9:26am Thursday 29th October 2009
THE phases of the Moon begin in November with a full Moon on November 2 and 3. The last quarter then occurs on November 9. New Moon is on November 16 and first quarter occurs on November 24 , with the next full Moon on December 2. The full Moon of November is traditionally known as the Snow Moon.
November, with its misty skies, is also a good time to look towards the Sun but be careful you should never look directly at the sun. Rather look about a hands-width away from the Sun and see if you can spot a column of light above the Sun (known as a Sunpillar) or two fragments of rainbow on either side of the Sun (known as Sundogs or Parhelia).
Mercury is not visible in November. Venus rises around dawn for much of the month and will be a very bright object visible in the Eastern sky.
Mars rises as Jupiter sets by November 15 and is visible through to dawn. Mars can be seen against the faint background stars of Cancer and will be in the same binocular view as the Beehive Star Cluster for several weeks to come. This cluster contains more than 200 stars and lies about 580 light years away. The last quarter moon is below Mars on November 9.
Jupiter now sets by 10pm. But with darkness falling earlier it is still possible to view the four large moons discovered by Galileo 400 years ago this month. The first quarter moon passes above Jupiter on the nights of November 23 and 24.
Saturn is visible in the pre-dawn sky. Uranus and Neptune are still visible but are very low in the sky and would require a large telescope to see them.
November sees the often bright Leonid meteor shower which peaks on November 17 and 18.
UFO watchers will tell you that the dark skies of November provide the best opportunity of the year to see an Unidentified Flying Object. They will also tell you, with a straight face and perfect sincerity, that the best night of all to see them is November 5!
You can see the objects mentioned above and find out more with the Basingstoke Astronomical Society who have a practical meeting on November 12 and a meeting on November 26, when Graham Bryant, of the Hampshire Astronomical Group, will talk about “Space Vehicles” and in particular the discoveries of the Mars rovers. All of these meetings take place at Cliddesden Primary School from 7pm.
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