What's up this month - November

We are not trying to reproduce a complete sky chart, as there are many good programs that will do this task better than we could on these pages. Instead the Monthly highlights will have some Sky Views, a discussion on planet placement, and any eclipses or comets that are of particular interest during the month.

Sky Views
Planet Locations - Who's Up?
Comets

Sky Views

These diagrams, as used in our yearbooks, are designed to help you find the planets. The date/time of each diagram has been carefully chosen to show the most interesting patterns of the planets and Moon. Sometimes the times chosen correspond to about one hour (or even down to 30 minutes) before sunrise or after sunset. Although, astronomically speaking, this would still be considered twilight, this is sometimes necessary to catch a glimpse of the planets when they are close to the Sun. This is especially needed for Mercury, because it never wanders more than 28 degrees from the Sun. Sky Views which show a twilight view after sunset are called 'Evening Twilight' and morning twilights are 'Dawn Sky'. Those before midnight are 'Evening Sky' and after midnight, 'Morning Sky'.

The 'Sky Views' include:

The Moon (showing approximate phase) and the planets visible with the naked eye
All stars down to about 4.5 magnitude
Names of the brightest stars
Bright star clusters, nebulae and galaxies

When using these 'windows to the sky' it is important to keep in mind that the horizon shown is theoretical, like looking out over the ocean. You will soon learn to make mental adjustments for local hills, trees and buildings etc. The scale has been kept constant and a 10 degree reference bar is marked. Sometimes the object of interest is so high that the field of view is not large enough to include the horizon.

November Skyview

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Planet Locations - Who's Up?

November Highlights

Mercury in favourable evening position for observation
Planets Venus, Mars and Jupiter together in Virgo (plus minor planet Ceres)
Venus and Jupiter close in the dawn sky
Venus and Mars close at end of month
Daytime occultation of Venus by the Moon
Venus, Jupiter and Moon close together

The Moon

	3rd	Moon at apogee (furthest from Earth – 404,998 km distant, angular size 29.7')
	5th	Last Quarter
	10th	Occultation of Jupiter by the Moon (not visible from Australia)
	10th	Occultation of Venus by the Moon (daylight event — visible from Australia. See Venus next page)
	11th	Occultation of Mars by the Moon (daylight event — Melbourne, Tasmania and New Zealand)
	13th	(12th WST) New Moon
	14th	Occultation of Mercury by the Moon (only visible from Antarctica)
	15th	Moon at perigee (closest to Earth – 362,311 km distant, angular size 32.7')
	19th	First Quarter
	27th	Full Moon
	30th	Moon at apogee (furthest from Earth – 405,953 km distant, angular size 29.3')

The Planets
Our Yearbook has more details about the planets and Sky Views of all interesting arrangements. Finder charts are also included for all superior planets.

Mercury is in a good position to observe in the western evening sky all month. It will be at its greatest elongation east of the Sun on the 21st (22°), and although not the best of elongations, observers should have no difficulty picking out the planet in the late twilight. On the 14th, Mercury will be close and below the slender crescent of a 2-day old Moon. During the course of November, Mercury moves through Libra, Scorpius, Ophiuchus and finally into Sagittarius. It has various ‘deep sky’ encounters in these constellations.
Venus begins an interesting month 5.5° from Jupiter in the eastern dawn sky. By the 5th the separation of the two brightest planets (Venus –4.0 magnitude and Jupiter –1.7 at this time) decreases to a close 0.6° — an exceptional sight. For those patient people, an exceedingly rare event occurs when Venus actually passes in front of Jupiter in November 2065 (see Astronomy 2065 for more details). The last such occultation was in January 1818. Another exceptional sight this month is on the 10th when the 26-day old crescent Moon appears close to Venus and Jupiter. During the daylight Venus will be occulted by the Moon. On the 30th, Venus will be 3.6° from Mars, and even closer early next month.
Mars returns to the dawn sky, having been too close to the Sun for observation since late August. The planet moves from Virgo into Libra, and on the 30th will be 3.6° from Venus. There is a daylight occultation of Mars by the Moon on the afternoon of the 11th. While it is above the horizon from Melbourne, Hobart and New Zealand, the planet is too faint, too close to the Sun and unobservable. It would be an extremely dangerous exercise to attempt any observations, even scattered light in a telescope tube can cause permanent eye damage.
Jupiter is visible in the late morning sky rising a little before the beginning of twilight. Jupiter and the brighter Venus appear very close on the 5th (see Venus section). On the 10th, the 26-day old Moon appears just below Jupiter with Venus also in the picture to the right.
Saturn rises in the late evening northeastern sky to the right of Castor and Pollux. On the 4th, the 21-day old waning gibbous Moon will be near the planet.
Uranus and Neptunein Aquarius and Capricornus respectively, are high in the northwestern sky after the end of astronomical twilight. Uranus ends its retrograde travel this month, returning to a west/east path across the sky. On the 8th Neptune has a close encounter with the minor planet 16 Psyche (see diary).
Pluto, in conjunction in early December, becomes lost in the evening twilight late in the month, returning to the morning sky in the New Year.

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Comets

Comet C/2002 T7 (LINEAR)is a morning object, perhaps of 12th magnitude, moving south through Crater.
Comet C/2003 K4 (LINEAR) can initially be found rising in the morning sky in Corvus. The comet should maintain a brightness of around 7th magnitude this month as it moves southwest into Hydra and Centaurus. By month’s end, it is rising well before midnight.
Comet 62P/Tsuchinshan 1 is moving eastward through the constellations of Cancer and Leo. Visible in the morning sky, the comet may be 13th magnitude in brightness.
Comet 78P/Gehrels 2 should be 11th magnitude and moving southwest through Aries this month, visible all night.

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