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2020-11 Chart Front 8:00 pm on November 1 N 7:00 pm on November 15 6:00 pm on December 1 DIPPER BIG To use this chart: hold the chart in front of you and turn it so the direction you are facing is at the bottom of the 2020 chart. Polaris DIPPER Capella LITTLE Bright Stars AURIGA Medium Bright Stars Faint Stars DRACO CASSIOPEIA PERSEUS HERCULES Scan dark skies CEPHEUS with binoculars: T Aldebaran AURUS OVEMBER M-31: The Andromeda Galaxy YRA L ANDROMEDA N M-15: Globular star cluster CYGNUS Deneb ega V M-45: Pleiades open star cluster M-45 M-31 E The Hyades star cluster in Taurus Hyades W SUMMER TRIANGLE PISCES Altair AQUILA M-15 As autumn continues, sunrises MARS occur later and sunsets occur earlier. The days are getting shorter! SATURN Full Moon JUPITER Nov. 29 From Nashville: Fomalhaut Sunrise Sunset Nov 1 6:10 AM 4:51 PM Nov 15 6:24 AM 4:39 PM Last Quarter Dec 1 6:40 AM 4:33 PM Nov. 7 New Moon S Nov. 14 Download monthly star charts and learn First Quarter more about our shows at adventuresci.org Nov. 21 Early Morning November 2020 Throughout the year, the constellations rise and set just a After Sunset orbit around their parent planet. If you have trouble steadying your little bit earlier every day. You won’t see much difference binoculars on Jupiter, try leaning them up against the side of a building from night to night, but you will over the course of weeks or For much of the year, we use the stars of the Big Dipper to or another steady surface. A small telescope not only shows the moons months. What we see in today’s pre-dawn sky is a preview of help us find Polaris, the North Star. However, the Big Dipper of Jupiter, but also its cloud bands. Jupiter has stripes! the early evening sky in later months. Go out before dawn is harder to find in the autumn. It appears very low to the Saturn is just to the left of Jupiter. At best, binoculars will show Saturn this month for a look ahead at the autumn night sky. northern horizon after sunset. Some of its stars even set as appearing slightly oval in shape. A small telescope reveals the reason: below the horizon from our latitude. In the hours before dawn, winter constellations Orion, those beautiful rings. Taurus, and Canis Major the Big Dog are high in the west. Another group of stars can help us find our way. Look for a As Earth and the other planets orbit around the Sun, the planets we see The Big Dipper is now high in the northeast, easier to find group of five stars known as Cassiopeia the Queen. When appear to move across the constellations over time. Some planets, like than it was in the evening. Meanwhile, Cassiopeia is low in the Big Dipper is low to the horizon, Cassiopeia is high in the Mercury, Venus, and Mars, move relatively quickly. Meanwhile, Jupiter the northwest. north. The central peak of this constellation’s W-shape also and Saturn, being further from the Sun, move far more slowly. These points you in the direction of Polaris. Look to the east for brilliant “morning star” Venus. Its bright two planets will now be in our early evening sky through the rest of the clouds reflect sunlight to our eyes making it stand out even Polaris is not a particularly bright star, but it does remain year, and we have a great opportunity to track their motions. They will as the sky begins to brighten. Venus will appear close to the fixed in the sky throughout the night and throughout the year. appear to grow closer to each other over the next several weeks, and bright star Spica in Virgo the Maiden on the mornings of When you face the North Star, you’re facing due north. Polaris by mid-December, they will appear extemely close together, from our November 16. Look for a thin crescent Moon near Venus on is at the end of the handle of the Little Dipper. This group of vantage here on Earth. Their closest approach will be on December 21, the mornings of November 12th and 13th. stars is officially known as Ursa Minor the Little Bear. and you’ll be able to go out in the early evening to catch this incredible sight. Desktop planetarium software like the free, open-source Look high in the west for the three stars that make up the Stellarium (stellarium.org) can show you more precisely Summer Triangle. Despite the name, the Summer Triangle Look for the Moon near Jupiter and Saturn on November 19th. The Moon where night sky objects will be on any date and time, and stars are a great sight for autumn skies and may be the first will be near Mars on the 25th. help you plan your observing. stars you’ll see as the sky begins to darken. The three stars are part of three separate constellations: Cygnus the Swan, From Dark Skies Aquila the Eagle, and Lyra the Harp. The Summer Triangle is Leonid Meteor Shower so named because it’s up all night during the summer, from Bright outdoor lighting can make it hard to see all but the brightest The ‘shooting stars’ of the annual Leonid Meteor Shower sunset to sunrise. In the autumn, it’s already high overhead stars. On a clear night, find a dark spot far away from city lights, give peak on the mornings of November 16 and 17. The darker by sunset, and will be lower in the west by midnight. your eyes time to adjust to the dark, and look for even more celestial the sky you’re under, the more meteors you’ll see. This year sights. You can begin by looking for the fainter stars of this season’s there won’t be a bright Moon to wash out the view. Off to the east is one of the first signs of oncoming winter constellations. Pegasus the Flying Horse, Andromeda the Princess, skies, the red star Aldebaran in Taurus the Bull. Stay out a and the three constellations of the Summer Triangle all become easier Meteor showers are usually best after midnight. Find a little later, and Orion the Hunter rises too, with its distinctive to explore. comfortable spot of open sky. Relax, stargaze and meteor- red star Betelgeuse. watch! Bring friends, lawn chairs, and make sure to dress Look closely for the star that marks the head of Cygnus the Swan, a warmly! Most of all, be patient. Even under ideal dark-sky Don’t mistake either of those two red stars for the red planet, fairly boring-looking white colored star called Albireo. A small telescope conditions, there may only be 10 or 15 visible meteors per Mars. It’s high in the southeast at sunset, looking very bright reveals that there are really two stars there, appearing very close to hour. Meteors may appear in any part of the sky, but they will having reached opposition near the middle of last month. each other. Not only that, but the two stars are different colors, one seem to be moving in a direction away from the constellation A planet is at opposition when it’s opposite the Sun in our blue and one yellow! Leo the Lion, which rises in the east around midnight. sky. That also means that the planet is making its closest approach to Earth. Autumn evenings are great for spotting the Milky Way coursing from the Meteors from the Leonid shower consist of debris left behind southwest horizon through the Summer Triangle and Cassiopeia and on by Comet Tempel-Tuttle. Every year, Earth passes through Though Mars’ opposition is now in the past, it still looks very to the northeastern horizon. This hazy band of light is the bulk of our this trail of tiny particles. These particles burn up as they bright, and a little bit bigger than usual in telescopes. Now disc-shaped galaxy, as we see it from within. fall through our atmosphere, resulting in the distinctive swift that Mars and Earth are growing further apart, Mars will streaks of light we call meteors. become dimmer, easily noticeable by the end of the month. Near Andromeda, look for M-31, the Andromeda Galaxy. This massive spiral galaxy is the most distant object visible to the unaided eye, but In the southwest are two bright planets, Jupiter and Saturn. to find it it requires crisp, dark skies and a little patience. Binoculars If you have binoculars, you may see Jupiter’s four largest or a small telescope can improve the view, but don’t expect to see This Month in the Sudekum Planetarium moons. Watch them over several nights to watch them more than a faint, fuzzy, oval blob. If you don’t feel impressed, just remind yourself you’re looking at the collected light of possibly one trillion stars, all at a distance of 2 million light years away. Now that’s impressive!.
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