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Tuesday, November 22, 2011

 

The Sky This Week - Thursday November 24 to Thursday December 1

The New Moon is Friday November 25. Venus is easily visible in the western evening twilight with Mercury below it. The Moon is close to Mercury on the 26th and Venus on the 27th. Jupiter dominates the evening sky once Venus has set. Mars is visible in the morning sky and is close to the star Regulus. Saturn is now visible in the morning sky near the star Spica.

Morning sky looking north-east as seen from Adelaide at 5:00 am local daylight saving time on Sunday November 27 showing Mars near Regulus and Saturn near Spica. Similar views will be seen elsewhere at the equivalent local time. Click to embiggen.

The New Moon is Friday November 25.


Mars is in the north-eastern morning sky, in the constellation of Leo. Mars is not far from the bright star Regulus and draws further away over the week.


In the morning Jupiter low is above the western horizon, setting shortly before twilight.

Saturn is low above the north- eastern horizon, not far from the bright star Spica.

Evening sky on Saturday November 26 looking west as seen from Adelaide at 8:45 pm local daylight saving time in South Australia showing Venus and Mercury, with Mercury near the crescent Moon. Similar views will be seen elsewhere at the equivalent local time (click to embiggen)

Bright white Venus and Mercury are readily visible in the evening western twilight sky from around half an hour after sunset for somewhat over an hour.

Mercury is visible below Venus at the beginning of the week. Venus continues to climb towards Sagittarius but Mercury gets progressively lower to the horizon, being very difficult to see by the end of the week.

On Saturday November 26 the crescent Moon is close to Mercury, and on Sunday 27 the crescent Moon is close to Venus.

Jupiter was at opposition, when it is biggest and brightest as seen from Earth, on Saturday the 29th of October. However, Jupiter will be a great binocular and telescope object for many weeks to come. Jupiter is visible for most of the night, setting just before morning twilight.

Evening sky on Saturday November 26 looking north-east as seen from Adelaide at 10:00 pm local daylight saving time in South Australia showing Jupiter and the Moon. Similar views will be seen elsewhere at the equivalent local time. INSET: Jupiter and its Moons as seen at this time (click to embiggen)

In the evening Jupiter is readily visible in the north-eastern sky, from about 7 pm local time on.

Now is a good time to begin telescopic observation of this massive world, or follow its moons in binoculars. For good telescopic observation Jupiter is best from 10 pm - 1 am.

There are some good Jupiter Moon events, but these are mostly in the early hours of the morning.

Although Jupiter is the most prominent now, there are lots of interesting things in the sky to view with a telescope. If you don't have a telescope, now is a good time to visit one of your local astronomical societies open nights or the local planetariums.

The location of the variable star Mira as seen at 10:00 pm local daylight saving time Saturday November 26 looking north-east from Adelaide, similar views will be seen at equivalent local times elsewhere. The circle marks the position of Mira. Click to embiggen,

The variable star Mira is now bright enough to see easily with the unaided eye just above and to the right of Jupiter. Over the month of November it will slowly fade. .

Printable PDF maps of the Eastern sky at 10 pm ADST, Western sky at 10 pm ADST. For further details and more information on what's up in the sky, see Southern Skywatch.


Cloud cover predictions can be found at SkippySky.

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Comments:
This is a great article, and a great topic to explore. Thanks for sharing.
 
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