Sky Notes November 2024
Brian Kelly
Director of Observations
Dundee Astronomical Society
From our Director of Observations, Brian Kelly.
THE SKY AT 9 PM BST IN MID-OCTOBER
The Sun
The Moon
The Planets
The Stars
The map above shows the night sky as it will appear from central Scotland at the time and date shown. The point in the sky directly overhead is at the centre of the map; the outer circle is the horizon with the cardinal compass points in the direction shown.
The map shows the brighter stars that are visible to the unaided eye. Some of the more distinctive constellations are outlined.
The sunrise, sunset and twilight times given here are for Dundee but generally apply across central Scotland.
November 1st sunrise 7.21 am GMT sunset 4.28 pm GMT
November 15th sunrise 7.51 am GMT sunset 4.01 pm GMT
November 30th sunrise 8.20 am GMT sunset 3.40 pm GMT
In mid-November, the sky is reasonably dark between 5.30 pm and 6.30 am GMT.
The Sun lies in the constellation of Libra, the Scales, for the first part of November, moving into Scorpius on Saturday 23rd and then into Ophiuchus, the Serpent Bearer, on Friday 29th.
New Moon is on Friday November 1st, and the young crescent Moon should become visible low above the south-west horizon from Wednesday 6th onwards.
The Moon is at First Quarter on Saturday November 9th, when the half-illuminated Moon appears low in the south-east as the sky grows dark.
On the following evening, Sunday 10th, the Moon will lie to the lower right of Saturn, and then well to the upper left of the planet on Monday 11th.
Full Moon falls on the evening of Friday November 15th; the fully-illuminated Moon rises in the north-east before sunset, shines high in the south at midnight and sets again in the north-west over an hour after sunrise the following morning. Throughout the night the Moon will appear to the right of the Pleiades, though binoculars may be required to see the star cluster in the bright moonlight.
Two nights later, on Sunday 17th, the waning gibbous Moon lies to the upper left of the bright planet Jupiter.
On the late evening of Wednesday November 20th, the Moon will appear immediately to the left of Mars - the diagram on right shows the view looking east at 10.00 pm.
Last Quarter is on the morning of Saturday November 23rd; the half Moon rises in the north-east late in the evening of Friday 22nd and shines high in the south at dawn, to the left of the bright star Regulus in the constellation of Leo, the Lion.
The crescent Moon may then be followed into the brightening dawn sky up until Thursday 28th.
Castor
Pollux
Moon
Mars
Procyon
Mercury is at greatest elongation from the Sun on November 16th, but it sets very soon after the Sun and will be hidden in the bright evening twilight.
Venus shines at magnitude -4.1 low in the south-west after sunset. At the start of November it is setting just over an hour after the Sun and, at only 5o altitude at sunset, may be difficult to spot; however by the end of the month it sets almost three hours after the Sun and should be easier to find, though it will still be less than 10o high at sunset.
Mars rises in the north-east just before 9.00 pm at the beginning of the month, appearing almost directly below the stars Castor and Pollux in Gemini. During November it brightens from magnitude 0.1 to -0.5, and by the end of the month it is coming up around 7.30 pm.
Jupiter rises in the north-east around 6.00 pm at the start of November and shortly after sunset by the month’s end. It shines brightly at magnitude -2.8 among the stars of eastern Taurus, to the left of the bright star Aldebaran and the Pleiades star cluster, and is high in the south in the early hours of the morning.
Saturn is in the south-east as the sky grows dark, and shines at magnitude 0.9 about 25o high in the south in the early evening. By the end of the month it will be setting in the south-west shortly before midnight.
Uranus is at opposition on November 17th, and will be at its brightest this month at magnitude 5.6. It can easily be found in binoculars, appearing as a faint ‘star’ in the western part of the constellation of Taurus, to the lower left of the Pleiades.
The finder chart, left, is an enlarged section of the all-sky map on last page, and shows stars to around the same brightness as Uranus. If followed over the course of the month, the planet’s slowly changing position against the background stars will be noticed as it moves from east to west across the sky (the position of Uranus on the chart is shown for mid-month).
Neptune lies in southern Pisces close to the border with Aquarius, about 15o to upper left of Saturn. At magnitude 7.8 it can also be found in binoculars.
Comets
Comet Tsuchinshan-ATLAS is now fading, having been easily visible in binoculars and even glimpsed with the naked eye when it emerged into the twilight in mid-October. The comet starts November around magnitude 6.5 – so still a relatively easy binocular object – but during the month it fades considerably. The chart on the right shows the path of the comet at three-day intervals, from November 1st to 15th. After this time the comet is predicted to drop below magnitude 8, so will be more difficult to pick up in binoculars, and there will be competition from bright moonlight with the Moon reaching Full on the 15th. The chart shows the view looking west at 6.00 pm in early November.
Meteors
Bright, slow meteors from the Taurid shower may be seen in early November; the Southern branch of the shower peaks on November 5th, with a Zenithal Hourly Rate (ZHR) of 5-10. A week later on November 12th the Northern branch also reaches maximum, with a similar ZHR, though moonlight will begin to interfere by this time. The Taurid shower has a broad period of overall activity stretching from September to December, with the meteors originating from Comet Encke which has a very short orbital period of just 3.3 years. The radiants of both branches of the shower lie close to the Pleiades in Taurus.
The
The ‘Summer Triangle’ of Deneb, Vega and Altair is now sinking lower in the west, with the distinctive little pattern of Delphinus the Dolphin just to the left. The faint zodiacal constellation of Aquarius the Water Carrier is low in the south-west; the planet Saturn is currently shining as an additional yellow ’star’ in Aquarius.
The great Square of Pegasus the Winged Horse stands high in the south. The two stars on the right-hand side of the Square lead the way down to Fomalhaut which barely clears the horizon; this is the most southerly of the first-magnitude stars visible from Scotland. The stars of Andromeda run off from the top left corner of the Square, towards the bright stars of the hero Perseus. Above them are Cassiopeia and Cepheus, Andromeda’s mythological parents.
Below Andromeda are two small constellations – Triangulum the Triangle and the zodiacal group Aries, the Ram. Low in the south is the very large – but faint – pattern of Cetus, the whale. This winter Jupiter lies in southern Aries, just above the tail of Cetus.
Round in the east the winter constellations are becoming prominent. The V-shaped head of Taurus the Bull – along with the little cluster of the Pleiades or Seven Sisters – and Auriga the Charioteer are well up, while Gemini the Twins is climbing higher in the north-east. Jupiter lies in eastern Taurus below Auriga, and orange Mars shines among the stars of Gemini. Orion the Hunter has only partly cleared the eastern horizon, but his three Belt stars along with bright Betelgeuse and Rigel should be easy to spot.
Centred on the Pole Star are the circumpolar stars, which remain above the horizon all night long, all year round. The most famous of these are probably the seven stars that make up the pattern of the Plough or Big Dipper, two of which point the way to the Pole Star. On the opposite side of the Pole from the Plough is the distinctive ‘W’ shape of Cassiopeia along with her mythological husband Cepheus.
The Milky Way runs up from the east between Gemini and Orion, through Auriga and overhead into Perseus and Cassiopeia. It then runs across the Summer Triangle towards the western horizon. All of the constellations along the Milky Way contain bright star clusters that can be found in binoculars; on a clear, moonless winter night the section through Auriga, Perseus and Cassiopeia reveals some especially breathtaking starfields.
North
East West
South
