Home Back to screen-friendly "Monthly Sky"
Full Moon:
Nov 9
New Moon:
Nov 23
STAR GAZE (Nov 21):
Sun: Sets at 5:19pm, astronomical
twilight ends at 6:45pm. Sun rises on Oct 25 at 7:13am.
Moon: (illuminated
1%) The New Moon is 2 days after our Star Gaze.
Jupiter & it's moons:
Jupiter rises at 1:20am. It will be 60 degrees above the horizon at sun rise,
so will high enough to observe well in the hours before sunrise.
Saturn: Rises at 8:15pm. Culminates (highest in
the sky) at 3:25am, so good views from midnight to sunrise.
Asteroids: Ceres (in Gemini) rises at 9:02pm
on the night of the gaze. Culminates at 4:23pm. You can see it in binoculars as
a star-like object at magnitude 7.9.
PLANETS:
Mercury: Find it below and to the
right of Venus during the last week of the month. Magnitude -0.5, 5" (arc
seconds) diameter. (Mercury will be at greatest elongation on Dec 9.)
Venus: Low in the west at sun set.
Magnitude -3.9, 11" diameter. It will be better in December.
Mars: Closest approach to Earth was on August 27th
at 26" diameter. It's diameter is 15" on Nov 1, and decreases to 11"
on Nov 30. At the beginning of the month it appears about as large as during a
typical opposition.
Saturn: Rises at 9:36 pm on Nov 1, at 7:37 pm on
Nov 30. By month's end it transits the meridian ("highest in the sky")
at 2:47am. Good views to be had in early morning hours because it's higher in
the sky, your telescope has cooled down, and the sky often becomes very "steady"
in the hours before dawn. This is the best planet to observe this month.
Jupiter: Rises at 02:25 am on Nov 1, at 00:49
am on Nov 30. It doesn't transit until after sunrise, but it's high enough to
get good view just before dawn. Even better viewing in the coming months though.
Uranus: At magnitude 5.8 it can be seen without optical aid from a dark site. Culminates (highest in the sky) at about 7:00 pm during the middle of the month, so catch it early in the night.
Neptune: At magnitude 7.9 it can be seen
with binoculars. Culminates at 5:45 pm during the middle of the month,
so catch it early in the night.
Comet P2 Encke: Closest to Earth (0.26 AU) in mid-November,
but projected to be brightest in late November at around magnitude 6. We couldn't
see it in a 10" scope in late October. It's orbit takes only 3.3 years, but
this is it's closest approach for Northern Hemisphere viewers since 1838. See
Sky
& Telescope article.
DEEP SKY OBJECTS (DSO's):
Open Clusters:
NGC 7789: Mag 6.7, 16' in
size. Said to be Visible under dark skies with just the naked eye as a very faint
patch of light. Thru a scope, the many faint background stars glow behind the
brighter resolved foreground stars. 5,900 light years away & 2 billion years
old (that's old for an Open Cluster). Located halfway between Rho and Sigma Cassiopeiae,
it makes a right angle with Alpha and Beta. So it's EASY TO FIND. (Location: 23hr
57m RA +56 deg 44' Dec, in Cassiopeia)
NGC 6791: Mag 9.5, 15' in size. One of the oldest Open Clusters, 9 billion years old . Most Open Clusters last no more than 200 million years. It is about the age of the youngest Globular clusters. Most member stars are rather faint at 11-13 magnitude. (Location: 19hr 21m RA +37 deg 51' Dec, in Lyra)
Stephenson
1: Mag 3.8, 20'. A nearby Open Cluster, 800 light years away. Use low
power and wide field. Located at one corner of the Lyra trapezoid (Delta-1 &
Delta-2 are actually members of the cluster!), so it's EAST TO FIND. (Location:
18hr 54m RA +36 deg 55' Dec, in Lyra)
Globular
Cluster:
M71: Mag 8.1, 7.2' in size. One of the youngest Globular
Clusters. Is it is or is it ain't a globular? The final word is that M71 is a
relatively nearby, small, young Globular Cluster, and not a distant open cluster.
It's 12,000 light year distance puts it, according to William Harris, closer than
all but 6 of some 150 globulars (remember it is ~27,000 light years to the center
of the galaxy.)
