Sky-watchers will see a sprinkling of shooting stars, bask under autumn’s brightest star pattern, and take a dip in a cosmic lagoon.
Taurid meteors. Look toward the southeast sky on Monday, November 4, and into the following morning to catch sight of the minor South Taurid meteor shower.
A moonless night means darker skies, which promise to bring more of the five to ten shooting stars per hour into view this year. While they are no torrent of meteors, the Taurids are known to be slow moving and can produce more spectacular fireballs—making them easy to spot even from brightly lit suburbs.
Cosmic queen. After darkness falls on Tuesday, November 5, look toward the high northwestern sky for the constellation Cassiopeia, the Queen.
As the Big Dipper swoops low in the late autumn sky, Cassiopeia’s five stars in a zigzag-shape ride high overhead, on the other side of the North Star, Polaris.
Locating this constellation is as simple as connecting the dots. Find the two pointer stars in the Big Dipper’s bowl that are used to find the North Star. Then continue to follow this imaginary line past Polaris for about the same distance until you reach the lopsided “M” pattern directly across from the Great Bear.
Venus and moon. About a half hour after local sunset on Wednesday, November 6, look for the waxing crescent moon low in the southwest sky, posing to the upper right of brilliant Venus. The stunning cosmic pair will appear only 8 degrees apart in the sky—about equal to the width of a fist at arm’s length. At this time of the year, the goddess of love shines as the brightest evening planet visible across the globe.
Lagoon nebula. Meanwhile, binocular and telescope users can try this observation challenge—the famous Lagoon nebula will appear sandwiched right in the middle of the Moon-Venus alignment.
A giant star factory some 4,000 light-years from Earth, the Lagoon nebula (also known as Messier 8) is nestled within the star-rich fields of the constellation Sagittarius. As the nebula rests close to the western horizon and its glare at dusk, the best views will be from southern latitudes, where the Lagoon nebula will be higher in local skies.
Altair-Fomalhaut sandwich. On Saturday, November 9, look toward the relatively sparse southwest evening sky for the first quarter moon, joined by the Fomalhaut (which is 25 light-years away) to its far left. The Altair (16 light-years distant) will be on its far right.
Moon and Neptune. After nightfall on Sunday, November 10, the moon acts as a convenient guidepost to track down the most distant giant planet in our solar system, Neptune. The two objects will appear only 6 degrees apart—equal to about a fist-width held at arm’s length.
The blue ice giant lies some 4.5 billion kilometers from Earth and shines at 7.8 magnitude, making it barely visible as a tiny blue-colored star in binoculars and as a small disk among a field of pinpoint stars in a backyard telescope.
Backyard astronomers with medium-aperture telescopes measuring at least 12 inches can try spotting Neptune’s largest moon, Triton, shining at magnitude 13.
Tell us—what amazing sky phenomena have you seen lately?