INcoming: Five planets, two meteor showers and a comet

By Matthew Johnson

Daylight saving time will end for the year on Sunday, Nov. 3., returning us to local standard time.

Some great news for space exploration occurred on Oct. 13, when SpaceX successfully landed its 20-story Super Heavy booster back on the launch pad, a technological milestone for the Starship vehicle that Elon Musk plans for deep-space exploration.

Sun
There were extraordinary pink, red, purple and green auroras over Norfolk’s skies in October. It is very rare for auroras to be seen as far south as Connecticut. This may continue into November. We are in the peak of the 11-year solar cycle, with the greatest number of sunspots, coronal mass ejections and geomagnetic storms potentially threatening the grid, satellites and even astronauts in space, while also creating beautiful auroras on Earth.

Planets
Mercury, a difficult planet to view as it needs an unobstructed horizon and dark clear skies, is best viewed at dusk on Nov. 19, when it is at its highest at five degrees in the southwest.

Jupiter rises early in the evening, making it observable most of the night. It is located in the constellation Taurus. Binoculars and even a small spotting telescope will reveal the four Galilean moons: Io, Europa, Ganymede and Callisto, all discovered by Galileo Galilei and published in his “Siderius Nuncius.” See note below.

On Nov. 1, Mars can be found at midnight below the constellation Gemini’s twin brightest stars, Castor and Pollux, with brilliant Jupiter some 15 degrees above them.

On Nov. 2, look south-southwest toward the constellation Aquarius to view Saturn. Also, on Nov. 10, the gibbous moon passes just below Saturn, helping to locate the planet. This is best viewed between 9 and 10 p.m.

On Nov. 4, look toward the southwest horizon to view a crescent moon and the planet Venus above it, about four degrees slightly to the right. See note below.

On Nov. 16, Jupiter can be found below the moon. In the dark skies of Norfolk on this same night, just to the right of the Pleiades in the constellation Taurus, the planet Uranus can be seen as a tiny green dot. Uranus can be seen with the naked eye because it will be at opposition (exactly opposite the sun) and close to Earth at this time.

Mars is best observed on Nov. 20, where it can be found next to the moon and identified by its russet color.

Meteor Showers
The Southern and Northern Taurid meteor showers are visible this month. The Southern Taurid is expected to peak on Nov. 5. The Northern Taurid stream peaks four days later. Both showers will stream from the areas of the Pleiades in the constellation Taurus. The moon will be small and favors viewing around Nov. 5. Unfortunately, the moon will be about 80 percent full on the night of Nov. 11, which will interfere with viewing the Southern Taurid shower. Both of these meteor streams are related to debris left by the orbit of the comet 2P/Encke, which will return in the later months of 2026.

The Leonid meteor shower is predicted to peak on Nov. 17, but, again, the bright moon will impair viewing. The comet Temple-Tuttle (55P/Temple-Tuttle) is responsible for the Leonid shower. On the evening of Dec. 19, 1865, William Temple of Marseilles Observatory in France discovered this comet.

Moon phases
Nov. 1-2: New moon (no visible moon). This is the best time of the month to observe faint objects such as distant galaxies.

Nov. 9: First quarter (right half of moon illuminated). Moon is waxing.

Nov. 16: Full moon. The Beaver Moon is the fourth and last full Supermoon of 2024. A Supermoon occurs when the full or new moon is near perigee (when the moon’s orbit is closest to the earth). During a full Supermoon, the moon appears to be larger than normal due to its proximity to the earth. The origins of the name Beaver Moon may have come from Native Americans, who set traps at this time, or from the heavy activity of beavers building their winter dams.

Nov. 24: Last quarter (left half of the moon illuminated). The moon is waning.

Comet
Comet C/2023 A3 (Tsuchinshan-ATLAS) was first sighted at China’s Purple Mountain Observatory on Jan. 9, 2023, and independently on Feb. 22, by the Asteroid Terrestrial-Impact Last Alert System (ATLAS). It may continue to be visible to the naked eye throughout November and has a tail pointing northwest. The best time to view it is when the moon interferes the least, Nov. 2-7 and Nov. 18-30. An inexpensive planisphere will assist in locating the comet as it progresses through the constellations of Ophiuchus Nov. 1-9; Serpens Cauda Nov. 11-24; and Aquila in December, where it is expected to dim below naked-eye observation.

Notes
If one extends their arm, making a fist, the width of the fist from little finger to thumb approximates 10 degrees. Recall that horizon to zenith is 90 degrees. Both the sun and the full moon span half a degree.

“Siderius Nuncius” (Starry Messenger) was published by Galileo Galilei on March 13, 1610. It was the first scientific work based on telescopic observations. It contains some 70 sketches and diagrams of the constellations Orion, Pleiades, Taurus and the Medicean Stars (moons) of Jupiter. The mountainous regions of the moon and stars in the Milky Way were also included, as well as explanations and theories of his observations. In hopes of gaining patronage in Florence, Italy, Galileo dedicated “Sidereus Nuncius” to his patron Cosimo II de’Medici and named his discovery of Jupiter’s four moons the “Medicean Stars.” This gained him the position of Mathematician and Philosopher to the Medici at the University of Pisa. n