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The two brightest planets in the sky,
Jupiter and Venus are the landmark of this month night skies evening
twilight. Close encounters between Venus and Jupiter happen roughly once
a year. However, sometimes the planets lie too close to the Sun for us
to see. The next event after this one, on February 16, 2010, occurs only
9° from the Sun. The next decent Venus-Jupiter conjunction will occur
before dawn May 11, 2011.
Venus ranks as the most
eye-catching point of light in
November's evening sky. It shines brightly in the southwest after
sunset and grows more prominent as it gains altitude during the
month. The gap between Venus and Jupiter narrows about 1° each day.
By November's end, the planets lie just 2° (four Moon-widths) apart
in the southwestern sky. The constellation Sagittarius serves as an
impressive backdrop.
Venus shines so brightly that
the best telescopic views come during twilight, when its contrast
with the background sky is less. Even then, you won't see any detail
beyond its size and phase. Thick clouds cover the planet and render
it featureless.
Venus lies an average of 26 million miles closer to the
Sun than Earth. It orbits in less time than we do, rounding the Sun
every 225 days. During November, Venus remains behind us on its
inner orbital path, but it is catching up. That's why it grows
larger in the eyepiece, and we see less of its sunlit hemisphere.
Head one constellation east of the two brightest planets, and you'll
find the faintest planet. Use binoculars to spot Neptune in
northeastern Capricornus. The 8th-magnitude planet lies 2°
north-northwest of 4th-magnitude Gamma (γ) Capricorni.
In late November, just after sunset, use
binoculars to track down Uranus among the background stars of Aquarius,
one constellation farther east than Neptune. Glowing at
magnitude 5.8, Uranus is easy to pick out through binoculars (and can be
glimpsed with the naked eye from a dark site).
 While
most of the planets meet in the evening sky, mornings belong to Saturn.
The ringed planet lies in southern Leo and rises after midnight all
month. A fat crescent Moon passes 6° south of Saturn November 21.
With the cooling down of the early
morning hours of Muscat, it will be best for viewing Saturn and
its narrowing set of rings for those who are looking for details. During
November's first week, you also can catch a glimpse of Mercury
before it heads to a late November conjunction on the Sun's farside.
In November, Mercury continues its finest morning appearance of
2008. On the 1st, the innermost planet rises 75 minutes before the Sun,
offering first-rate views as it stands 4° to the left of Spica in the
constellation Virgo. Mercury then shines at magnitude -0.9, some
two magnitudes brighter than Virgo's brightest star.
Each morning thereafter, Mercury rises later and in an
increasingly brighter sky. By November 9, the planet rises just 50
minutes before sunrise. It will be lost in the solar glare after this
date. Mercury passes behind the Sun from our perspective November 25,
and will return to the evening sky in December.
For those who wakeup
during the dawn time, Orion will be
waiting for them straight up their heads and guarded by the brightest
morning star Sirius in the constellation Canis Major (The great dog).
Orion is easy to spot due to its famous Orion Belt three stars. And
if you could spot the Orion, it is no challenge to spot Aldebaran and
the Pleiades. So much has been said by the Arabs in their poems about
the Pleiades, as they used it to predict the coming and going of winter
and the rain season. Aldebaran is the reddish star that presents the bull
eye of the Taurus constellation.
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When to view the planets
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Evening sky
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Midnight
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Morning sky
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| Venus (southwest) |
Uranus (west) |
Mercury (east) |
| Jupiter (southwest) |
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Saturn (southeast) |
| Uranus (southeast) |
Happy stargazing |
