S2

M3
The crescent Moon is
nearly in a line with
Mars and Venus low in
the southwest at dusk.

10
S9 M
Mars passes the Lagoon Nebula, M8,
this evening and
tomorrow.

16

28

T4
The Moon shines
above Venus and Mars.

17
M

24
M
Moon at apogee, 2h
UT (distance 404,695
km, diameter 29' 32").

30
Mars ends the month
6.6 to the lower right
of Venus.

13
Th

26
W
The waning crescent
Moon shines to
Spicas upper left
before dawn.

Mars starts the

month 3 to the
upper right of
Venus.

F7

Moon
Nov 12
Moon
Nov 3

After the Moon rises

in early evening, look
for Aldebaran to its
upper right.

F21

SSW

Pluto is in conjunction with the Sun.

Moon
Nov 2

22

F28

29

Mercury is at greatest
eastern elongation.

New Moon (9:14 p.m.

EST).

Venus is the first planet youll spot maybe even before sunset
if you know just where to look in the southwest. Turn your telescope on it before it becomes too dazzling against a darkened sky.
Blazing at magnitude 4.4, Venus reaches its greatest elongation 47 from the Sun on the evening of November 5th. But
early November also finds Venus at its most southerly declination (27 in Sagittarius) and beginning its return northward.
So the planet will actually keep getting a little higher at dusk for
another month (for readers at midnorthern latitudes).
Telescope users should follow Venus carefully in late October
and early November, because the planet normally reaches dichotomy the appearance of being exactly half-lit several
days before greatest evening elongation. On what date do you
judge that this happens?
During November Venus skims the lid of the Sagittarius Teapot.

SW

ESE

During the November dusk bright Venus and faint Mars shine low in the southwest. Watch the stars of Sagittarius skim under them as the month
progresses. On November 11th the nearly full Moon almost overpowers Saturn quite close to it.

The Moon shines near Regulus

in the early-morning hours.

27
Th

Diphda

Mars

15

The Sun, Moon, and Planets in November

P I S C E S

14

The Moon diagrams in the calendar show the Moons phase at 0h UT every two days. Celestial north is up, and a tick indicates the Moons north pole. The red dot shows the Moons limb tipped into best view by libration; the dots size indicates by how much. The maximum libration plotted is 9.1 on November 17th; the minimum plotted is 2.0 on the
11th. Moon diagrams adapted by Guy Ottewell from his Astronomical Calendar 1997.

he wonderful evening display of planets were

having this autumn keeps getting more interesting. After
November sundowns Venus and Mars shine in the southwest, Jupiter in the south, and Saturn in the southeast. The wide
span of these four planets contracts from 110 to 87 long during November, and Mercury becomes visible as an addition to
its western end late in the month.
For most of November all eight of Earths fellow planets are
above the horizon at nightfall. Since Pluto is too low to observe,
an observational feat to try instead is viewing the five bright
classical planets with a single scan of the naked eye. (Even a
sixth naked-eye planet is possible, if you have ideal sky conditions and can glimpse Uranus about 8 west of Jupiter.)
Meanwhile, optical aid will show impressive and rare conjunctions and occultations this month.

Saturn

Moon
Nov 4

S8

Moon
Nov 11

10

Venus

Full Moon (9:12 a.m.

EST).

19 Th
20
W

25

Moon
Nov 5

The Moon shines

above Jupiter.

Moon at perigee, 8h
UT (distance 363,380
km, diameter 32' 53").

Mars passes the

globular cluster M22.

S1

S A G I T T A R I U S

12
W

18

31

Venus is at greatest
elongation.
Jupiter is at eastern
quadrature.

The Moon occults Saturn for

SE United States in evening and
much of Europe late at night.
Venus is 1.5 south of Sagittarii.

30

W5

11

Venus is near Sigma

Sagittarii; Mars is near
Lambda Sagittarii.

