The month of November will amplify the beauty of the pre-Christmas night sky with the numerous conjunctions between the moon and the planets, as well as the two major meteor showers that will occur this month. As we approach the December winter solstice, the constellations of Orion, Taurus, Leo and Virgo become more prominent in the sky.
Jupiter will be seen high up in Taurus in the evenings of the whole month, slowly moving westward, approaching a brightness of -2.8 and enlargening to 48 arcseconds as it does so. Saturn and Venus will constantly be visible near the east horizon at dusk, while Mars will be visible near the west horizon at sunset starting the middle of the month.
On November 1, the moon will be in apogee (its farthest distance from the Earth in the lunar cycle it is in). The slightly smaller moon will be seen near the bright planet Jupiter. These two heavenly bodies will approach a distance of only 0.9 degrees the following day, November 2.
The new moon falls on November 13. Though this will not have a huge impact on skywatchers here in the Philippines, Australia and some southern Pacific islands will be experiencing a total solar eclipse. The track of the moon’s shadow is shown below.
On November 16, the crescent moon and Mars will be visible in the west at sunset – the two being only 4 degrees apart. Mars will have a faint glow of 1.2.
The more noterworthy astronomical of November 16 and 17 however, is the peak of the Leonids meteor shower. Ten to fifteen (10-15) meteors per hour will be expected emanating from the constellation Leo. The cresent moon’s luminosity will not interfere with this meteor shower as its gibbous phase did during the Taurids.
A week later, on November 27, Venus and Saturn will be an astonishing sight by being a mere 0.6 degrees apart before sunrise, while the Moon will be only 4 degrees away from the Pleiades of Taurus during the evening.
On November 28, another apogee occurs, which coincides with a penumbral lunar eclipse. This slight darkening of the moon will occur close to Juipter and Aldebaran in Taurus.
The last noteworthy astronomical event of
the month is when the moon and Jupiter approach being only 0.6 degrees apart.
Jupiter nears opposition in December.
References and Image sources:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/November_2012_lunar_eclipse
Prepared by: Benjamin Francis Rodriguez
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