In this month's Sky Notes:

• Planetary Skylights
• Comet and Aurora sightings 
• November Meteors 
• November Night Sky
• November 2024 Sky Charts

Planetary Skylights: A Brief Guide to November's Night Sky

Jupiter grows ever more dominant in the night sky reaching opposition next month. Mars also brightens but is several months off opposition. Saturn is well placed in the evening sky. Uranus comes to opposition. Neptune is visible as a telescopic object. Venus improves in the evening twilight towards the month's end.

Jupiter is just over a month away from opposition in early December but appears dominant already in the mid-evening sky at magnitude -2.6.  Residing in the heart of Taurus the Bull, Jupiter is moving in retrograde motion - westwards, back toward fiery Aldebaran, chief star in Taurus - the 'eye of the Bull'.  By the end of November Jupiter is rising by 17:30hrs GMT a brilliant mag -2.75 object.  The Moon pays Jupiter a visit on Nov 17th.

Through the eyepiece Jupiter’s oblate globe is a whopping 48 arc-seconds in diameter, making for pleasing observations even with modest instruments. The darker equatorial cloud belts should be obvious with the less dark polar regions also evident.  Instruments of more than 200mm (8") in aperture may also reveal the finer northern and southern temperate belts. The storm feature known as the Great Red Spot (GRS) when turned in our direction should be apparent in instruments as small as 100mm (4”) but will be more obvious in 150mm (6”) instruments at medium powers.  It must be said however, that the great red spot feature is paler and smaller than 30 years ago.  Look for the GRS on the 2nd, 7th, 12th, 14th, 17th, 19th, 24th, 26th and 29th between 18:30hrs and 22:30hrs GMT.

One aspect of the Jovian system immediately evident are the attendant Galilean moons, the dance of these four large satellites over successive nights fascinating to follow. Visible as specks of light the configuration and number of the Galilean moons constantly evolve as they orbit around Jupiter.  Galilean moon shadow transits are also visible on the disk of Jupiter, the more favourable mid-evening events this month as follows; Io - Nov 11th around 21:00hrs; Europa - Nov 14th around 21:00hrs GMT, and Nov 21st @ 23:00hrs GMT. 

Mars rises shortly before 22:30hrs GMT as November commences and by 21:00hrs GMT at the end of the month. The Red Planet resides in Gemini and starts the month in perfect alignment below the Twins leading stars, Castor and Pollux.  Over the course of November Mars brightens by over a half a magnitude attaining mag -0.5 by the end of the month surpassed only by Venus and Jupiter in the night sky.  Residing in Gemini Mars attains a very healthy altitude, more than 60 degrees by the end of the night, well clear of any bad seeing lower down, offering over 6 hours of observation time above the 30-degree elevation level. 

In the eyepiece, the Martian disk is gradually increasing in size, from 9 arc-seconds at the start of November to almost 12 arc-seconds by the end.  Still quite small, but the improvement does give more modest instruments a chance of spotting surface detail - including the polar cap, and darker 'fin' shape of Syrtis Major, visible the first few days of November.  The Moon lies in the vicinity of Mars on Nov 20th.

Saturn is well placed for observation throughout the evening, although by the end of November it is setting shortly after midnight.  At magnitude +0.7, Saturn is reasonably conspicuous amongst the faint stars of southern Aquarius - a region of the sky devoid of brighter stars.  Saturn culminates a respectable 20-23 degrees above the south horizon from the UK, still some 11 degrees below the celestial equator.  The good news is it will continue to gain in declination over the coming decade crossing into the northern half of the sky by 2026.  

Through the eyepiece Saturn can be a splendid sight, but right now the rings are less than 5 degrees in orientation and closing, the appearance unfamiliar to anyone who has not observed Saturn for a while. Ring plane crossing occurs in March 2025 when the rings will appear as a white line only.  You can spot Saturn's largest moon, Titan, in nearly all apertures, visible as a speck of light nearby, but as the rings close further several more will become apparent in amateur telescopes including Rhea, Tethys, Dione.  Iapetus is more likely to be glimpsed in instruments above 200mm (8").  Saturn lies closest to our Moon on Nov 10th. 

