November 2020 What’s Up!

Week of 30th November

  • Astronomical twilight ends at 18:03 UT at the beginning of the week and at 18:02 UT by the end of the week
  • Mars continues to be the highlight of our evening sky, shining at mag -1.1. Binoculars or a small telescope are sufficient to show dark patches on the planet’s surface
  • The Moon is Full on Monday – the Cold Moon. Having passed through apogee last Friday, this full Moon will be a ