BLOOMINGTON, Ind. -- Saturn and Jupiter will highlight the evening sky during November. Saturn will lie in the south as the sky darkens. The yellow planet will be only 35 degrees high, so our atmosphere will affect the view. Saturn will set shortly before 2 a.m. local time on Nov. 1 and just before 11 p.m. local time on Nov. 30. Its largest moon, Titan, will be easy to spot through any telescope. Titan will be north of the planet Nov. 10 and 26 and south of the planet Nov. 2 and 18.
Jupiter will be visible all night, reaching opposition on Nov. 3. This will be the best time of the year to observe Jupiter, when it will be closest to Earth in the constellation Aries. Its four Galilean moons and the Great Red Spot will be visible through small telescopes.
Venus will be a brilliant white "morning star" in November, rising four hours before the sun. The planet will be five degrees north of the bright star Spica in the constellation Virgo on Nov. 27.
Mars and Mercury will be too close to the sun for observing during November.
Meteor shower
The annual Leonid meteor shower will be active between Nov. 6 and Nov. 30, peaking on the morning of Nov. 17. Moonlight will interfere with the visibility of some meteors, reducing the maximum rate to about 10 meteors per hour. The shower's radiant, the point from which the meteors appear to come, will be in the constellation Leo. The bright star Regulus is part of Leo and can serve as a marker for the radiant. The farther sickle-shaped Leo climbs above the southeastern horizon, the more meteors there will be all over the sky.
The Leonid meteors are caused by streams of dust particles from Comet Tempel-Tuttle. They strike Earth's atmosphere at 44 miles per second, the fastest of any meteors, so they produce more fireballs than most showers. More information about meteor showers is available from the American Meteor Society at https://www.amsmeteors.org/meteor-showers/.
Moon phases
The moon will be at last quarter on Nov. 5, new on Nov. 13, at first quarter on Nov. 20, and full on Nov. 27.
Author: Hal Kibbey Email: hkibbey [at] gmail.com
The College of Arts