Dark Sky News

November 2024

Star Night November 9th!! Click here for more details.

October meeting: Thurs. Oct. 31 @7:30pm

Click here for the SAS Picture of the Month (November 2024)!

As Saturn begins to set earlier and earlier, Jupiter takes over and enters the spotlight, with Mars not too far behind.  

And don’t forget to  look at the galaxies in Andromeda and Pegasus!

 

Best time for dark sky object hunting and astrophotos!

This shower only shows about 5-10 meteors an hour, but it peaks this year on the the night of November 4. The first quarter moon will block out all but the brightest ones this year. If you are patient, you may still be able to catch a few good ones. Best viewing will be just after midnight in the direction of Taurus. 

The blue-green planet will be at its closest approach to Earth and its face will be fully illuminated by the Sun. It will be brighter than any other time of the year and will be visible all night long. This is the best time to view Uranus. Due to its distance, it will only appear as a tiny blue-green dot in all but the most powerful telescopes.

The Leonids is an average shower, producing up to 15 meteors per hour at its peak. This shower is unique in that it has a cyclic peak about every 33 years where hundreds of meteors per hour can be seen. The last of these occurred in 2001. The Leonids is produced by dust grains left behind by comet Tempel-Tuttle, which was discovered in 1865. Unfortunately the nearly full moon will block all but the brightest meteors this year. 

This is as bright as Venus and right overhead!

  • Nov. 17 @4:56PM-4:59PM : SW to SE

See www.heavens-above.com for more details!

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