This Week's Sky at a Glance for November 5 – 13

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This Week's Sky at a Glance

Some daily events in the changing sky for November 5 – 13

by Alan M. MacRobert

Friday, November 5

  • This is the time of year when the Big Dipper lies low horizontally, "holding water," during early evening. Look for it just above your north-northwest horizon. How low it appears — or whether you can see it at all! — depends on your latitude. The farther north you are, the higher it'll be.

     

    Rolando Ligustri photographed 103P/Comet Hartley 2 on September 6th. Since then the round coma has grown larger, but the central condensation remains weak.Rolando Ligustri

  • Periodic Comet Hartley 2 is fading now that it's drawing farther away from both Earth and Sun. It's currently 6th or 7th magnitude and diffuse; its apparent magnitude depends a lot on the darkness of your sky and the nature of your observing instrument. The time to look for it is just before the first light of dawn at your location. See our article and finder charts: Encounters with Comet Hartley 2. This is the comet with the weird nucleus that NASA's EPOXI mission just flew past!

     

    Saturday, November 6

     

  • Mira, the brightest long-period red variable star, is just starting to fade from its unusually bright maximum. As of November 4th observers were still reporting it at about magnitude 3.2, obvious to the unaided eye. Mira is up in good view in the east-southeast by 8 or 9 p.m. daylight saving time. Estimate its brightness using the comparison-star chart in the September Sky & Telescope, page 58.

     

     

  • New Moon (exact at 12:52 a.m. on this date Eastern Daylight Time).

     

    Sunday, November 7

     

  • For most of North America, daylight saving time ends at 2 a.m. Sunday morning. Clocks "fall back" an hour.

     

    Use binoculars to look for this challenging group of objects soon after sunset on the 7th and 8th. (This scene is drawn for the middle of North America. European observers: move each Moon symbol a quarter of the way toward the one for the previous date. For clarity, the Moon is shown three times actual size.)Sky & Telescope diagram

  • A twilight challenge: about 20 minutes after your local sunset time, use binoculars to scan for Antares and Mars flanking the thin crescent Moon very low in the southwest, as shown here. (When using our online almanac, be sure the Daylight Saving Time box is unchecked now.)

     

    Monday, November 8

     

  • These evenings, look upper left of bright Jupiter for the Great Square of Pegasus, and farther to Jupiter's lower right for Fomalhaut.

     

     

  • Jupiter's moon Io reappears out of eclipse, just off the planet's eastern limb, around 10:09 p.m. EST. Then, Europa reappears out of eclipse right next to Io at 11:19 p.m. EST. Each takes a minute or two to swell to its full brightness. (For a listing of all of Jupiter's satellite events this month, good worldwide, see the November Sky & Telescope, page 58.)

     

    Tuesday, November 9

     

  • If you have a 10-inch or larger telescope, have you ever tried for the major moons of Uranus and Neptune? They're not easy. See the guide in the November Sky & Telescope, page 56.

     

    Wednesday, November 10

     

  • Yes, it's possible to see the "summer" Teapot of Sagittarius in November. This evening the Moon guides your way. Find a spot with a good view of the southwest horizon, and right as twilight ends, look below the Moon for the Teapot tilting way down. It's about the size of your fist held at arm's length.

     

    Thursday, November 11

     

  • Using binoculars or a telescope, have you ever found the little star cluster M29 near the center of the Northern Cross? See Gary Seronik's Binocular highlight article in the November Sky & Telescope, page 45.

     

    Friday, November 12

     

  • Algol, the brightest eclipsing variable star, is at its minimum light (magnitude 3.4 instead of its usual 2.1) for a couple hours centered on 9:52 p.m. PST (12:52 a.m. on the morning of the 13th EST).

     

    Saturday, November 13

     

  • First-quarter Moon (exact at 11:39 a.m. EST). The Moon forms a nearly equilateral triangle with Jupiter to its left and fainter Fomalhaut below them both.