Backyard Stargazer for November 2016
Francis Parnell, the Backyard Stargazer of Darlington
By Francis Parnell
It’s the time of year for the holidays to stress everybody out. So let’s all take a few minutes this month to slow down, stargaze for a while, and let the friendly stars take our minds off of our hectic holiday pace.
Just after sunset on the 2nd, look for a thin crescent Moon 3-degrees above Saturn in the southwest. Sparkling white Venus will be about 6-degrees to the left of Saturn making a right triangle along with the Moon. A nice naked-eye or binocular sky view!
On the 5th, the waxing crescent Moon can be spotted 7-degrees right or upper right of the Red Planet Mars and further to the upper left of Mars on the 6th.
“Super Moon” time again! On the morning of the 14th at 6:30 a.m., the Moon is at “Perigee”, only 221,521 miles from Earth. But that’s from “center-to-center” of the Earth-Moon system. From both surfaces it will only be 216,481 miles from us! According to Astronomy magazine it hasn’t been this close since January 26, 1948. And it won’t be this close again until November 25, 2034. It reaches full phase later that morning at 9:52 a.m.
Since Perigee and Full Moon occur early Monday morning, this is a two-night event for us on the east coast. As it nears Perigee, the Moon will actually be a bit larger on Sunday night the 13th, too. Astronomically speaking, even though the “Super Moon” happens early on Monday, at sunset it should be at least 99.5% sunlit and appear very large as it rises behind distant trees and buildings. We just might experience the “Moon Illusion.” For reasons still not quite understood, the perigee Full Moon appears very large and close to us. So grab your smartphones or digital cameras and try taking a few photos!
Before sunrise on the 15th, early risers can find the Moon in the “Hyades”, an open star cluster 151 light years away and shaped like a “V”. The Hyades is the face of Taurus, the Bull. The bright reddish-orange star at top left of the “V” is “Aldebaran”, the Eye of Taurus. Aldebaran is 67 light years away and is classified as a Giant star, 44 times the diameter and 160 times the luminosity of the Sun.
One hour before sunrise on the 21st, the last-quarter Moon is just below and slightly left of “Regulus”, the brightest star in Leo, the Lion.
Looking southeast one hour before dawn on the 25th, the very thin crescent Moon is to the lower left of yellow Jupiter and to the upper left of “Spica”, the brightest star in Virgo. The trio forms a fairly large triangle 9-degrees tall.
Have a Happy Thanksgiving everyone, and remember to “Keep looking up!”
Francis Parnell of Darlington has been an amateur astronomer for over 46 years, and was on the staff and helped out at the Francis Marion University Observatory from 1982 until 2006 by showing visitors “what’s out there.” With the help of a friend, Mr. Ernest Lowry, he built his own telescope in 1986. And, because of light pollution, for the last 31 years he has been advocating for the advantages of using fully-shielded lighting at night.