23

29

Moon
Nov 10

Dusk, November 10 12

It passes 1.5 south of 3rd-magnitude

Lambda () Sagittarii on November 11th.
On the 17th it shines 0.3 from 2nd-magnitude Sigma () Sagittarii (Nunki) for
East Coast viewers, and 0.2 from it by the
time twilight reaches the West Coast.
Mars remains close to the right of Venus
all November. Its about 160 times fainter
at magnitude +1.1 but should still be easy
to find. Their separation increases very
slowly from 3 to 6.6 during November as
they race across Sagittarius. They were
closest, 2.1 apart, on October 25th.
The two planets are only about 10 high
when twilight ends (as viewed from 40
north latitude). So good sky conditions
and a good telescope will be needed if you
want to see M8, the Lagoon Nebula, when
Mars passes within 12 of it on November
9th and 10th. Mars goes similarly close by
the big globular cluster M22 on November 19th.
The same evening that Venus nudges by
Nunki (November 17th), Mars is less than
a degree north of Lambda Sagittarii.
Jupiter, the brightest planet after Venus,
shines high in the south at nightfall. Its at
eastern quadrature (90 east of the Sun)
on November 5th. The most unusual
Jupiter event of the month is its occultation of the 6th-magnitude star SAO
164156 on the evening of November 12th;
see page 104. Dont forget to look the
night before to see the star about 7' to
Jupiters east, and the night after to see the
star paired with similarly bright Callisto.
Do the two look different at high power in
your telescope?
Uranus and Neptune are off to the lower

right of Jupiter after dusk. Use binoculars

and the chart on page 84 of the May issue
to add them to your tally in this planetful
month.
Pluto is invisible; it passes through conjunction with the Sun on November 27th.
Mercury becomes visible low in the
west-southwest at dusk in the second half
of November but its not having a very
good apparition. The fleet, hot world pulls
out to greatest elongation 22 east of the
Sun on November 28th, but much of this
separation is leftward, not upward from
the horizon, as seen from midnorthern
latitudes. Starting around November 15th,
look for Mercury very far to the lower
right of Venus about 30 to 45 minutes
after sundown.
Saturn burns alone in the southeast at
nightfall, while all the other planets are
confined to the sector of the ecliptic between south and west. Not until midevening does Saturn transit the skys central

meridian due south around 10 p.m. at

Novembers beginning and 8 p.m. at
months end.
Early on the evening of November 11th
the ringed wonder undergoes a stunning
grazing occultation by the nearly full
Moon for observers in a narrow band
from south Texas to southern New Jersey
and Cape Cod; see the map in last Januarys issue, page 90. For observers south of
that line the occultation is total. Viewers
north of there can see Saturn skim past
the Moons north pole.
In addition to occulting Saturn, the
waxing Moon forms a nearly horizontal
line with Venus and Mars on November
3rd, hangs well above Venus on the 4th,
and stands just a few degrees above Jupiter
on the 7th.
Fred Schaaf welcomes mail at 681 Port Elizabeth-Cumberland Rd., Millville, NJ 08332, and
e-mail at fschaaf@aol.com.

THE NEAR SKY: A HALO PUZZLE

Reader Ed Kane of Gordonville, Pennsylvania, says he has long enjoyed observing daytime halo phenomena. Kane sends the following account of what appear to be halo effects observed in late October or early November 1533 over Moravia in eastern Europe.
The writer is Jakob Hutter, leader of a communal group that eventually came to be
known as the Hutterites. My beloved children . . . we saw three suns in the sky for . . .
about an hour, as well as two rainbows. These had their backs turned towards each
other, almost touching in the middle, and their ends pointed away from each other. . . .
After a while the two suns and rainbows disappeared, and only the one remained.
Even though the other two suns were not as bright as the one, they were clearly visible. I feel this was no small miracle; it was a sign from God. . . .
Can you figure out what kinds of halo phenomena the Hutterites were probably
seeing? Write to me if you can. Ill have an answer here next month.
F. S.

1997 Sky Publishing Corp. All rights reserved.

Tear out this monthly calendar for use outdoors.

