SkyEye

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

November 2011

The Calendar

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	Tue
2	Wed	First Quarter Moon
3	Thu
4	Fri
5	Sat
6	Sun
7	Mon
8	Tue	Moon at apogee
8	Tue	At 23:28 UT, asteroid 2005 YU55 flies past the Earth at a distance of 324,600 km (0.85 the distance between the Moon and the Earth).
9	Wed
10	Thu	Full Moon
11	Fri
12	Sat
13	Sun
14	Mon	Mercury at greatest elongation east
15	Tue
16	Wed	The waning gibbous Moon badly interferes with the Leonids (theoretical peak activity: several predictions ranging from 22:30 UT to 03:40 UT on 18 November).
17	Thu
18	Fri	Last Quarter Moon
19	Sat
20	Sun	Neptune at east quadrature
21	Mon
22	Tue	The waning crescent Moon does the Alpha Monocerotids no favours.
23	Wed	Moon at perigee
24	Thu
25	Fri	New Moon
25	Fri	Partial solar eclipse: visible from Antarctica, southernmost tip of Africa, Tasmania and most of New Zealand.
26	Sat
27	Sun
28	Mon
29	Tue
30	Wed

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: Libra » Scorpius » Ophiuchus » Scorpius » Ophiuchus
The smallest planet in the solar system reaches its maximum altitude above the western horizon near 14 November when it reaches greatest elongation east. Southern hemisphere observers have much the best view of this elusive object. Mercury is lost in the solar glare by the end of the month as it heads towards conjunection in December.
Venus: Libra » Scorpius » Ophiuchus » Sagittarius
The "evening star" continues to gain altitude above the western horizon, with the best views of it to be found from southern latitudes.
Mars: Leo
Early in the month the red planet passes near alpha Leonis or Regulus as it is commonly known but observers will need to stay up past midnight to see it.
Jupiter: Aries
Opposition late last month means that the biggest planet in the solar system is visible for most of the night.
Saturn: Virgo
At conjunction last month, the ringed planet reappears as a morning sky object, found in the east just before sunrise.
Uranus: Pisces
This mysterious world sets in the early hours of the morning.
Neptune: Aquarius
A small telescope is necessary to view the most distant planet in the solar system. It reaches east quadrature on 20 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.

The SkyEye banner features the beautiful planetary nebula NGC 2818. A planetary nebula is a glowing shell of gas surrounding a dying star. When a star begins to run out of fuel and expands into a red giant, the outer layers of the star are expelled into space, enriching the surrounding area with the heavy elements manufactured by the parent star. The remaining hot stellar core ionises the ejecta, causing it to glow for a few tens of thousands of years. Eventually the star fades away and nebula is no longer visible. This image was taken by the Hubble Space Telescope in November 2008 and is courtesy NASA, ESA, and the Hubble Heritage Team (STScI/AURA). The red colour represents nitrogen, green represents hydrogen and blue represents oxygen.