The sky in November

Natural History, Nov, 2007 by Joe Rao

Mercury becomes easy to see with the naked eye in the morning sky early this month; for northern observers, this apparition is its most favorable one of the year. The planet starts the month rising more than an hour before sunup, far below and to the left of Venus, and shining a bit brighter than the nearby first-magnitude star Spica. Mercury remains within four degrees to the left of Spica for the first week of the month. From the 1st through the 11th the planet's brightness increases fourfold, helping to make the second week of the month Mercury's finest show. It rises an hour and a half before sunrise and several minutes before the onset of morning twilight, in a totally dark sky. On the 7th a lovely waning crescent Moon appears to ride well above and to the right of Mercury and Spica. The following morning Mercury approaches its greatest western elongation, nineteen degrees from the Sun. Thereafter it slowly turns back toward the Sun, but it should remain visible low in the east-southeast about forty-five minutes before sunrise until the 22nd.

Venus dazzles in the predawn morning sky, rising almost four hours before sunrise at the start of the month. It loses only about ten minutes to the Sun by month's end, and is well up in the southeast sky by sunrise all month. Viewed through a telescope, Venus starts the month resembling a half Moon (a phase called dichotomy), but after a week it gradually becomes more gibbous. A crescent Moon lies to the right of Venus on the morning of the 5th.

Mars becomes a noteworthy evening object this month, advancing its rising time from about three and a half hours after sunset when the month begins to about two hours by month's end. It reaches opposition this year on Christmas Eve, and as that event draws near, the planet's brilliance almost doubles, from magnitude -0.6 to -1.3. By late in the month, many holiday shoppers who cast a casual glance skyward will wonder about the identity of that lustrous, pumpkin-hued "star" low in the east-northeast sky.

Jupiter bids evening skywatchers a fond, albeit slow, adieu. At the start of the month it lies low in the southwest during the chilly dusk, setting a little more than two hours after sundown. By the 20th it sets before the end of evening twilight.

Saturn begins the month seven degrees east of the bluish star Regulus, in the constellation Leo, the lion, and moves a degree farther east of the star by month's end. The planet rises more than five hours before sunrise on the 1st, at about local midnight by the 20th, and before 11:30 P.M. by the 30th. By then the planet is high in the south-southeast as morning twilight begins. At magnitude 0.8, Saturn outshines Regulus (magnitude 1.4), but the planet is at its faintest since 1997.

The Moon is at last quarter on the 1st at 5:18 V.M. (eastern daylight time) and wanes to new on the 9th at 6:03 P.M. Our satellite waxes to first quarter on the 17th at 5:32 P.M. and to full on the 24th at 9:30 A.M.

An occultation of Regulus, the brightest star in Leo, takes place before sunrise on the morning of the 3rd, when a fat waning crescent Moon passes in front of the star. The event is visible chiefly in the southern United States, Mexico, and the Caribbean; over parts of Georgia, Florida, and Alabama it takes place during morning twilight or right after sunup. The star disappears behind the Moon's bright limb, then dramatically reappears about an hour later from behind the Moon's dark limb. Visit tinyurl.com/274cer for a list of viewing times for more than a hundred cities.

Standard time returns on Sunday the 4th. Set your clocks back one hour.

Unless otherwise noted, all times are eastern standard time.