M71 has the luminosity of 13,000 suns. (For comparison, M13, the Great Hercules Cluster, has the luminosity of ~250,000 suns, is 21,000 light years away, and is much more impressive to our eyes here on Earth.) Very young for a globular at 9 billion years, M71 is about the same age as the oldest Open Cluster (see NGC6791 above). Located halfway between Gamma and Delta Sagittae (the shaft stars of the arrow). So it's EASY TO FIND. (Location: 19hr 54m RA +18 deg 47' Dec, in Sagitta)
Carbon Star:
T Lyrae: Mag
8-10. Very, very red. Carbon in the star's atmosphere filters the light so that
mostly only red escapes. The larger the scope, the redder it appears (You hear
that, Butch? hint, hint) because the rod receptors in our eyes are not sensative
to red light. It almost forms an isosceles triangle with Vega and Zeta Lyrae (the
trapezoid star next to Vega), and is about 1.5 degree SSW of Vega. So it's EASY
TO FIND. (Location: 18hr 32m RA +37 deg 00' Dec, in Lyra)
Double
Stars:
An in-depth Double Star article, centered around Pegasus: www.cloudynights.com/Observation/doubles.htm
(Note: Catch NGC 6791 and T Lyra first, as they are in the
west and will set quickly.)
HIGHLIGHTS:
Nov
8: The full moon rises while entering eclipse. The show is over by midnight.
Sky
& Telescope article
Nov 5 (Taurid South meteor shower) and Nov 12 (Taurid North meteor shower) are severely hampered by the moon. Interestingly though, these meteors are associated with comet P3 Encke.
Nov 18: Leonid Meteor shower. Activity level this year in unclear. No huge show is expected, but it may be quite good. The moon (29% illuminated) rises at 01:59am, just after the radiant, so some meteors will be washed out by moon light. See this excellent article: Leonids 2003 Article
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THE BIG PICTURE: Each chart below covers a very wide area of sky, roughly from eastern horizon to western horizon. Constellations are green stick figures. The dividing line between constellations are dashed blue lines. The purpose is to show the large scale structure of the night sky: why certain types of objects are visible in certain areas of the sky.
1. Above: 6 hr
R.A. (passes overhead on winter evenings; rises in early evening in November):
OPEN CLUSTERS in the sky north to south (Auriga to Pupis). Open Clusters
are generally within the arms of the galaxy and are roughly co-located with the
Milky Way. They are plotted as tan circles above. You are looking away from the
center of the galaxy. (Note: all types of objects are labeled, not just open clusters.)
2. Above: 12
hr R.A. (passes overhead on spring evenings; rises before sunrise in November)
GALAXIES in the sky north to south (Ursa Major to Virgo). They are plotted
as blue ovals in the chart above. At 9:00pm during mid-June, the Milky Way is
rising in the east. Just to the west of the zenith is the North Galactic Pole,
in the constellation Coma Berenices. In southwest Coma Berenices happens to be
the heart of the Local Supercluster of galaxies. Many of these galaxies are visible
in medium-sized telescopes.
3.
Above: 18 hr R.A. (passes overhead on summer evenings; low in the west
at nightfall in November): GLOBULAR CLUSTERS (yellow cross inside a circle)
& PLANETARY NEBULAE (blue circle in a cross) in the sky north to south
(Cygnus to Sagittarius). The lower-middle of this chart is towards the center
of the Milky Way galaxy.
Charts created using Megastar
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CLUB STARGAZE:
The
November stargaze is Friday the 21st, 2003. You can check the Yahoo group for
AstroAsheville (or call Tim @ 251-0040
or John @ 251-1933 x17 (before 5:00) or 667-9268 (after 5:00)) for a go/no-go
decision and to verify location.
Blue Ridge Parkway Information
Line is 828-298-0398 and go to Road Conditions on the menu.
CLUB MEETING:
The club meeting is the first Thursday of every month, at
6 p.m. at Sim’s
Group located at 230 Short Coxe Ave., Asheville, NC.
Happy Starwatching! Dress Warm!
(Much of the above info derived from Sky & Telescope and Astronomy magazines, Ottewell's Astronomical Calendar, The Night Sky Observer's Guide, Megastar 5.0, Planets202, the ol' Miller Planesphere, and a little (very little) common sense.)