Feb 5. This is Ephemeris for Thursday, February 5th. Today the Sun will be up for 10 hours even, setting at 5:57, and it will rise tomorrow at 7:55. The Moon, halfway from full to last quarter, will rise at 10:34 this evening.

Among all the constellations in the sky of animals real and mythical, there is also a unicorn. It’s called Monoceros, and inhabits the southeastern sky at 8 p.m. mostly bounded by Orion on the right, Canis Major, the great dog below and Canis Minor, the little dog to the left and above. Unfortunately for observers without a telescope Monoceros, is devoid of any but the faintest stars. Maybe that’s why no one sees unicorns anymore. Though it lacks bright stars Monoceros is full of wonders revealed by telescopes and photography. A feast of faint nebulae or clouds of gas and dust, the birthplace of stars, including the red rose of the Rosette Nebula, and the more recently named Hagrid’s Dragon Cluster (NGC 2301).

The astronomical event times given in this blog are for the Traverse City/Interlochen area of Michigan (Lat 44.7° N, Long 85.7° W; EST, UT – 5 hours) unless stated otherwise. Times will be different for other locations.

Addendum

Monoceros
Monoceros finder chart animation. Created using Stellarium and GIMP.
The Rosette Nebula,
The Rosette Nebula, NGC 2244, is an accurate description of this nebula. The stars in the center cause the hydrogen gases to glow red. The hottest and brightest young stars give off ultraviolet light which causes the gases to fluoresce. Also, the stellar winds from these stars blows away gases from the center, so star formation stops. Leaving a beautiful rosette in the sky. Unfortunately it’s too faint to see with the telescope visually, however it is a wonderful target for astrophotographers. Click or tap on the image to enlarge it. Credit: Dan Dall’Olmo, a member of the Grand Traverse Astronomical Society.
The brighter stars of NGC 2301, Hagrid's Dragon Cluster,
The brighter stars of NGC 2301 (Hagrid’s Dragon Cluster, AKA Great Bird Cluster and Copeland’s Golden Worm). It’s also in two other catalogs: Cr 119 and Mel 54. Created using Stellarium and GIMP. Dragon from “Dragon Flying Cycle” on YouTube by Simon Hussey.
Deep Sky Objects around Monoceros
Deep Sky Objects in and around Monoceros. Click on the image to enlarge. Created using Stellarium.
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