Shropshire Sky At Night – November
As the debate about life on Venus continues, there is still plenty to put a smile on the faces of many a stargazer.
The planets continue to put on a good show with Mars bright and prominent throughout the month but past its best.
Ready to take its place is Mercury, presenting its best views of the year as it climbs from the pre-dawn horizon. Of all the major planets, and being closest the Sun, the "winged messenger" (from Holst's The Planets) Mercury is the most elusive, as it is only observable close to dawn or dusk.
However this month it pulls out west of our star to reach elongation on the 10th of the month. This means that it is furthest from the Sun, as we see it from Earth, giving us 30 minutes of observing which can reveal a surprisingly bright object.
With a small telescope one should be able to see the full range of moon-like phases as it catches up with, and overtakes, the orbit of Earth.
To tantalise both new and experienced stargazers, one needs to look no further than Taurus, where we will find M45 or the Pleiades open star cluster. For eye candy there is none better, it is easily visible to the naked eye in most skies.
With the addition of a pair of binoculars or small telescope the views will be superb. With a larger telescope you will be able to explore the wispy blue nebulosity that surrounds the bright stars, as illustrated in the image taken by Shropshire Astronomical Society member Andy Gannon.
Throughout the month it can be seen high in southern sky. Just identify the three stars of Orion's belt and follow a straight line to the right to Aldebaran, the bright orange star representing the eye of Taurus the bull. Continue in a straight line about the same distance again and be lucky.
The meteor season is well under way and it's always fun to be out and about looking for shooting stars.
Random meteors (called sporadics) can surprise us at any time but a named major shower is always something special. Meteors are tiny particles of dust called meteoroids, when travelling through space, that plunge into the Earth's atmosphere where they ionise producing the streaks of light we see travelling across the sky.
Meteor showers occur at specific times of the year with two well-known showers on view this month. The Northern Taurids on the night of the 11th are followed five days later by the famous Leonids. The dust particles are the remains of visiting comets 2P/Encke and 55P/Temple-Tuttle respectively. This year we are lucky as the new moon on November 15 will not spoil our views.
Finally, 7.30am on the 30th provides a partial lunar eclipse when the Moon passes through the outer part of the Earth's shadow (penumbral). Only a slight darkening of the Moon's surface takes place so it is easy to miss.
Never mind, we will just have to wait until May 2022 to experience our next total lunar eclipse.
Steve Szwajkun is a member of Shropshire Astronomical Society