Neptune is well placed for telescopic observation approximately 14 degrees northeast of Saturn, below the faint loop of stars marking the western fish of Pisces - in particular lambda Piscium (mag 4.5). The nearest 'bright' stars are the chain of 5th magnitude stars 20, 24, 27 & 29 Piscium a degree to the right of Neptune. Neptune itself is at 7th magnitude appearing as a tiny 2.4 arc-second disc through the eyepiece. You will require at least a 100mm (4") aperture at 100x magnification to glimpse this, but Neptune is visible as a speck in humble 10x50 binoculars (if you know exactly where to look). In the early morning hours of Nov 12th (01:30hrs) a waxing gibbous Moon approaches to within one degree of Neptune as the pair set, but from Mexico and North America it occults the planet.

Uranus comes to opposition on Nov 17th, visible most of the night approximately 5 degrees lower right of the Pleiades star cluster in Taurus the Bull. At mag +5.6 Uranus is technically visible to the naked eye from a dark location and with use of a star chart or sky app. Binoculars will show it as a speck, but apertures of 80mm plus (3"+) are required to spot the tiny 3.7 degree grey-green disk. Instruments above 150mm (6") will clearly reveal it. The nearby pairing of 13 and 14 Tau (both 5th magnitude stars) lay one degree to the left.

Venus is still trying to pull away from the western horizon in the evening twilight, doing so very slowly over the course of the month. The 'evening star' will therefore still be challenging to spot for anyone with a poor west aspect. Venus is however bright achieving mag -4.2 by the month's end. Venus is approaching Earth and viewed through a telescope its disk size is growing, although the phase is diminishing from 77% to 68%. In a dark sky Venus can appear over dazzling through the eyepiece and is best appreciated in twilight, though apart from the phase little else will be visible, perhaps some subtle shading. On Nov 6th a thin crescent Moon lies 16 degrees left of Venus, both bodies less than 5 degrees above the WSW horizon. View from 16:45hrs. By the start of December Venus will have placed 7 degrees between it and the horizon as twilight falls.

Comet Tsuchinshan-Atlas C/2023 A3

Comet Tsuchinshan-Atlas C/2023 A3 has put on a decent showing in the evening sky - certainly not the comet of the century, but you could argue of this decade...so far that is!  At mag +2.2 the comet was visible to the naked eye in UK skies above the SW horizon from October 11th for several days, and was easily apparent in binoculars. At that time the tail exceeded 7 degrees in length, although strong moonlight from a supermoon hampered viewing and imaging. 

WDAS members sort to view and image the comet from several local vantage locations, succeeding to various degrees.

Comet Atlas C/2023 A3 is now heading out into the solar system and in the sky is moving toward and across the Ophiuchus/Serpens border.  It will remain a fading binocular object in early/mid-November (see chart below).

Another comet - C/2024 S1, which was only discovered at the end of September, was hoped to have lit up the dawn sky over the Halloween period, perhaps reaching magnitude -7 to -10! That is if it survived approaching, and passage around the Sun.  Sadly, it didn't, disintegrating in the heat of the Sun. Oh Well!

Aurora Report - October 10th-11th 

There have been some memorable displays of aurora this year with the display on Oct 10th/11th perhaps the best yet. The display lasted from late evening well into the early morning hours, clearly evident to the naked eye across the whole of the northern aspect of the sky from east to west as well as overhead. The intensity reached G5 at times (the highest) resulting in beautiful hues, from green and magenta to red. The only downside was an unseasonally arctic blast, cold and windy – but clear! WDAS members managed to capture the display - some images of which are shown below.

 November Meteors 

The Leonids considered the chief meteor shower this month are active from Nov 15-20th, usually peaking over the night of the 17/18th.  The shower is famous for the periodic outburst in intervals of roughly 33 years of storm level activity, sometimes reaching many thousands of meteors per hour.  Away from 'storm peak' years, Leonid activity is very modest amounting to 10-20 per hour at best, as will be the case for 2024.  An unfavourable factor this year will be the Moon, just passed full.  Early morning hours should yield some shooting stars, the constellation of Leo (the radiant of the shower) is then arcing high over southern horizon and ideally placed from the UK. 

The shower is associated with comet 55/P Temple-Tuttle, which returns to the inner solar system every 33 years, leading to 'storm rates' of 100s, 1000s and even 100,000s meteors per hour. The next 'storm' level event is predicted to be November 2031 or 2032.  Leonid’s are some of the swiftest meteors, penetrating the upper atmosphere at speeds of 45mps or 72 km/second, often leaving bright and persistent trains in the sky. If the night of 17/18th is clear, keep one watchful eye open at least!  

