Nov. 9 Moon and Planets
The crescent Moon lines up with a string of planets before
sunrise tomorrow. Brilliant Venus stands just above the Moon, with
Jupiter a little above Venus. Mars stands to the lower left of the
Moon. It is so low in the sky that you may need binoculars to pick
it out.
Nov. 9 Moon and Planets
The crescent Moon lines up with a string of planets before sunrise tomorrow. Brilliant Venus stands just above the Moon, with Jupiter a little above Venus. Mars stands to the lower left of the Moon. It is so low in the sky that you may need binoculars to pick it out.
Nov. 10 Evening Saturn
Saturn, the second-largest planet in the solar system, is inching higher into the evening sky this month. Right now, it’s in good view in the east by around 11pm. It looks like a bright golden star.
Nov. 11 Summer Reminder
One of the signature star patterns of summer, the Summer Triangle, remains in fine view. It’s high in the west at nightfall. The brightest star in the triangle is Vega, in the constellation Lyra.
Nov. 12 New Moon
The Moon is “new” today at 6:27am PST. It lines up between Earth and the Sun, starting a new cycle of phases. It’s lost from view in the Sun’s intense glare. It will return to view in a couple of days as a thin crescent in the southwest after sunset.
Nov. 13 Rattling Stars
The Pleiades star cluster stands high in the east around 9 or 10pm. It looks like a tiny dipper of six moderately bright stars; in fact, it’s often mistaken for the Little Dipper. To the people of Mesoamerica, the Pleiades represented the rattles of a rattlesnake.
Nov. 14 Orion Returns
Orion, the hunter, is in full view by about 9pm. Look for a short line of three bright stars standing straight up in the east – Orion’s Belt. Orion’s two brightest stars line up to the left and right of the belt, roughly parallel to the horizon as they rise.
Nov. 15 More Orion
The brightest stars of Orion, which is in good view in the east this evening, are both supergiants. Betelgeuse, which represents Orion’s shoulder, is a red supergiant, while Rigel, the foot, is blue-white. Look for them flanking the three bright stars that form Orion’s Belt.
