A monthly look at astronomical events in the sky and on Earth

Compiled by Steve Sawyer

[Take the November 2022 Quiz – A Quizzical History of Astronomy]

Hi,  well we’re back just in time for the clocks to go back and the dark winter evenings.  So apart from halloween scares and fireworks this is what is worth looking at over the next month

 So what’s on this month?

A quick summary of what’s happening or is going to take place this next month.

Date	Time	Description
1st	06:47	First Quarter
1st	21:08	Saturn 4.2 °N of the Moon
4th	20:24	Jupiter 2.4 °N of the Moon
6th-30th		Leonid Meteor Sower
8th		Full Moon
12th-13th		Northern Taurid meteor shower max
14th	00:20	Pollux 1.7°N of the Moon
16th		Last Quarter Moon
16th	21:53	Regulus 5.0°S of the Moon
17th-18th		Leonid meteor shower max
21st	04:11	Spica 4.2°S of the Moon
23rd	22:57	New Moon
26th	01:31	Moon at perigee
29th	04:40	Saturn 4.2°N of the Moon
30th		First quarter Moon

Onto this month’s viewing.

November Objects

 

The Sun

 

The sun is currently quite active with the current sunspot number being 87 and a number of recent CME events that have caused geomagnetic storms with visible aurorae at high latitudes .

  For more info on the sun and solar weather look here : –

 https://www.swpc.noaa.gov/communities/space-weather-enthusiasts

Intermittent geomagnetic storms are currently occurring with an ongoing chances of Aurora at high latitudes. 

 

The Moon

There’s plenty of interest in the moon this month with an interesting special in this month Sky at Night.

Novembers full  moon is the Frost or Beaver moon and a full lunar calendar can be found here :-

https://www.mooninfo.org/moon-phases/2022.html

 

The Planets

Mercury

 Not easily viewable this month being lost in the morning twilight and being very low after sunset.

Venus 

Very close to the sun and not really a visible this month

Mars 

Another good option this month.  Getting higher in the night sky as the month progresses.  Shining at mag -1.3 and appearing near Orion.

Jupiter 

Visible all month and an easily viewable target for both scopes and binoculars. 

Saturn 

Easily visible in the southern night sky at mag +0.8 for most of the month.  Although becoming an early evening observation towards the end of the month.

Uranus
This month offers a great opportunity to view this distant planet.  Easily visible in as a small pale greeny/blue dot in most scopes.

Meteor Showers

November 12th – 13th almost coinciding with bonfire night the Taurids Meteor Shower peaks on the 4th. The Taurids is a long-running minor meteor shower producing only about 5-10 meteors per hour. It is unusual in that it consists of two separate streams. The first is produced by dust grains left behind by Asteroid 2004 TG10. The second stream is produced by debris left behind by Comet 2P Encke. 

The new moon will leave dark skies this year for what should be an excellent show. Best viewing will be just after midnight from a dark location far away from city lights. Meteors will radiate from the constellation Taurus, but can appear anywhere in the sky.

 

On November the 17th and 18th the Leonids Meteor Shower peaks.  You can expect around 15 meteors per hour at its peak (from a very dark site).  With the light polluted skies of York expect a max of around 5 visible meteors per hour.

. This shower is unique in that it has a cyclonic peak about every 33 years where hundreds of meteors per hour can be seen. That last of these occurred in 2001. The Leonids is produced by dust grains left behind by comet Tempel-Tuttle, which was discovered in 1865. The shower runs annually from November 6-30. It peaks this year on the night of the 17th and morning of the 18th.  Best viewing will be from a dark location after midnight. Meteors will radiate from the constellation Leo, but can appear anywhere in the sky.

Comets

Sourced from Visual Comets in the Future (Northern Hemisphere) (aerith.net) – November 2022

	Evening	mag	Midnight	mag	Morning
	C/2022 E3 (ZTF)	9	C/2020 V2 (ZTF)	10	C/2022 E3 (ZTF)	9
	C/2022 P1 (NEOWISE)	10	118P/Shoemaker- Levy 4	11	C/2020 V2 (ZTF)	10
	C/2020 V2 (ZTF)	10	C/2021 Y1 (ATLAS)	12	118P/Shoemaker- Levy 4	11
	C/2020 K1 (PanSTARRS)	12	29P/Schwassmann- Wachmann 1	12	81P/Wild 2	11
	C/2021 Y1 (ATLAS)	12			C/2019 L3 (ATLAS)	11
	73P/Schwassmann- Wachmann 3	13

 

Deep Sky Objects (DSOs)

Lots of galaxies to image or fuzzy grey blobs for visual observers.  There’s a really good guide here

https://www.galactic-hunter.com/post/spring-the-15-best-astrophotography-targets

With accompanying  YouTube videos too

Some other seasonal opportunities that were mentioned last year.

 

The star of the show for November and December must surely be M31, the Andromeda nebula (or galaxy to be more precise). In case you don’t know how to find it, the chart above should help. M31 is near the centre and almost overhead in the evening. Use the top two corner stars of the square of Pegasus, go left one star, then left one more, then up two stars, and M31 is to the right of that last star.

 

Many people don’t realise how big (in angular measure) M31 is. Believe it or not it is over 3° wide. That’s six times the apparent diameter of the moon. It is also much fainter than its magnitude of 3.5 would suggest because that magnitude is spread over an area of at least 2.5 square degrees. Understand then, that you should not just point any old telescope and eyepiece combination at it at any old time and expect to see it at its best.

