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The Casual Observer
November continues the season of Kambarang, a time of great change in the environment as spring continues.
In this unique time of year, you can start your stargazing in the evening sky by finding Scorpius – the hallmark constellation of winter – setting in the west. You can then face east and see Orion – the hallmark constellation of summer – rising in the east.
Credit: Stellarium
This is one of the only times of year when you can see both oppositely positioned constellations in the sky in a relatively short period of time, the hunter and the hunted eternally chasing or running from each other across the sky. Which is which?
Credit: Stellarium
The Leonids meteor shower peaks around mid-November. The best time to see these is before sunrise, facing northeast, on the morning of 17 November.
These meteors move fast. Originally emanating from comet 55P/Tempel-Tuttle, their retrograde orbit around the Sun means they approach Earth ‘head on’ to its motion through space.
The combined velocities of the meteor particles and our planet mean they streak across the sky at about 70 km/s. Blink and you’ll miss them. In good conditions, you might expect to see a meteor every five or so minutes.
Credit: Stellarium
Astrofest makes a welcome return on 28 November. Located at Curtin Stadium, Curtin University, this “astronomy festival of epic proportions” is the largest of its kind in Australia. Stall holders, science shows and stargazing through telescopes are all on offer. You should definitely attend.
Voyager 1, launched in 1977 and the most distant human made object reaches a distance milestone of 1 light-day from the Sun on 18 November. This means it is so far away that light from the Sun takes a full 24 hours to reach the spacecraft – a staggering 25.9 billion km away. At its current speed it would take about 20,000 years to reach the nearest star to the Sun.
Credit: NASA
Moon phases
2 November: Last Quarter
9 November: New Moon
17 November: First Quarter
24 November: Full Moon
Dates of interest
17 November: Bepi Colombo reaches orbit around Mercury
18 November: Voyager 1 reaches 1 light day from Earth.
28 November: Astrofest at Curtin University
Planets to look for
Uranus is at opposition on 25 November, meaning it rises as the Sun sets and is up all night, making this the best time of year to see this planet.
You still need a telescope to see it, and the just-past-full Moon is a bright pain, but a determined observer will reap the rewards.
Credit: Stellarium
Jupiter and Mars continue to put on a show in the morning. The two have a close encounter on 16 November, appearing less than a finger width apart in the sky.
They are joined in the pre-dawn sky by Venus, which has emerged from the glare of the Sun an established itself as the ‘morning star’.
Saturn is visible in the northern skies throughout November evenings.
Credit: Stellarium
Constellation of the month
Grus the Crane
Grus (pronounced either “Groose” or “Gruss”) is a mid-sized constellation located in the southern sky, with its name is derived from the Latin word for ‘crane’.
Grus is one of four constellations that make up the Southern Birds, which also include Pavo, Phoenix and Toucana.
Credit: Stellarium
Unlike many constellation artworks, Grus looks kind of like its namesake.
Grus is home to a number of optical binaries – stars that look close together from our line of sight, but in reality, are separated by significant distances.
Delta Grus and Mu Grus, which respectively mark the body and neck of the crane are two such examples.
Credit: Stellarium, markup by Smith/Scitech
Delta 1 Grus is a yellow star about 410 lightyears away, while Delta 2 Grus is a slightly fainter red giant star 425 lightyears away. The two are separated on the sky by only 45 arc seconds, making it easy to think they are related.
Grus is also home to the Spare Tyre planetary nebula. With a name that elegant, you know this nebula was discovered by an Australian. (It was Walter Gale in 1894, if you’re wondering.)
Credit: ESO
Planetary nebulae are misleadingly named. Far from being the birthplace of planets, they are the dying cries of low mass stars.
As the star at the centre of the Spare Tyre Nebula reaches the end of its life, it throws its outer layers off into space. The intense radiation coming from the now exposed inner layers of the star ionises the ejected outer layers of material, causing the whole thing to glow.
Classy people refer to this nebula as IC 5148.
