November 2005

by Deane Morrison

In November the bright winter constellations like Orion, Gemini and Taurus begin their slow march across the evening sky. This year ruby-hued Mars leads the pack, with golden Saturn bringing up the rear. Finding Mars couldn't be easier -- just look for the brightest object in the east or southeast in the mid-evening hours. Earth glides directly between Mars and the sun on the 7th, but with the closest approach of the two planets already nine days past, it will be one of the last days before Mars' brilliance starts to dim noticeably.

Saturn, however, waxes brighter from its station a few degrees east of the Beehive star cluster. The ringed planet will soon move closer to the cluster, and as the pair get higher in the sky they will make a prime target for viewers with binoculars. Look for them late in the evening, east of the Gemini twins and the bright star Procyon in Canis Minor.

As usual, Venus outshines everything else, even though it stays low in the southwest after sunset. Don't miss it on the 5th, when a crescent moon hangs below Venus in a pretty pairing.

Rising in the predawn hours, Jupiter comes up earlier each day as it works its way back toward the evening sky. To the west of Jupiter shines the bright star Spica, in Virgo. If you're up before dawn, you may see a waning crescent moon close to Spica on the 28th and below Jupiter on the 29th.

November's full moon has been called the frosty moon or the beaver moon, this being the time of year when beavers are busy winterizing their lodges. The full moon arrives at 6:57 p.m. CST on the 15th. The night before, a nearly full moon sails across the sky just above Mars. But moons can be mischievous as well as majestic. On the mornings of the 17th through 19th, a waning but still bright moon plays the spoiler by washing out much of the annual Leonid meteor shower.

If skies are dark, you can see the Milky Way arching like a rainbow from east to west. Following its stream, you'll see Orion's club; the horns of Taurus; the bright star Capella in Auriga, the charioteer; the zigzag of Cassiopeia's Chair; and, near the western horizon, the stars of the Summer Triangle. Actually, Vega, the brightest of the three, is just outside the visible Milky Way, but who cares? South of the Milky Way, the Great Square of Pegasus is high and obvious. Below it, look for the Circlet of Pisces and, a little to the west, the Water Jar of Aquarius. The fuzzy oval of light near the overhead position is our neighbor, the Andromeda Galaxy.

Andromeda is the closest large galaxy to the Milky Way. Recently, astronomers using the Spitzer Space Telescope took pictures of the galaxy in infrared light, which revealed details never seen before. Among them was what appeared to be a hole in the disk of the galaxy where a nearby "dwarf" galaxy had barrelled through. The lives of galaxies are full of collisions and cannibalism, the phenomenon of large galaxies tearing up and incorporating smaller galaxies. Astronomers believe that someday far in the future, Andromeda and the Milky Way will collide to form a huge new galaxy.