Exciting February sky events include Venus at its brightest and closest to Earth, the moon occulting the Pleiades, and a parade of planets in the post-sunset sky.

There will also be two total lunar eclipses that occur during the March and September full moon events. A lunar eclipse, which causes the moon to look dark or dimmed, occurs when Earth is between the sun and moon and the three celestial objects line up in a row so that the moon passes into our planet’s shadow.

The full moon in February was dubbed the snow moon due to the heavy snowfall typically seen this time of year, according to the Old Farmer's Almanac, which first began publishing names for full moons in the 1930s.

The moon reached its peak brightness at 8:53 a.m. EST (1353 GMT) on Feb. 12, but local moonrise and moonset times will depend on your location. As the February full moon rises, Mars will remain high in the sky to the upper right of the moon, creating a delightful skywatching scene.

A shortcut for New Yorkers to spot some of the planets is to look for them when they are near the moon. On Feb. 1, Venus will appear just above the crescent moon. On the third day of the month, Neptune will appear under Venus. Mars will appear near the moon on Feb. 9.