\The moon was at first quarter Oct. 31. We see the moon’s apparent westward motion caused by Earth’s eastward rotation, when, in fact, the moon advances eastward by 12.2 degrees each day. If you multiply 12.2 times 29.5 (about the length of a month), the result is roughly 360 degrees, a complete orbit.
Nov. 11, the moon is 1.5 degrees north of Saturn. Then Nov. 12, Pluto is occulted for observers in northeastern Canada and western Europe. Nov. 16, Mars is one degree north of the moon, an occultation for the extreme Southern Hemisphere. The moon is full on Nov. 22, with Aldebaran just under two degrees south. Nov. 27, the moon slides by the Beehive Cluster (M44).
Mercury is a fine apparition, but for Southern Hemisphere observers. Down there, the ecliptic is nearly vertical to the horizon, but here in the north, it is even with the sun going down, so there is no chance to see the speedy planet.
Venus is just past inferior conjunction (between us and the sun), so is now a morning object, rising a little past 7 a.m. in the early days of November and well before sunrise as the month wears on.
Mars rises higher and higher in the sky, becoming a much better apparition, but gradually fading as Earth speeds away from the Red Planet. It fades to magnitude 0.0, far less prominent that its closest approach in August when it was magnitude -2.8 (bright, in other words). Watch for the nearby moon Nov. 15 and 16.
Jupiter is a difficult sight, very close to the western horizon as the month progresses, falling behind the sun by Nov. 26.
Saturn continues to set earlier and earlier, evidence that we here on Earth are pulling away from the much slower outer planets. The thin sliver of a four-day-old moon passes by Nov. 11.
Uranus is well placed in the evening sky, and may even be seen with the unaided eye from a dark site. It will be the greenish object that doesn’t twinkle.
Neptune is also prominently placed in the evening, but needs good magnification to view the blue-green orb. The distant planet is retrograding and becomes stationary Nov. 25, to begin proper motion therafter.
Daylight Saving Time ends on Nov. 4.
The south Taurid meteors peak on Nov. 5.
— James Edgar has had an interest in the night sky all his life. He joined the Royal Astronomical Society of Canada in 2000 and is now the society’s past-president, editor of the Observer’s Handbook and production manager of the bi-monthly RASC Journal. The IAU named asteroid 1995 XC5 “(22421) Jamesedgar” in his honour.