Also in November, keep the other eye open for a few meteors on the night of 4/5th Nov when the South Taurid meteor shower reaches a peak. A second peak follows on the night of Nov 11/12 for the North Taurid meteor shower.  The hourly rate is low for both showers; only around 5 meteors, but these can be bright with occasional fireballs!  The Taurids are an old shower, associated with the periodic Comet Enke.  Over time dust from this comet has been depleted and spread out over a broad swath of the inner solar system, giving rise to Taurid meteor showers not only on Earth, but also on Mars and Venus too! 

November Night Sky

November, so often a month of all seasons; unseasonably mild, sometimes cold, dry and calm, sometimes wet and stormy.  Trees shed the last of their colourful leafy autumn coats, forcefully or otherwise leaving winter standing on the threshold at the month's end.  Night skies fall dark before 17:30hrs, frost bitten only occasionally these years, the impact of climate change seemingly insulating us from the icy grip of winter all too often.    

Above our heads the constantly evolving celestial tapestry lies never still, but even on the cusp of winter high above and to the west early evening skies reflect seasons long departed. Here the stars of the summer triangle; Vega, Deneb, Altair, and associated constellations, remain conspicuous as darkness falls, still accessible for observation. Deneb shines atop Cygnus - the Northern Cross, which really does now resemble the outline of a crucifix as it descends towards the WNW horizon. High in the NW, brilliant steely-blue Vega illuminates the lozenge outline of Lyra, both it and Deneb circumpolar from our latitude remaining visible throughout winter, dipping close to the north horizon. Only Altair in Aquila the Eagle will depart, vacating our skies mid-month shortly after 22:00hrs GMT seeking quarry in warmer regions of the world.

Facing north the familiar ‘saucepan’ asterism of the Plough in Ursa Major has now reached its lowest station on its endless journey about the celestial pole conveniently marked (almost) by Polaris - the Pole star.  Utilise the pointer stars; Dubhe and Merak in the 'bowl' of the Plough to track down Polaris sitting at the tip of Ursa Minor’s tail. Between these two celestial bears wind the faint stars of Draco, the head of which, marked by an irregular quadrilateral, resides to the right of Vega in the WNW.  Use the 'arc' of the Plough's handle to locate the brilliant star Arcturus setting in the NW in the late spring constellation of Boötes, its journey below the horizon short, rising again in the ENE by 03:00hrs GMT from mid-UK latitudes.

Departing with Boötes, Corona Borealis and the upper body of Hercules (technically lower body as Hercules is depicted as being upside down on stellar charts). Again, their absence is temporary, visible in the NE before dawn.  Due South, arranged below the great square of Pegasus reside the constellations of Pisces and Aquarius, neither group blessed with conspicuous stars. Saturn currently resides below the loop of stars marking the western fish. The large constellation of Cetus the whale resides below Pisces, use the front two stars in the square to locate its brightest star Diphda.

The most famed object in Cetus is the variable star omicron ceti - otherwise known as Mira the wonderful, an extraordinary pulsating red super giant - perhaps 300 million miles in diameter. When at maximum, a period lasting some 10 days, Mira is easily visible to the naked eye and can rival Menkar.  Mira’s slow decline to minimum takes seven months by which time binoculars struggle to pick out the +10.2 star!  The whole period takes 332 days, the last maximum being May 2024. Mira lies roughly midway between Menkar and Diphda. 

Capricornus occupies the SSW horizon, departing mid-evening by the month's end.  Do try to spot conspicuous Fomalhaut in Pisces Austrinus, visible just above the SW horizon during early/mid evening until around 20:00hrs. It is the most southerly of first magnitude stars to rise over UK mainland shores.  Scheat and Markab in the 'square' of Pegasus point down to it.  

High to the South, stretching eastwards away from Pegasus, the stars of Andromeda sweep up toward the heroic figure of Perseus climbing high into the ENE.  The constellation of Perseus itself lies partly within the rich Milky Way and is well worth exploring with augmented eyes, whether binoculars or a telescope. 

Alpha Persei or Mirphak (sometimes written Mirfak) is the brightest star in the constellation, however, Beta Persei, or Algol is of far more interest.  The name Algol (Demon's head) is derived from an Arabic name, Ras al Ghul, a 'Ghul' being a nightmare which haunted and ultimately destroyed men.  Star maps in antiquity depict Perseus holding the severed head of Medusa, which is marked by Algol, but it is doubtful if the Arabs knew of the Perseus–Medusa legend.  In early antiquity it was noted with much consternation that this star appeared to ‘wink’ every third night, fading in brightness before returning to its former glory. The Greeks probably noted the mysterious phenomena first, but many ancient and medieval astrologers considered Algol the most dangerous and unfortunate of stars.