27

PEKKA PARVIAINEN

26

NOVEMBER

Dusk, November 2 5

The Solar System

in November

The Sun
Date
November 1st 15th
Right Ascension 14h24.9m 15h21.0m
Declination
1422'
1826'
Diameter
32'14"
32'20"
Distance (a.u.)
0.993
0.989

30th
16h24.1m
2137'
32'26"
0.986

December
Solstice

Saturn

Venus

March
Equinox

The Moon
First Quarter
Full Moon
Last Quarter
New Moon

Nov. 7
Nov. 14
Nov. 21
Nov. 30

Earth

September
Equinox

Sun

21:43 UT
14:12 UT
23:58 UT
2:14 UT

Mercury
Mars

June
Solstice

Jupiter
Uranus
Neptune

Pluto

10"

Mercury
November

1st
h

15th
m

Venus
30th

1st
m

15th
m

Mars
30th

1st
m

Jupiter Saturn Uranus Neptune Pluto

30th
m

16h20.8m

2650' 2641' 2436'

2431' 2345'

1724'

+311'

1934'

2017'

924'

Elongation

11 Ev

18 Ev

22 Ev

47 Ev

47 Ev

44 Ev

45 Ev

38 Ev

82 Ev

142 Ev

73 Ev

65 Ev

17 Ev

Magnitude

0.5

0.4

0.3

4.4

4.5

4.6

+1.1

+1.1

2.3

+0.4

+5.8

+8.0

+13.8

Diameter

4.8"

5.3"

6.8"

23.6"

27.8"

34.1"

4.9"

4.6"

38.8"

19.3"

3.5"

2.2"

0.1"

Illumination

95%

86%

59%

52%

45%

35%

93%

95%

99%

100%

100%

100%

100%

Distance (a.u.)

1.398

1.261

0.986

0.707

0.600

0.489

1.923

2.029

5.080

8.584

20.113

30.553

30.963

2h

0h

+10

C
TI
IP
L
EC

Nov 25

VIRGO

0
LIBRA
10

DECLINATION

ARIES

Pleiades

Nov 18
CANCER

20h

18h
Vega

CYGNUS

Rigel

Sirius

+40
HERCULES
+30

PEGASUS

Saturn

Nov 10

AQUILA
AQUARIUS
Nov 7

CETUS

Uranus &
Neptune

Jupiter

CANIS
MAJOR

Fomalhaut

Pluto

Nov 3

4 a.m.

2 a.m.

Midnight

10 p.m.

8 p.m.

0
10

Mars

LOCAL TIME OF TRANSIT

6 a.m.

+10

CAPRICORNUS

Venus

8 a.m.

+20

OPHIUCHUS

S A G I T TA R I U S
10 a.m.

16h

Altair

Full Moon
Nov 14
ORION

Procyon

CORVUS

22h Deneb

Aldebaran
Betelgeuse

Alphard

Spica

40

TA U R U S

Nov 21

Regulus

ANDROMEDA

PERSEUS

Pollux

LEO

Arcturus

30

4h
Capella

G E M I N I Castor

BOTES

+20

20

6h

AURIGA

DECLINATION

+40
+30

8h

19 58.2

15th
m

1841' 2415' 2542'

10h

20 30.7

15th
m

Declination

12h

0 57.2

15th
m

17 40.0 18 42.0 19 38.1

RIGHT ASCENSION

21 08.5

15th
m

Right Ascension 15 08.4 16 34.4 17 56.8

14h

17 33.0 19 09.3

15th
m

6 p.m.

4 p.m.

Mercury
40
SCORPIUS

2 p.m.

Top right: The solar system seen from above; the curved arrows indicate each planets movement during the month. Planet disk diagrams show
south up. Map above: The Sun and planet symbols are positioned for mid-November on colored arrows that show motion throughout the month.
The Moon is plotted every few days; dates are in the evening when the Moon is waxing or full (right side), in the morning when waning (left).
Local time of transit tells when objects cross the meridian at midmonth; transits occur an hour later on the 1st, an hour earlier at months end.
Sky & Telescope November 1997

95