Skywatch Line for Friday, November 14, through Sunday, November 16, written by Sam Salem
This is Dudley Observatory’s Skywatch Line for Friday, November 14, through Sunday, November 16, written by Sam Salem.
On Friday, Sun rises at 6:46am and sets at 4:33pm; Moon rises at 1:09am and sets at 1:59pm.
The North Taurids and South Taurids are still ongoing. These two related showers are very sparse but are known for occasional bright fireballs. The Leonid meteor shower peaks in the early hours of Monday morning. There will be no moonlight. Under excellent sky conditions, you might be able to see a dozen meteors per hour. Leonids stream from their radiant point in the constellation Leo the Lion. Leo rises just before midnight. Regulus, the brightest star in Leo the Lion, dots a backward question mark of stars known as the Sickle.
In the early morning hours of Sunday and Monday, the waning crescent Moon will hang near Spica, the brightest star in the constellation Virgo.
Jupiter, magnitude –2.3 in eastern Gemini, rises in the east-northeast around 9 pm. It dominates the eastern sky, then the southeast, as the night advances. Castor and Pollux shine upper left of it, then above it before dawn approaches.
Saturn, magnitude +0.9 at the Aquarius-Pisces border, is the brightest dot high in the southeast at nightfall. Find the Great Square of Pegasus above it. They stand highest on the meridian around 8 pm. Saturn rises before sunset and is already 40° high in the south by 7 pm. It’s located in far northeastern Aquarius, to the upper left of slightly fainter magnitude 1.2 Fomalhaut, the brightest star in the constellation Piscis Austrinus, the Southern Fish.
On Friday, Titan, the largest moon of Saturn and the second largest moon in the Solar system, is hidden by Saturn for the first part of the evening. Titan emerges from occultation behind Saturn’s disk beginning at 7:26 pm, taking several minutes to make its way into view. Visible to Saturn’s east, before Titan begins to emerge, are 10th-magnitude Dione and Tethys. Dione is closer to the planet. Both are close to the rings and begin transits shortly after Titan emerges. Tenth-magnitude Rhea is far to Saturn’s east. Several more moons are visible but are fainter and may not appear in all telescopes.
Vega, in the constellation of Lyra, is the brightest star in the west in early evening. Its little constellation Lyra extends to its left. Farther left, about a fist and a half at arm’s length from Vega, is 3rd-magnitude Albireo, the beak of Cygnus. This is one of the finest and most colorful double stars for small telescopes. Farther on in roughly the same direction you come to 3rd-magnitude Tarazed. Just past Tarazed find the 1st-magnitude Altair in the constellation of Aquila, the Eagle. Down from Tarazed runs Aquila’s dim backbone, along the Milky Way. The other Summer Triangle bird, Cygnus, whose long neck and backbone also run along the Milky Way, now flies high to Aquila’s upper right.