November 1997

by Steve Stefanik

Five of the planets can be seen in the November night sky. Beginning in the southwest look for the glistening -4.5 magnitude planet Venus high above the southwestern horizon at sunset when it reaches greatest eastern elongation on the 6th. Through binoculars or a small telescope you will see that it is exactly half lit similar in appearance to the first quarter moon. On November 18 it will pass less than six arcminutes south of the second magnitude star Sigma Sagittarii in the constellation Sagittarius.

Look just below and to the right of Venus for the +1.1 magnitude planet Mars which is actually in the distant background across the solar system. The pair will slowly separate with each passing night. A thin waxing crescent moon will join them on the nights of the 3rd, 4th, and 5th.

By the 7th the first quarter moon will be near the -2.4 magnitude planet Jupiter. By nightfall the giant planet will be high in the southern sky where it can be easily spotted among the dim stars of the constellation Capricorn.. Its four largest moons can also be seen through binoculars or or a small telescope. On the night of the 10th the shadows of three of its moons, Io, Ganymede, and Callisto can be seen transiting across its surface beginning at 9:30 p.m. EST for a 90 minute period. On the night of the 12th Jupiter occults (covers up) a 6th magnitude star SAO 164156 in the constellation Capricorn.

This is also the last month to catch a glimpse of the planets Uranus and Neptune. Uranus is the easier of the two to spot at magnitude +5.8 just to the west of Jupiter in Capricorn. Neptune at + 8 is considerably more difficult to view without a telescope in the constellation Sagittarius which is setting in the west.

The last of the visible planets is Saturn lying far to the east. By 10:00 p.m. it will be fairly high in the south and easier to spot because at magnitude +0.4 it is brightest object among the dim stars of the constellation Pisces. On the night of November 11 it will be occulted by a waxing gibbous moon south of Boston and as far west as Texas. We will see it just graze the northern edge of the moon around 8:00 p.m. here.