Special to CosmicTribune.com, November 10, 2024

Excerpts from weekly Sky&Telescope report.

SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 10

■ The waxing gibbous Moon shines quite near Saturn this evening for the Americas. In fact, its dark limb will occult Saturn for southern Florida, Central America, the Caribbean, and parts of South America. For instance, seen from Miami, Saturn will slowly disappear at 9:26 p.m. EST, then will slowly reappear from behind the Moon’s bright limb at 10:05 p.m. EST.

MONDAY, NOVEMBER 11

■ Vega is the brightest star high in the west-northwest these November evenings. Its little constellation Lyra extends to its left, pointing as always to Altair, currently the brightest star in the west-southwest.

Three of Lyra’s stars near Vega are interesting doubles. Barely above Vega is 4th-magnitude Epsilon Lyrae, the Double-Double. Epsilon forms one corner of a roughly equilateral triangle with Vega and Zeta Lyrae. The triangle is less than 2° on a side, hardly the width of your thumb at arm’s length.

Binoculars easily resolve Epsilon. And a 4-inch telescope at 100× or more should, during good seeing, resolve each of Epsilon’s wide components into a tight pair.

Zeta is also a double star for binoculars. It’s much closer and tougher, but is plainly resolved in a telescope.

And Delta Lyrae, upper left of Zeta by a similar distance, is a much wider and easier binocular pair. Its stars are reddish orange and blue.

TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 12

■ A more famous double star from Vega: Continue somewhat farther left from Lyra’s pattern, and there, about a fist and a half from Vega, is 3rd-magnitude Albireo, the beak of Cygnus. This is one of the finest and most colorful double stars for small telescopes: Pale gold and bluish, magnitudes 3.2 and 4.7, separation 35 arcseconds.

Farther on in roughly the same direction you come to 3rd-magnitude Tarazed and, just past it, 1st-magnitude Altair.

WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 13

■ When Saturn and Fomalhaut are”southing” (crossing the meridian due south, which they do around 7 or 8 p.m. this week), the Pointers of the Big Dipper stand equally upright low due north, straight below Polaris.

And, the first stars of Orion are soon to rise above the east horizon (for skywatchers in the world’s mid-northern latitudes). Starting with the rise of Betelgeuse, it takes Orion’s main figure about an hour to completely clear the horizon.

THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 14

■ As the stars come out, the Great Square of Pegasus is still standing on its corner high in the southeast. It’s about three fists upper right of the Moon. But within an hour or so, it turns around to lie level like a box high in the south.

A sky landmark to remember: The western (right-hand) side of the Great Square points far down almost to 1st-magnitude Fomalhaut, passing Saturn along the way this year. The eastern side of the Square points down toward 2nd-magnitude Beta Ceti — not as directly, and not as far.

FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 15

■ Full Moon (exact at 4:29 p.m. EST). How soon after the Sun sets in the west-southwest can you see the Moon rising in the east-northeast?

Once night arrives, look for the delicate Pleiades a few degrees to the Moon’s lower left (for North America). Cover the Moon with your finger to block its dazzling glare.

Much farther lower left of the Moon, once night is well under way, are orange Aldebaran and brighter Jupiter.

Much later in the night the Moon occults some of the Pleiades. However, the full Moon’s brilliance and its nearly complete lack of a dark limb will make these events for telescopes only. And use high power to get most of the Moon out of the eyepiece.

SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 16

■ The just-past-full Moon shines above Jupiter after dark. Watch the Moon move closer to Jupiter all through the night.

■ The Leonid meteor shower should peak late tonight, but the brilliant moonlight will interfere. And, the Leonids have been weak to begin with for the last decade or more.

■ Uranus is at opposition.

SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 17

■ By about 8 or 9 p.m. Orion is clearing the eastern horizon (depending on how far east or west you live in your time zone). High above Orion shine Jupiter and, to Jupiter’s right or upper right, orange Aldebaran. Above Aldebaran are Pleiades, the size of your fingertip at arm’s length. Far left of Aldebaran and the Pleiades shines bright Capella.

Down below Orion, Sirius rises around 10 or 11 p.m. No matter where they are, Sirius always follows two hours behind Orion. Or equivalently, one month behind Orion.

  Nov. 10-17: Moon occults part of Pleiades late Friday, The Sky