The Night Sky in November 2006

Sunrise and Sunset Times for the UK

	Edinburgh Sunrise Sunset		Manchester Sunrise Sunset		London Sunrise Sunset
Nov 01	07:18	16:35	07:06	16:39	06:52	16:36
Nov 15	07:47	16:07	07:32	16:14	07:16	16:13
Nov 30	08:16	15:46	07:58	15:56	07:40	15:57

To find out today's sunrise and sunset times for where you are, click here

Phases of the Moon


New Moon Monday 20	First quarter Tuesday 28	Full Moon Sunday 5	Last quarter Sunday 12

Click HERE to see the phase of the Moon on each day of the month.

What's happening in the night sky?

Now that the clocks have gone back, it's a bit brighter as we head to school in the morning, but gets dark not long after we make it home. The good news is that we budding astronomers can get a good look at the night sky before it gets too late and possibly spot one of the following monthly highlights:

Maps of the current night sky can be seen by clicking HERE

November 8th - Mercury transit of Sun (not visible from UK)

The planet Mercury will transit the Sun, as viewed from the Earth, for the first time since 2003. Sadly, it will only be visible from the Americas, Pacific Ocean, eastern Asia and Australasia. The transit or passage of a planet across the face of the Sun is a relatively rare occurrence, and is only possible for the planets Mercury and Venus, because they both orbit closer to the Sun than Earth; i.e. they are the only ones that can get in the way. There are approximately 13 transits of Mercury each century. In comparison, Venus transits occur in pairs with more than a century separating each pair. The next transit of Venus will occur in June 2012 and then not again until 2117.

November 19th - Peak of Leonid Meteor Shower

At certain times of the year, the Earth passes through a trail of dust and debris that was left by a passing comet many years ago. When it does so, we see an increase in the number of meteors or shooting stars as debris enters and burns up in the Earth's atmosphere due to friction. This increase in the number of meteors is known as a meteor shower.

Image of night sky showing the region where Leonid meteors appear.

The Leonid shower is due to debris from Comet Tempel-Tuttle, which orbits the Sun every 33 years. As the name suggests, Leonid meteors enter the atmosphere close to the constellation of Leo and travel outwards. If you're keen enough to get up well before sunrise on the 19th November, you have a great chance of seeing lots of shooting stars - helped by the fact that it's nearly a new moon, so the sky will be extra dark. The actual peak occurs at 4:45am, with predictions suggesting there may be as many as 100 meteors per hour - well up from the normal rate of just 6 meteors per hour.

What are the planets up to?

Click HERE and start the Electric Orrery to see where all the planets are today in relation to each other.

Mercury - starts the month as an evening object setting a few minutes after the Sun, but is too dim to be seen in the twilight. It passes inferior conjunction (between us and the Sun) on the 8th and emerges quickly as a morning object. By the end of the month it will rise in the east-southeast around two hours before the Sun.

Venus - passed superior conjunction (the other side of the Sun to Earth) on the 27th October, and is slowly emerging as an evening object. It will remain so for the rest of the year. However, it will stay very low in the south-western sky after sunset, so the chances are that you will not see it unless your view towards the western horizon is unobstructed.

Mars - also passed behind the Sun during late October. However, as we are travelling more quickly than Mars, it is currently emerging as a morning object. Towards the end of November, it will rise in the east-southeast just under an hour before the Sun. Although it may just about be visible in the morning twilight, it will be late summer before we can get decent images of Mars again. Why not use the electric orrery to see why Mars moves from being an evening to morning object, whilst Venus does the opposite. You may have to remind yourself that the Earth rotates anti-clockwise (once every 24 hours) when viewed from above the North Pole.

Jupiter - is lost in the brightness of the evening twilight as it moves slowly behind the Sun. It will reach conjunction (far side of the Sun) on the 21st November and then slowly reappear as a morning object during December (like Mars but slower). Again, we will have to wait until the spring before we can start getting decent images of Jupiter using the Liverpool Telescope.

Saturn - remains the only planet we can obtain images of using Go Observing. At the start of the month, Saturn rises in the east-northeast around midnight, and reaches high above the southern horizon just before sunrise. As the month moves on this rising time heads earlier into the evening by nearly two hours. We are starting to move away from Saturn now, so it might be better to order an image now while you still can.

Constellation of the month

Each month, a new constellation is highlighted for you to identify in the night sky.

This month we will be looking for the constellation of Cassiopeia, which can be found almost right above our heads in the night sky. It is fairly easy to find, due to the fact that it is shaped like the letter "w". Cassiopeia is one of the few contellations that is visible throughout the year from the UK.

November Night Sky

There are five bright stars that make up the w-shape of the constellation, but the central star, known as Gamma Cassiopeiae or Cih, is a very interesting object in its own right. It is an eruptive variable star, whose brightness has been seen to double on an irregular basis. The star is known to spin rapidly, such that it bulges out along the equator, and this results in some of the star's material being flung off into space.

Gamma Cassiopeiae is also a bright source of x-rays, and is a known to have an unseen companion star orbiting it every 204 days. Some astronomers think that the companion is a small, dark neutron star or a small, but brighter white dwarf that is gravitationally stripping material from Gamma Cass; and it is the in-fall of this material onto the companion that is causing the changes in brightness and the creation of x-rays, as it collides with material that has already gathered in a swirling disk around the companion star.

Mythology: Cassiopeia

Cassiopeia was the legendary queen of Ethiopia, known throughout the land for her elegant beauty. Becoming increasingly vain, Cassiopeia boasted that she was even more lovely than the Sea Nymphs, goddesses of unmatched beauty who ruled over nature. Enraged by Cassiopeia's false bragging, the Sea Nymph's begged the God of the Sea, Poseidon, to punish the queen for her insults and conceit. Poseidon became so angry with Cassiopeia that he unleashed the horrible sea monster, Cetus the Whale, and sent him to destroy the coast of Cassiopeia's homeland. The Sea Nymphs also sought eternal punishment for Cassiopeia, arranging for her to be placed in the heavens tied to a chair. In the northern sky, Cassiopeia sits, forever circling the celestial pole, i.e. the point in the sky above the North Pole, around which the stars rotate.