Science has long since uncovered the truth, we now know it to be an eclipsing binary star - two stars in orbit about one another, one bright and the other fainter.  Every 2 days and 21 hours the fainter companion star passes in front of the more luminous primary and the overall light output from Algol drops.  The eclipse lasts for almost 10 hours before the ‘demon star’ returns to normal.

Also, in this part of the sky, seek out the superb 'Double Cluster', an exquisite duo of galactic star clusters that lie midway between Perseus and Cassiopeia and mark the sword hand of Perseus. Visible as misty knots in binoculars, at low magnification through small/medium instruments H and Chi Persei (NGC 869 & NGC 884) is one of the finest sights in the heavens.  Perseus is the hero in one of the best-known mythologies, saving the sacrificial Princess Andromeda from the Cracken sea monster sent to devour her and ravage the coastal towns and cities of ancient Ethiopia, the Kingdom of boastful Queen Cassiopeia and her husband King Cepheus. The winged horse of Pegasus, being a more modern insertion into this ancient legend. This mythological tableau is now ideally arranged across the autumn sky to the south and east. 

The faint pattern of Cepheus is located overhead during November evenings and resembles the outline of a crooked house. (see October night sky feature) Cassiopeia, the 'W', is a most distinctive constellation for obvious reasons, through which flows the Milky Way and well worth spending time exploring with a pair of binoculars or telescope.  Climbing away from the NE horizon, following Perseus, the imposing pentagonal shape of Auriga the Charioteer illuminated by brilliant Capella is ascending toward the zenith, the position overhead. 

Seasonal winter constellations begin to dominate the eastern aspect by mid-evening lead by Taurus which adjoins Auriga at the star Al Nath. Taurus contains the two well-known star clusters, the Pleiades and the Hyades, the prominent ruddy star - Aldebaran 'the eye of the bull’, conspicuous in the latter.  At 65 light years Aldebaran is however not a genuine member of the Hyades lying at half the distance of the true members in the ‘V’ or arrowhead arrangement of stars.  The bull’s tail swishes upper right of the Hyades and is marked by the Pleiades, or ‘Seven Sisters’, regarded as perhaps the loveliest open star cluster in the entire heavens.  To the casual glance the Pleiades appear as beads of dew on a frosty web.  Keen sighted observers can make out more than seven stars with the naked eye, although most people see five or six.  Binoculars, or very low telescopic magnifications reveal dozens of stars, and the entire cluster contains over 380 members approximately 410 light years away.  The cluster is moving through a small gas and dust cloud giving rise to the nebulosity we see illuminated in images. 

From Greek mythology the Pleiades were the seven daughters of Atlas and the Oceanid Pleione, after whom they are named. Orion is said to have pursued the sisters for seven years after trying to ravish them and their mother.  Zeus immortalized the chase by placing the Pleiades in the heavens. This is of course just a tale, but ancient Aztec and Mayan traditions tell of real and gruesome rituals associated with the Pleiades. Then, the midnight culmination of the star cluster was an event of ominous significance, especially so every 52 years when timelines of separately used calendars converged.  Believing the world would end at such times, temple steps would run with the blood of virgins, sacrificed to postpone the approaching apocalypse. Travel to Mexico today and many of the sacred ‘step’ pyramids have their west face orientated to the setting position of the Pleiades.

By mid-evening towards the end of the month the stars of Gemini, the Twins, the heads of whom are conveniently marked by the first magnitude stars Castor and Pollux clamber over the NE horizon.  To their right considered the most majestic of all constellations, Orion, complete with starry belt and bright supergiant stars, clears the SE horizon by 22:00hrs.  Over the coming winter months, Orion and his stellar retinue will be the focus of our celestial rambles, until then do try to experience what the autumn sky has to offer.

     November Sky Charts

Looking North Nov 20th - 20:00hrs GMT	Looking East Nov 20th - 20:00hrs GMT
Looking South Nov 20th - 20:00hrs GMT	Looking West Nov 20th - 20:00hrs GMT
Northern Aspect Nov 20th - 20:00hrs GMT	Southern Aspect Nov 20th - 20:00hrs GMT
Northern Aspect (Pre-dawn) Nov 14th - 06:00hrs GMT	Southern Aspect (Pre-dawn) Nov 14th - 06:00hrs GMT