Saturday, November 16, 2024

Bright Moon Joins Jupiter (all night)

In the eastern sky after dusk on Saturday, November 16, the very bright, gibbous moon will shine near the brilliant planet Jupiter. The pair will climb to their highest position in the southern sky after midnight and then descend in the west as sunrise approaches. By then the diurnal rotation of the sky
will shift Jupiter to the moon's left. The gigantic winter hexagon asterism, a ring composed of the brightest stars in the winter constellations of Taurus, Auriga, Gemini, Canis Minor, Canis Major, and Orion, will surround Jupiter
this winter.

Mercury at Greatest Eastern Elongation (after sunset)

On Saturday, November 16, Mercury (orbit shown in red) will reach its widest separation of 23 degrees east of the Sun, and maximum visibility for its current evening apparition. With Mercury positioned well below (i.e., south
of) the tilted evening ecliptic in the southwestern sky, this appearance of
the planet will be a poor one for Northern Hemisphere observers, but a very good showing from the tropics and the Southern Hemisphere. The optimal viewing times at mid-northern latitudes will start around 5 p.m. local time. Viewed in a telescope the planet will exhibit a waning, slightly gibbous phase. The much brighter planet Venus will shine some distance to Mercury's upper left (or celestial east). Uranus at Opposition (all night)

On Saturday, November 16 Uranus will reach opposition, the night of the year when it is closest to Earth. Today Uranus will be at a distance of 1.74
billion miles, 2.78 billion km, or 154 light-minutes, and will shine at a peak brightness of magnitude 5.61 as it crosses the sky all night long, making it readily visible in binoculars and backyard telescopes. Uranus small, blue- green dot will also appear slightly larger in telescopes for about a week centered on opposition night. Uranus has been moving slowly retrograde westwards through western Taurus. This month, it will be positioned about a palm's width to the right (or 6.5 degrees to the celestial southwest) of the Pleiades Star Cluster aka Messier 45. If you use your binoculars to find the medium-bright stars named Botein and Epsilon Arietis, Uranus will be the dull- looking blue-green "star" located several finger widths below (southeast of) them. To see the planet more easily, wait a few nights for the bright moon to move away from Uranus.

(Data courtesy of Starry Night)
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