Astronomy Club of Asheville, NC

November - 2004

"If the stars should appear one night in a thousand years, how would men believe and adore, and preserve for many generations the remembrance of the city of God which had been shown. But every night come out these envoys of beauty, and light the universe with their admonishing smile." - Emerson (1795-1881)

MOON:
New Moon: Nov 12
Full Moon: Nov 26

STAR GAZE (November 12):
Sun: Sets at 5:24pm, astronomical twilight ends at 6:56pm and begins at 5:41am the next morning. The Sun rises the next morning at 7:04am. Between astronomical twilights, we get about 10.75 hours of darkness.

Moon: (illuminated 0%) The Moon sets at 5:31pm.

Saturn: Rises at 9:55pm, transits at 5:00am. The star-like object about 3.5 ring-diameters away to the north-north-west is the moon Titan.

Jupiter: Rises at 3:47am. By 30 minutes before sunrise, Jupiter will still be only 32 degrees above the horizon. Next month it will be high enough to observe before sunrise.

Asteroid: Vesta has faded to magnitude 7.3 from 6.7 during the last month, but it's still brighter than Neptune! It is 34 degrees above the southern horizon when it transits at 8:22pm on the night of the gaze. It is in the constellation Aquarius, and only about 3 degrees south of the asteroid Metis (magnitude 10.2). See this S&T article on finding Vesta.

Meteors: The peak of the Taurids North meteor shower. This is a minor shower. See entry below under "Highlights".

SOLAR SYSTEM:
Mercury: Visible low in the southwest after sunset in the last half of the month.

Venus: Visible in the morning sky. See the "Jupiter" entry below.

Jupiter: Can be seen low in the morning sky by the end of the month. On the mornings of NOVEMBER 4th & 5th, Jupiter & Venus are in conjunction, less than a degree apart, and both are visible in the same telescopic field of view! You may be able to make out Venus's gibbous shape (81% illuminated) while in the same field of view as Jupiter and it's moons. You should be able to see Jupiter's disk and it's moon's. Four Jovian moons will be visible, two on each side of Jupiter, until Io goes into eclipse at 5:26am (Jupiter will about 27 degrees high at that time). Europa's shadow begins a transit at 5:39am and will be in transit until the Sun rises at 6:56am (you will need a higher power eyepiece to see the shadow, though.)

As you watch all these objects (Venus, Jupiter & it's moons) in the same field of view, contemplate their actual locations: Venus is beyond the Sun and is on it's way to superior conjunction behind the Sun next year. Jupiter is more than 5 times further away from Earth than is Venus, but is orbiting the Sun in roughly the same plane as Earth and Venus. This orbital plane is vividly displayed by both the orientation of the Jovian moons and by the gibbous shape of Venus. Now just visualize the Sun off to the side, as indicated by the moons, and out of your field of view, casting that shadow on Venus's dark side, causing it's gibbous shape. It's a chance to really FEEL your place in the Solar System!

Eyepiece/scope combinations to give medium powers and still have both Venus & Jupiter in the field of view at 5:00am on Nov 5th:
1. A 17mm, 82-degree AFOV eye piece in a 12"/F5 scope, that will give 94 power.
2. The same 17mm eye piece in an 8"/F10 scope with a f6.3 focal reducer, that will give 75 power.
3. A 14mm, 82-degree AFOV eye piece in a 10"/F4.7 scope, that will give 100 power.

Even with out a telescope, these two planets will be very impressive so close together in the sky!

Saturn: This is a good month to view Saturn, if you can stay up late. In mid-month it rises at 9:44pm and transits at 4:48am.

Uranus: Was at opposition on August 6, in Aquarius. It is magnitude 5.8 and may still be visible to the unaided eye if you catch it early in the evening. Here's a finder chart on the S&T web site.

Neptune: Was at opposition on August 27, in Capricornus. It is magnitude 7.9 and visible through binoculars. Here's a finder chart on the S&T web site.

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 sensitive 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 9: Moon occults Jupiter, in daylight! Jupiter will go behind the southern tip of the thin crescent moon about 11:17am, and reappear from behind the dark side of the Moon about 12:03pm. See this S&T article.

Two Minor Meteor Showers:
Nov 5: Taurid South meteor shower is hampered by the last-quarter moon rising around midnight, so observe early.
Nov 12: Taurid North meteor shower is not hampered by the moon. The radiant (near the Pleiades) is above the horizon all night. The meteors in these two showers are small bits of comet 2P Encke entering Earth's atmosphere. They tend to be quite slow because the comet and it's associated "debris" are catching up with Earth.

Nov 17 & 19: Leonid Meteor shower. A ZHR of 10 is expected for North America, while ZHR of 65 is expected for Asia. The moon (33% illuminated) sets at 10:33pm, just before the radiant rises. These meteors are associated with comet 55P/Temple-Tuttle and tend to be very fast because this "debris" in the comet's dust trail is having a "head-on" collision with Earth. The shower peak on the 19th (at about 1:40am EST) is associated with the comet's 1333AD passage. See this article: NASA Leonids Article

CLUB STARGAZE:
You can check the AstroAsheville Yahoo group (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.

CLUB MEETING:
Indoor club meetings are usually the first Thursday of every month, at 6 p.m. in the Sim’s Group offices (230 Short Coxe Ave., Asheville, NC.)

Happy Starwatching! Dress Warm!
Blue Ridge Parkway Information Line is 828-298-0398
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(Much of the above info is derived from Sky & Telescope magazine, Ottewell's Astronomical Calendar, The Night Sky Observer's Guide, Burnam's Celestial Handbook, Megastar 5.0, Planets202, the ol' Miller Planesphere, and a little (very little) common sense.)