 

Firstly, don’t even think about it if the Moon is around. To give it your best shot, observe it during the first third of November or wait until the 26th and before the Moon rises.

 

Secondly, don’t even think about it unless the sky is really dark and the clarity is high. It doesn’t have to be cloudless if the gaps between the clouds are very dark but if there’s even a hint of mistiness or high cirrus clouds, forget it.

Thirdly, you must use a low power wide field eyepiece to get all that 3° width into the field. If you don’t, you’ll only see the central area of the galaxy. In many cases, a good pair of binoculars held really steadily (perhaps on a stand) is the best way to see this exceptional object.

 

Fourthly, use averted vision. Don’t look straight at it; look to one side or above or below. If you do, whilst remaining aware of the centre of the field, it will look brighter. That’s because you’re using rods (which detect dim light), which are not present in the central axis of the eye. If you’ve never used averted vision, now is the time to try it. There’s an excellent Wikipedia entry on the subject, which I recommend you read.

 

And finally, you won’t believe me when I tell you that in fact, in terms of surface brightness of an extended object like M31, the highest surface brightness is achieved by using the unaided eye. In other words, M31 looks brighter with the naked eye than through any telescope. There, I knew you wouldn’t believe me! Through binoculars or a telescope, what makes you think it’s brighter and easier to see is that it’s bigger, and you’re actually seeing the brighter condensed central area.

If you think about it, the visibility of the Andromeda galaxy is about the same as the visibility of our own Milky Way. They are both spiral galaxies seen edge on or nearly edge on. The only difference is the distance. So if you can’t see the Milky Way arching overhead from east to west, you won’t see M31.

There’s a similar galaxy (physically) to M31 not far from it. It’s the M33 Triangulum galaxy. It’s there on the chart above. M33 is smaller and much fainter than M31 and we’re seeing it square on, so its surface brightness is even less than M31’s. It’s quite a challenge to detect it.

Finally, all the DSOs featured on the chart above are magnitude 6.0 or brighter, which means they should be easily seen even with the most modest telescope, and in many cases, binoculars. Here’s a quick summary of the best objects to go for. (Size in arcminutes.)

Object	Type	Size / Mag.	Notes
M39	Open cluster	29 / 5.5	Very loose. Use binoculars.
M31	Galaxy	190 / 3.5	“The Andromeda Nebula”
M33	Galaxy	60 / 5.7	“The Triangulum Galaxy”
NGC752	Open cluster	75 / 5.7	“Caldwell 28”
M34	Open cluster	35 / 5.5	Very loose. Use binoculars.
M45	Open cluster	110 / 1.6	“The Pleiades”. Wonderful
NGC884/869	Twin open clusters	60 / 3.7 & 3.8	“The double cluster”. Superb

Man’s Space Activities

 

Spotting the International Space Station

The following ISS sightings are possible

Date	Visible	Max Height*	Appears	Disappears	Share Event
Thu Oct 27, 5:08 AM	2 min	21°	21° above SE	10° above E
Thu Oct 27, 6:42 AM	6 min	52°	16° above WSW	10° above E
Fri Oct 28, 5:56 AM	4 min	45°	41° above SSW	10° above E
Sat Oct 29, 5:10 AM	2 min	26°	26° above ESE	10° above E
Sat Oct 29, 6:43 AM	6 min	58°	18° above WSW	10° above E
Sun Oct 30, 5:57 AM	4 min	57°	54° above SSW	10° above E
Mon Oct 31, 4:11 AM	2 min	27°	27° above ESE	10° above E
Mon Oct 31, 5:44 AM	5 min	51°	20° above W	10° above ESE
Tue Nov 1, 4:58 AM	3 min	57°	56° above S	10° above ESE
Wed Nov 2, 4:12 AM	2 min	25°	25° above ESE	10° above E
Wed Nov 2, 5:45 AM	5 min	37°	22° above WSW	10° above SE
Thu Nov 3, 4:59 AM	3 min	44°	44° above S	10° above ESE
Fri Nov 4, 4:13 AM	1 min	18°	18° above ESE	10° above ESE
Fri Nov 4, 5:46 AM	4 min	23°	19° above WSW	10° above SSE
Sat Nov 5, 5:00 AM	2 min	27°	27° above S	10° above SE
Sun Nov 6, 4:14 AM	< 1 min	12°	12° above SE	10° above SE
Sun Nov 6, 5:46 AM	2 min	13°	12° above SW	10° above S
Mon Nov 7, 5:01 AM	1 min	14°	14° above S	10° above S

 

Useful Resources
https://www.spacedaily.com/
http://www.n3kl.org/sun/noaa.html
http://skymaps.com/downloads.html
https://earthsky.org/
http://www.seasky.org/astronomy/astronomy-calendar-2022.html
https://www.rmg.co.uk/stories/topics/what-are-names-full-moons-throughout-yearhttp://www.deepskywatch.com/deepsky-guide.html
Top 10 Winter Sky Targets for Skywatchers | Space
and of course the sky at night magazine!

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Astronomy and Space Quiz

Compiled by Andrew Downie/John Rowland

This Month’s Quiz – A Quizzical History of Astronomy (20/11/2022)

12 multi-choice questions for beginners up to expert level.
Please click on the link below to take the quiz
Follow the November 2022 Quiz link here!
And Good Luck!

 

The winner(s) will be posted on the website (“Leave a Reply”) after the deadline (30/11/2022) and also at the next YAS Meeting (Xmas/December 2022).

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Thanks for your interest, and we wish you clear skies and good viewing. Stay safe!

Steve Sawyer and  John Rowland!