SkyEye

Welcome to SkyEye, your guide to this month's celestial events.

November 2009

All times and dates are given in Universal Time (UT).
Nightly darkness estimates are calculated for 45° N and 30° S.
Like total solar eclipses, lunar occultation events can be seen only from limited regions on Earth (and sometimes not at all if the occultation takes place during daylight hours). However, the Moon will appear close in the sky to its "target" for some hours either side of the actual occultation, regardless of where you are.

Date		Event
1	Sun
2	Mon	Full Moon
3	Tue
4	Wed	Moon occults the Pleiades: visible from about 0200 UT in Central America, northern South America and western Africa.
5	Thu	Mercury at superior conjunction
6	Fri
7	Sat	Moon at perigee
8	Sun
9	Mon	Last Quarter Moon
10	Tue	Jupiter at east quadrature
11	Wed
12	Thu
13	Fri
14	Sat
15	Sun	Neptune at east quadrature
16	Mon	New Moon
17	Tue	Perfect! The Leonids peak just after New Moon. No meteor storm is expected but theory suggests that this may be a particularly good year to observe this shower.
17	Tue	Moon occults Antares: too close to the Sun to observe.
18	Wed
19	Thu
20	Fri
21	Sat	The Alpha Monocerotids also have dark skies in order to show off their stuff.
22	Sun	Moon at apogee
23	Mon
24	Tue	First Quarter Moon
25	Wed
26	Thu
27	Fri
28	Sat
29	Sun
30	Mon

The Solar System

The word planet is derived from the Greek word for "wanderer." Unlike the background stars, planets seem to move around the sky, keeping mostly to a narrow track called the ecliptic, the path of the Sun across the stars. Dwarf planets and small solar-system bodies including comets, are not so constrained, often moving far above or below the ecliptic.

Sun: Libra -> Scorpius -> Ophiuchus
Although Ophiuchus is not a member of the zodiac, the ecliptic passes through it.
Mercury: Virgo -> Libra -> Scorpius -> Ophiuchus
Mercury is actually occulted by the Sun during superior conjunction on 5 November. Look for this elusive planet in the west after sunset late in the month.
Venus: Virgo -> Libra
The "morning star" is getting quite low in the east now, particularly for southern hemisphere observers.
Mars: Cancer
Now rising an hour or two before midnight, the red planet spends the early part of the month traversing the Beehive open cluster.
Jupiter: Capricornus
On 10 November Jupiter is at east quadrature which makes this an excellent time to observe the interplay of shadows between the planet and its bright satellites. But look early in the evening because this gas giant sets before midnight.
Saturn: Virgo
Now rising in the early morning hours, the Saturn seems a little dimmer than usual. The rings contribute considerably to the overall brightness but are practically edge-on as seen from Earth.
Uranus: Aquarius
This mysterious world sets just after midnight.
Neptune: Capricornus
A small telescope is necessary to view the most distant planet in the solar system. It is at east quadrature on 15 November and sets before midnight.

The Celestial Sphere

Constellations are patterns of stars in the sky. The International Astronomical Union (IAU) recognises 88 different constellations. The brightest stars as seen from the Earth are easy to spot but do you know their proper names? With a set of binoculars you can look for fainter objects such as nebulae and galaxies or some of the closest stars to the Sun.

Descriptions of the sky for observers in both the northern and southern hemispheres are available for the following times this month. Subtract one hour from your local time if summer (daylight savings) time is in effect.

Local Time	Northern Hemisphere	Southern Hemisphere
1730 hours (1830 hours summer time)	45° N	30° S
1930 hours (2030 hours summer time)	45° N	30° S
2130 hours (2230 hours summer time)	45° N	30° S
2330 hours (0030 hours summer time)	45° N	30° S
0130 hours (0230 hours summer time)	45° N	30° S
0330 hours (0430 hours summer time)	45° N	30° S
0530 hours (0630 hours summer time)	45° N	30° S

For More Information...

Consult our online glossary for non-technical explanations of many of the astronomical terms used in these pages.
Blue moons, eclipses, the dates of Easter and much more can be found at the Interactive Astronomy Pages.
For more information about the objects and events described in SkyEye, visit these astronomy-related sites.

Credits

Much of this information can be found in this month's issue of your favourite amateur astronomy magazine available in your local bookshop. Another excellent source is the current edition of the Astronomical Calendar by Guy Ottewell and published by the Universal Workshop at Furman University.

The SkyEye banner features a view of Saturn from its satellite Iapetus and is courtesy of NASA/JPL/Space Science Institute. Of all the major satellites of Saturn, Iapetus is the only one with a significant orbital inclination. Thus, whilst the rings appear nearly edge-on from all of the other major satellites, from Iapetus they are usually seen at a tilt. This image was taken during the Cassini-Huygens mission on 10 September 2007 and consists of 15 red, green and blue spectral filter images.