What's Up?

This page shows a brief summary of what interesting things we can see in the sky this month.  

A more detailed version of 'What's Up' this month is available as a downloadable Word document right at the bottom of this page. 

We are now among the "wet" constellations, Capricornus the water goat, Pisces the fishes, Piscis Austrinus the southern fish with brilliant Formalhaut in its mouth, (it means mouth of the fish) Eridanus the River, Cetus the Whale and Aquarius the water bearer, ISS is a morning object at the moment.

The Sun

 The Sun is approaching sunspot maximum so expect spots and auroras.

The Moon

The phases of the Moon are as follows:

• New - 4th November 
• First Quarter - 11th November 
• Full Moon - 19th November
• Last Quarter - 26th November

Darkest nights for deep sky observing will be during the first week.

Mercury is a morning object till the 15th best seen on the 1st at 6am in the South East.

Venus is still an evening object and getting better every day, still low though.

Mars is a difficult morning object 1 degree from Mercury on the 10th.

Jupiter is getting lower and closer to the sunset - get it while you can!

Saturn is getting close to the twilight, but still easy to find being to the right of Jupiter.

Uranus is at opposition on the 4th, high in the South and is visible all night even in binoculars.

Neptune is in Aquarius and sets about midnight, so check it out early, distance being 30AU.

Asteroids

None

Comets

Nothing brighter than magnitude 8 forecast.

Meteors

Taurid Meteors, big and slow moving can be spotted anytime this month. There are two peaks on the 5th and 20th, with both have a ZHR of 5. The Moon will not spoil peaks. The Leonids ZHR 20 will peak on the 17th / 18th (Sunday night), however they can be seen anytime from the 15th to the 20th, usually after midnight. They are small and fast moving, they differ completely from the Taurids. The moon will not spoil the peak. Alpha Monocerotids, ZHR 5, peak on 22nd, visible from 15th to 25th. The Moon spoils it unfortunately.

Deep Sky

Almost too much to catalogue this month! Naked eye clusters include the Hyades and Pleiades in Taurus, a huge naked eye cluster surrounds Mirfak or Alpha Persei. Of course all three are better in binoculars. From Mirfak track along the milky way toward Cassiopeia and spot the double cluster.