This weekend’s night sky (15 – 17 November 2013) The planet Venus is high up in the western sky and now high and is sitting in front of the stars of Sagittarius, the Archer. The Moon is visible throughout the evening as move towards Full on Monday morning at 4:16 am. Only the tail of Scorpion/Hook of Maui is above the horizon after sunset; in the west Taurus, Orion and Canis Major are well above the horizon in the east. Sirius the brightest star in our night sky marks the collar of Canis Major, the big dog. At 8.7 light years away it is a nearby star; a more massive and brighter star than our Sun it shines with a luminosity 26 times that of our Sun. Low in the south are The Pointers and Crux, the Southern Cross, along with the Diamond and False Crosses all three sit along the horizon after sunset. Jupiter and Mars are in the morning sky rising earlier each morning. Comet ISON is below and to the left of Mars it continuing to brighten as it falls toward the Sun. It has now reached 7th magnitude and has been observed by people using 10 X 50 Binoculars. Another Comet called Lovejoy is in the morning sky and is currently brighter enough to be seen with the unaided eye. This comet can be found under the sickle of Leo the Lion but is rapidly moving north and will be soon lost to view. When the Earth travels through the debris from a comet we see an increase in meteors called a meteor shower. This weekend is the period of the Leonid meteor shower. The Leonids derive from comet 55P/Tempel-Tuttle this shower can produce some high count rates. Unfortunately, from mid southern latitudes the radiant does not rise until about 2 hours before sunrise, so activity would only be observable while very low. The almost full Moon will affect viewing to only the brightest of meteors.
Posted on: Thu, 14 Nov 2013 20:24:42 +0000
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