01-11-2008 November Night Sky(Article 161)

[Simon Kenny]

November Night Sky: Winter Constellations Return. (Article 161)
November is officially the first month of winter, however given the weather this year you could be forgiven for thinking that the seasons hold little meaning these days.
This month sees the planet Venus skimming the south western horizon as a bright star. On the first of the month, you might be able to spy a very thin crescent Moon just to the lower left of Venus; the Moon then passes Jupiter on the 3rd. During the month, Jupiter can be seen to the east of Venus as another bright star but if you manage to watch it week by week, you’ll notice that Jupiter is approaching Venus and by month’s end Jupiter will pass within 2 degrees (4 moon diameters) of the planet Venus enabling both to be seen simultaneously through a pair of binoculars or wide field telescope. Venus through a telescope shows a two thirds phase and the planet’s disk will increase in size by over 50% as the month goes by, this is because it’s getting closer to the Earth as it goes around the Sun. Jupiter shows as a very obvious disk with 4 stellar looking moons that change position from hour to hour as they orbit the planet, the planet disk itself shows conspicuous cloud belts. It is heading towards the Sun as seen form here, so this month is the last opportunity to see it for a number of months.
The planets Uranus and Neptune are visible during the night in Aquarius and Capricorn respectively.
At 5am, you will be able to see a bright star visible on the eastern horizon below Leo, this star is Saturn, through a telescope you’ll see that its rings are not far from been edge on, the planet will be visible over the coming months so don’t worry if you miss it this time around.
Mercury will be visible right on the eastern horizon from 5.30am onwards but as it is heading towards the Sun, it will be lost in the sunrise glare after the first week has gone by - through a telescope you will see it as a tiny disk. To see it you will need a flat horizon with no buildings in the way. Mercury is considered by many stargazers to be the most elusive and difficult planet to glimpse a view of, as it always lies near the Sun in the sky.
In the evening sky you will be able to see constellations such as Cygnus and other summer constellations disappearing into the western horizon and others such as Pegasus, Andromeda, Perseus and Pisces flying high in the sky. If you manage to see the sky from midnight onwards, you will be able to see the winter constellations such as Taurus and Orion rising in the east.
This months club meeting will be held on Wednesday the 5th at 8pm in Mary Immaculate College, our guest speaker is Deirdre Kelleghan from the Irish Astronomical Society and she will be talking about Galileo, all are welcome.