Special to CosmicTribune.com, November 4, 2024

Excerpts from weekly Sky&Telescope report.

SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 3

■ If you know a place with a very low view to the southwest horizon, bring binoculars after sunset to try for the very thin crescent Moon close to Antares. They’re deep in the bright twilight and thick air near the horizon! Look about 12° lower right of Venus, as shown below.

The waxing crescent Moon passes Antares, Venus, and the Sagittarius Teapot in bright twilight. The Moon-Venus pairing will be easy and lovely.

■ The Summer Triangle Effect. Here it is early November, but Deneb still shines right near the zenith as the stars come out. And brighter Vega is still not very far from the zenith, toward the west. The third star of the “Summer” Triangle, Altair, remains very high in the southwest. They seem to have stayed there for a couple months! Why have they stalled out?

What you’re seeing is a result of sunset and darkness arriving earlier and earlier during autumn. Which means if you go out and starwatch soon after dark, you’re doing it earlier and earlier by the clock. This counteracts the seasonal westward turning of the constellations.

Of course this “Summer Triangle effect” applies to the entire celestial sphere, not just the Summer Triangle. But the apparent stalling of that bright landmark inspired Sky & Telescope to give the effect that name many years ago, and it stuck.

Of course, as always in celestial mechanics, a deficit somewhere gets made up elsewhere. The opposite effect makes the seasonal advance of the constellations seem to speed up in early spring.

MONDAY, NOVEMBER 4

■ As twilight fades this evening, the thin crescent Moon hangs about 4° below Venus in the southwest, as shown above.

Dim gray earthshine will fill the Moon’s dark portion. If you were standing on the Moon’s surface there in the lunar night, you would see the nearly full Earth lighting up the lunar landscape around you — several times more brightly than full moonlight illuminates scenes on Earth.

TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 5

■ Can you find M33, the Triangulum Galaxy, the closest large galaxy to us after the famous one in Andromeda? It’s a good deal dimmer, with a low surface brightness that needs a dark sky. But in such a sky I find that it’s not too hard in 10×50 binoculars, and it can be detectable even in lesser conditions. It’s about a third of the way from Alpha Trianguli (the sharp point of the Triangle) to Beta Andromedae (the middle star of Andromeda’s main line of three).

WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 6

■ When the stars come out now, the Great Square of Pegasus still balances on its corner very high in the southeast. But within two hours it turns around to lie level like a box, very high toward the south.

A sky landmark to remember this season: The west (right-hand) side of the Great Square points down almost to 1st-magnitude Saturn and, two fists farther beyond, 1st-magnitude Fomalhaut. The Square’s east side points down less directly toward 2nd-magnitude Beta Ceti.

This month Beta Ceti forms an isosceles triangle with Saturn and Fomalhaut, which are to its right. Beta is at the triangle’s long point.

THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 7

■ As darkness arrives this week, Capella shines fairly low in the northeast. Look for the Pleiades almost three fists to Capella’s right. As evening grows later, you’ll find orange Aldebaran climbing up beneath the Pleiades by about a fist or a little more. And brilliant Jupiter will make its appearance left or lower left of Aldebaran.

By about 9 p.m., depending on your location, Orion will be clearing the east horizon far below them.

FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 8

■ This evening, the shadow of Jupiter’s moon Io crosses the planet’s face from 8:51 to 11:03 p.m. EST, followed by Io itself from 9:34 to 11:45 p.m. EST.

Meanwhile, Jupiter’s Great Red Spot should cross the planet’s central meridian around 10:19 p.m. EST. The spot should be visible with about the same degree of difficulty for an hour before and after then in a good 4-inch telescope if the seeing is sharp and steady.

And look for any signs of bluish festoons in the north edge of Jupiter’s Equatorial Zone.

SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 9

■ The season tilts winterward. Around 8 or 9 p.m. now, depending on where you are, zero-magnitude Capella, star of winter, climbs exactly as high in the northeast as zero-magnitude Vega, the Summer Star, has sunk in the west-northwest. How accurately can you time this event? Sextant not required. . . but this is the sort of measurement they were designed for.

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.

  Nov. 3-10: Jupiter’s Great Red Spot Friday, The Sky