Photo of the Week. Cygnus, the Swan, departs for
warmer climes.
Astronomy news for the week starting Friday, November 14, 2008.
After passing its full phase last week,
we pick up the Moon going
through its waning gibbous phase as it
heads toward third quarter, the phase
reached during the day on Wednesday, November 19, after which we
can watch a little bit of the waning
crescent.
The morning of Monday the 17th finds the Moon in a lovely setting
in northern Gemini just to the
south of Castor and Pollux. Then two days later it takes
a bead on Leo and Saturn. The
morning of Wednesday the 19th, just a hair before it hits third
quarter, the Moon can be found to the east of Regulus and to the left of Leo's "Sickle," while the following morning
it will have flipped to the other side of the star. As our week
draws to a close, on the morning of Friday the 21st, the waning
crescent will be just to the southwest of Saturn, the two making a
fine pairing.
The sky is currently bookended by Saturn and the
Venus/Jupiter duo. Look to the southwest in early evening in
twilight for a magnificent view of brilliant Venus, which, though
low above the horizon, can hardly be missed. Up and to the left is
bright Jupiter, the two bracketing Sagittarius, Venus in the western part of the
constellation, Jupiter in the east and still up and to the left of
the Little Milk Dipper. Moving
easterly against the stars faster than Jupiter, Venus is closing in
the giant planet. Watch as they appear to get closer and closer.
The juxtaposition, is however, only in the line of sight, as when
they cross paths at the end of November, Jupiter will be 5.7
Astronomical Units away from us (the AU the average distance
between Earth and Sun), Venus just 1.0 AU distant, Jupiter nearly
6 times farther away. We lose Venus first, the planet setting
around 7 PM just after the end of twilight. Jupiter follows around
8:30 PM. Then we have only Uranus and Neptune to kick
around until Saturn lofts itself above the eastern horizon at 1:30
or so.
The week features one of the most famed of meteor showers, the Leonids, which
peak the morning of Monday the 17th. But don't expect much. We
are well past the maximum (which we hit in a 33 year cycle), and
the Moon will take out much of the leavings.
Once the Moon is out of the way, you might try admiring the Great Square of Pegasus, a large box of stars that
crosses the meridian fairly high to
the south at around 8 PM. Below it, find the Circlet of Pisces,
and to the right the "Y"-shaped Water
Jar of Aquarius.
Pegasus is home to a 6th magnitude star called HR 8799, around
which three planets have been directly observed, each of which is
considerably more massive than Jupiter.
Fomalhaut, in
Piscis
Austrinus, has another one buried in its
dusty disk. Astronomers
have been waiting for decades for just such discoveries. You can
see Fomalhaut far to the south in early evening.
