The Moon will be at First Quarter on the 6th, rising at 1.50pm and setting at 11.30pm. On the 13th, she’ll be Full, rising at 3.40pm and setting at 6.15am the next morning. On the 19th, she’ll be at Last quarter, rising at 11.15pm and setting at 1pm the next day. Now that the clocks have been put back, we have “longer” nights? Not really, earlier yes, but the steadiest skies, thence best for observing, are in the early morning, and we now have less of that. There’s always something to complain about, isn’t there?
Planets. Mercury and Mars are too close to the Sun for safety, so don’t be tempted.
On the 1st, other than Mercury, the Sun and Mars, we have Venus, as the Evening Star, and the thin crescent Moon following each other setting in the west, Venus about 90 mins after the Sun. The Moon and Venus will make a fine sight, 5° from each other, with Jupiter another 30° to the left. The Moon will have moved to 14° to the left of Venus on the 2nd, so another fine picture possibility. Venus is moving away from the Sun and approaching Jupiter and you can watch this through the month. By the 30th, she’ll be within 2° of Jupiter, with the Moon 1° to the west. But on the next day, the 1st of December, I should tell you this next month, you should be watching just west of south, to see the Moon occulting Venus! Though they’ll both be moving to the right, the Moon will appear to advance on Venus from the right and starting about 3.30pm, will cover Venus with her dark side (the Sun will be lighting her right side). The Sun will still be well up so you’ll need a telescope to see Venus fade out and be gone. The Sun will have set by 4pm but twilight will still be bright, as the Moon goes down with Venus behind and Jupiter 2° away. Look for Venus to show herself on the lit side of the Moon about 5 pm. It will be darker then, but just 7° above the horizon. This should make a couple of good pictures, so get to it all you astrophotographers! Of course, the Cloud God might interfere to spoil it all.
Back to this month and other planets. Blue Neptune and Uranus, in Capricornus and Aquarius respectively, are still good to see, rising in the east before the Sun has set in the west. They’re trailing Jupiter by 34° and another 27°, but a little higher. Neptune will be setting by midnight on the 1st, and by 9.30pm on the 30th. Uranus by 2am at the beginning of the month and by midnight at the end.
Saturn will rise at 2am on the 1st, and by 12.30am on the 30th, getting up to 40° high in the south, so a good appearance this year, except for the rings being so close to edge-on. It’ll be up all the rest of the night all month.
Meteors. There are 6 recognised showers that peak in November, but only the Leonids, radiating from the constellation of Leo, are likely to be worth watching for. They peak on the 17th. Remember, don’t look towards Leo as you’ll only see the ones coming towards you, look towards the Zenith.
What else? All the big guns are coming up in the east this month. Perseus, already well up by 6pm on the 1st, look for the Double Cluster, two Open Clusters side by side, up near the top, close to the Big W of Cassiopeia, Taurus, with the Pleiades and Hyades clusters, and M1, the Crab nebula, a supernova remnant, it explosed in 1054, recorded by the Chinese as being visible in daylight for a month, Auriga and its clusters, all beautiful. Bellatrix and Betelgeuse will be up by 8.30pm with the rest of Orion following behind. By 10pm the belt and sword with the Great Orion Nebula will be high enough to marvel at, and will be available all winter. Easily seen in binoculars. But much more impressive in a good telescope. Hundreds of stars are being born there, and some have been seen in professional telescopes with rings of dust and debris spinning round them, future planets! All part of the cosmic recycling that’s going on out there, starting with supernovae like the Crab, making all the chemical elements heavier than iron when they explode and ending with nebulae like Orion collecting the debris into new stars and planets. That’s where that gold ring on your finger originally came from.
Satellites. Check on www.heavens-above.com but here are some of the brighter ones.
1st 17:37:57 12° high WNW
1st 17:45:00 43° high South
1st 17:46:56 10° high WNW
2nd 17:22:54 15° high WNW
5th 16:46:44 20° high West
5th 17:30:06 40° high South
The International Space Station passes overhead on
23rd 17:50 10° high in the South heading SSE, taking about a minute to pass
24th 17:06 10° high in the South heading South East, taking about 3 mins to pass
26th 17:55 10° high in the WSW heading SSE, taking about 3 mins to pass
As usual, if you need charts to help find things give me a call.
Brian