These notes are intended to provide a casual skywatcher or someone already into amateur astronomy living in the Australian Capital Territory or in South East Queensland (Brisbane, the Gold Coast and the Sunshine Coast) with a short summary of what is happening in the night sky in November 2010. Most of the information will also be useful for observers elsewhere in Eastern Australia.
Instructions on how to obtain customised satellite viewing information for your location can be found here.
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Planets this month (November 2010)
Mercury will be visible low above the Western in the evening twilight all month. Mercury reaches maximum Eastern elongation from the Sun early next month (2 December 2010).
From mid-month, Venus will visible in the morning pre-dawn sky low above the Eastern horizon. As November progresses, Venus will be visible higher above the Eastern horizon.
Mars continues to remain visible all month in the evening twilight low above the Western horizon. It is slowly moving towards the horizon all month (for a given time) as it moves back toward the Sun (as seen from Earth) for an eventual conjunction with the Sun on 5 February 2011.
Jupiter can easily be located above the Northern horizon (at the end of evening twilight) and appears to the unaided eye as a bright star. Essentially if you face North and look up until you see a bright star, that will be Jupiter. It remains visible in the sky until the early morning throughout the month. Uranus remains relatively close to Jupiter at just under 3.5 degrees or seven Moon widths away. A finder chart can be found here http://www.skyandtelescope.com/observing/objects/planets/12435011.html that will let you locate Uranus and also Neptune with a pair of binoculars or a small telescope.
Saturn is easily visible low above the Eastern horizon during the pre-dawn sky all month.
Individual sky events (November 2010)
All month: Look above the Northern horizon to see the Andromeda Galaxy. You will need a finder chart to locate it. If you live in a location with a dark sky, you will be able to view the furthest away object that can be viewed with the unaided eye from the Southern hemisphere. Admittedly it will only appear as a faint star, but it is still impressive to say that you have seen an object that is 2.2 million light years away.
November 4: Moon at perigee (closest to Earth at 364,191 km)
November 4: Look below the slim crescent Moon (low above the Eastern horizon) in the morning twilight to see the planet Saturn.
November 5: NASA’s EPOXI spacecraft will pass the nucleus of Comet Hartley at a distance of 700 kilometers at 12.02am AEST. Expect the images to be shown on NASA TV (http://www.nasa.gov/multimedia/nasatv/index.html) shortly after the flyby.
November 6: New Moon (2.52pm AEST)
November 7: Very slim crescent Moon located above Mercury. Look very low above the Western horizon in the evening twilight.
November 7: Neptune stationary
November 8: Crescent Moon, Mars and Antares (the brightest star in the ancient Greek constellation Scorpius the Scorpion) make a temporary triangle low above the Western horizon in the evening twilight.
November 10: Asteroid Vesta in conjunction with Sun
November 14: First Quarter Moon (2.39am AEST)
November 15: Moon at apogee 10 pm AEST (furthest from Earth at 404,631km).
November 15: Mercury, Mars and the star Antares form an approximate right angle triangle in the evening twilight sky (look low on the Western horizon).
November 16: Gibbous Moon located below Jupiter in the early evening sky.
November 17: Venus stationary
November 17: Mercury, Mars and Antares are briefly aligned in a reasonably straight line low above the Western horizon during evening twilight.
November 18: Leonid meteor shower peaks at 7.15am AEST. Try looking above the Northern horizon in the two hours before the start of twilight. Don’t expect to see a meteor storm however. From an ideal location, the International Meteor Organisation (http://imo.net), is only forecasting a maximum of 20 meteors.
November 19: Jupiter stationary
November 22: Full Moon (3.27am AEST)
November 23: Venus at ascending node
November 24: Mercury at greatest latitude South
November 24: Asteroid Ceres 0.3 degrees South West of star Tau Sagittarii. Look above Western horizon after evening twilight has ended. Binoculars or a small telescope will be required.
November 29: Last Quarter Moon (6.36am AEST)
For Further Information
Planet and Moon Rise/Set Times
Planet and Moon rise/set times for 2010 can be found here on this website.
Customised Astronomy & Satellite Viewing information
Information on how to obtain customised astronomy & satellite viewing information for your location can be found here on this website.
Great Red Spot (Jupiter) viewing times
Information on when to see the Great Red Spot on Jupiter in 2010 can be found here.
