The November Sky

Paul Curtin

Remember to look out for Mars this month. Northern observers will have excellent views all month.

The northern Autumn sky is a dark affair. Framed between the stunning objects of our galactic arms is a region lacking in bright stars. For the most part we must seek carefully for isolated distant galaxies amidst indistinct star patterns. Our one exception to this is Cassiopeia, a bright W-shaped constellation that hosts a rich stretch of Milky Way star fields. Sweep along the northern edge of the Milky Way to find an impressive string of open clusters. We will discuss these in more detail in December.

Andromeda, due east of the Great Square of Pegasus, is noteworthy primarily because of M31 (the Andromeda Galaxy). M31 and its companion M32, can be spotted easily with binoculars in a dark sky. Southeast of M31 is M33 in Triangulum. M33 is harder to locate but worth the search if you are using a mid to large aperture telescope.

The region south of Andromeda contains many galaxies. Most of these are faint and of interest only to those using large telescopes. The long period variable Mira (omicron Ceti) continues brightening this month.

Galaxies are also to be found in Sculptor and in the north and west sectors of Phoenix. Southern observers can now get a glimpse of two magnificent deep sky objects: the Small Magellanic Cloud can be spotted early in the evening while the Large Magellanic Cloud is visible throughout the night.

The Planets in November

Mercury remains a fine evening object for southern observers up until the middle of the month. Observers in the north must wait until December to view this elusive planet.

Venus is an evening object this month. Look for it in the western sky just after dark.

Mars reaches opposition on November 7. Though it slowly fades it will be a fine sight in mid-sized telescopes all month.

Jupiter is a very early morning object.

Saturn rises before midnight.

Bibliography

Burnham, Robert Jr., Burnham's Celestial Handbook, New York: Dover, 1978.

Gupta, R. (ed.), Observers Handbook 2005, Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2004.

Jones, K. G. (ed.), Webb Society Deep-Sky Observers Handbook, Volume. 3, Hillside, NJ: Enslow Publishers, 1980.

Kepple, G. R., Sanner, G. W., The Night Sky Observers Guide, Richmond, Virginia: Willman-Bell, 1999.

Tirion, W., Rappaport, B., Remaklus, W., Uranometria Deep Sky Atlas, Richmond, Virginia: Willman-Bell, 2000.

Webb, T. W., Celestial Objects for Common Telescopes, New York: Dover, 1962.