November 2009 astronomy events

Jupiter is an excellent object for evening viewing in November. It's near the meridian at sunset. Pisces, Aquarius, Capricorn, and Sagittarius are the early evening's constellations along the ecliptic.

There isn't much else going on for planet watchers for a few hours. Mars rises closer to midnight. It's in Cancer moving toward Leo.

Saturn rises a few hours after that in Virgo for those watching in the dark morning hours.

Venus is also in Virgo, shining brightly next to Spica at the start of the month. It races below Spica in the eastern sky into the sunlight toward the end of November.

This isn't a good month to spot Mercury. It's in conjuction with the sun early in the month.

The five naked eye planets are all in direct motion this month, meaning they appear to be moving eastward in the sky compared to the stars behind them. Mars will be "slowing down" before it goes into retrograde motion next month. Some prefer to describe a planet as becoming stationary when this happens, because the planet's night-to-night position changes become hard to discern.

The Leonids have been a very regular meteor shower, until recent years. There are some scientists who expect a good show in 2009 because the earth will pass through a dust trail laid down in 1466. Shower time this year is during a new moon. So if there's a show, you may want to watch the night skies around the 17th. The peak time will be about 21:43 UT.

The moon occults Alcyone on the 4th. Central America and the Caribbean are the prime viewing areas.