Feature Article November 4, 2004
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Bright Planet Spectacle In Morning Skyby Leo Enright
In early November, sunset in this area occurs a few minutes before 5:00 p.m. Eastern Standard Time, with twilight lasting until about 6:30 p.m. Morning twilight does not begin until about 5:00 a.m. with sunrise at about 6:45 a.m. Over the month, sunset occurs about one minute earlier and sunrise about one minute later. Thus by November 30, sunset is at about 4:30 p.m. and the end of twilight about 6:15 p.m. Morning twilight does not begin until 5:30 a.m., with sunrise at about 7:20 a.m.
The darkening November sky still features the rich Milky Way sweeping overhead. This wide band of starlight is from over 200 billion stars in our home galaxy. Our sun is just one star in one arm of that huge Galaxy.
One of the most interesting of the constellations is Pegasus, the great winged horse of ancient mythology. To most modern observers, it appears, not as a flying horse, but as a huge square standing on one corner high in the south eastern sky. Beginning from the left corner of the Great Square, a row of three bright stars forms the reclining body of the Princess Andromeda, who was saved by the hero, Perseus, in another of the ancient myths. Perseus himself stands to the left of Andromeda, holding aloft the Gorgons head to slay the monster attacking her. Stretching above him and higher in the north eastern sky stand the parents of Andromeda, Queen Cassiopeia, whose throned presence looks like a huge letter W, and King Cepheus, whose royal appearance is, to us, more like a simple five-sided house standing almost upside down. Below Andromeda and well down in the southeastern sky stretches the slain sea-monster, the constellation Cetus, as though the horrid sight of the Gorgon, Medusa, has just sent it sprawling to the ground.
Planet watchers will notice that this month their favourite objects present a better show in the morning than in the evening sky. Mercury, the innermost planet, though bright, is seen only in the second half of the month and for only a short period of time each evening beginning about 40 minutes after sunset. (See above.) Be sure you have a very good view of the southwestern horizon, and look very low just above the horizon, using binoculars, if you fail to see it with the unaided eye. The next planet to be seen is Saturn, which rises in the east at about 10:00 p.m. in early November, and at about 8:00 p.m. by months end. It is very easy to locate, being the brightest object in that area of the sky and it forms an almost perfectly straight line below the stars Castor and Pollux, which are the brightest stars in the constellation Gemini. For those who own a small telescope and wish to view Saturns famous ring system or several of its many moons, it is best to wait several hours after it rises in order that this intriguing planet may be viewed above the layer of haze that is often found near the horizon. In the latter part of the month, Saturn appears to be moving very slowly to the right among the background stars. This movement (which astronomers call retrograde motion) is more the result of our planet Earths passing it than the direct motion Saturn itself. Try to detect it by making a very careful drawing of its position among the stars, and see how long it is before the movement is noticed. You may follow it for months, throughout the winter. Venus, the brightest of the planets, and Jupiter, the second brightest, both rise in the east at roughly 4:00 a.m. It is a rare spectacle when this brilliant pair appear as close as they do in the first week of November. Though from our perspective they may appear very close, Jupiter, the solar systems largest planet, is 5 times farther away from us than Venus is. (Set the alarm a bit earlier than usual in order not to miss seeing them at least an hour before sunrise.) After the first week of the month, the orbit of Venus carries that planet downward in the sky and away from Jupiter. Mars also may be seen in the morning sky, very low in the east beginning about 90 minutes before sunrise. It is reddish and much fainter than Jupiter or Venus. As Venus moves downward away from Jupiter, she approaches Mars, and by the last day of the month she appears above Mars by only the width of three fingers held at arms length.
This planetary spectacle has an added attraction when the crescent moon joins the display. These three dates are certainly worth the loss of a half hours sleep between 5:30 and 6:00 a.m. On November 9 the Crescent Moon appears just above Jupiter. On the 10th it is just below Venus. On the 11th it is below Mars, but is so very slim and close to the horizon between 6:00 and 6:30 a.m. that observers may miss seeing it. Later in the month, in the evening sky, the moon, a few days past Full, glides past the stars Castor and Pollux and the planet Saturn, another series of sights not to be missed. On November 28th, the moon is above the three of them; on the 29th it is to the right of Castor; on the 30th it appears below Pollux and to the left of Saturn.
Meteor observers will be interested in two showers this month. In the first half of the month the Taurids are active and often produce brilliant fireballs. These meteors may be observed in the evening or throughout the night by looking generally eastward and southward. In the early mornings of November 17th and 18th, from 3:00 a.m. onward, many skywatchers will be looking for a chance to see the Leonid Meteor Shower, which has been known, on occasion, to give a storm of meteors, and which, in the early morning of Nov. 18, 2001, gave me perhaps the greatest meteor show I had ever seen. These very fast meteors are best seen in the eastern and southeastern sky.
For wishing to have more information about observing the planets, stars, and other objects in the autumn and winter sky, a book called The Beginners Observing Guide is available at Sharbot Lake Pharmacy.
