November 2015

To see a video of this information, go to my YouTube Channel

 

November has some close encounters similar to October, though the morning planets will be moving apart throughout the month.  Luckily, we now get more time to watch at night, given daylight saving time ends on the 2^nd.

 

PLANETS...well, the ones visible with your naked eye

Planets you can see around Sunset – Saturn until Nov 8^th (SW)

Planets you can see throughout the night – None

Planets you can see in the Morning – Venus (SE), Mars (SE), Jupiter (SE)

 

Mercury – Lost in the glare of the Sun for the month. 

Venus, Mars, & Jupiter – Look toward the East after 4:30am and you’ll find all three planets. At the beginning of the month, Venus and Mars are right next to each other, with Jupiter 5˚ above them.  As the month goes by, Jupiter will get higher above Mars while Venus will sink below Mars, until the end of the month where Venus will be 12˚ below Mars and Jupiter will be 20˚ above Mars.

Saturn – It’s going to be hard to find, since it won’t be that far above the horizon after sunset, but look low in the West after 6pm but before 6:45pm.

EVENTS...

2^nd – Daylight Saving Time Ends at 2am

2^nd – Conjunction – Venus, Mars – Look East in the morning after 4am and find dim, red Mars less than 1˚ from bright Venus.

Last Quarter Moon – 3^rd (Visible from midnight into the morning)

6^th, 7^th – Close Encounter – Moon, Venus, Mars, Jupiter – Look toward the East after 4am on both these mornings where the Moon joins in the fun. On the morning of the 6^th, the thin crescent Moon will be just 2˚ away from bright Jupiter, with Mars and Venus about 10˚ below. On the next morning, a thinner crescent Moon will be only a pinky’s width away from bright Venus, with Mars only 2 pinky’s widths up and to the left.

New Moon – 11^th (darkest skies)

17^th – 18^th – Leonid Meteor Shower – You might be able to see about a dozen or so of these per hour of watching, so keep an eye out…or up!

First Quarter Moon – 19^th (Visible until midnight)

Full Moon – 25^th (Visible all night)           

 

CONSTELLATIONS... (see sky map link at the bottom for a Star Map for this month – or ask Mr. Webb)    Look straight up and you'll see...

After Sunset (sunset is around 5:00pm after Nov. 2^nd) – Lacerta, Pegasus (the Great Square)

Between Sunset and Midnight – Pegasus, Andromeda - Extra Challenge!  Using your naked eye (dark-adapted and in a dark area) or binoculars under normal conditions and a star chart, try finding our neighboring Andromeda Galaxy.  It’ll be a faint, but bigger, fuzzy in the constellation Andromeda.

Midnight – Perseus, Taurus

Early Morning – Lynx, Cancer, Gemini - Extra Challenge!  Using binoculars, find the bright and open cluster M35.  Find Gemini, look at the rightmost leg, go down to the foot, and move 2-3 degrees to the right (W).  

GENERAL CONSTELLATION FINDING TIPS: 

Summer Constellations: Lyra, Cygnus, Aquila, Delphinus

Look to the West after sunset until about 9pm and you’ll still be able to see Lyra, Cygnus, Aquila, (and Delphinus.)  These three constellations have the three brightest stars of the summer constellations (Vega, Deneb, Altair – respectively.)  Those bright stars create the summer triangle.  Being summer constellations and it being fall right now, they are setting and are visible for a shorter period of time.  If you’re under dark skies (away from city lights) you may just catch a glimpse of the Milky Way passing through Cygnus and Aquila.

Fall Constellations: Andromeda, Pegasus

If you can find the Summer Triangle and Delphinus, about 40˚ to the East (leftish) will be the Great Square of the fall constellation Pegasus.  Perhaps you’ll even see the two curves of Andromeda off of one side, with the Andromeda Galaxy as a small, faint fuzzy nearby (you’ll need dark skies to see it).  A sky map will help you tremendously in finding these.  You’ll see these in the East after sunset, straight above you around midnight, and in the West in the morning.

Use a sky map from www.skymaps.com to help you out.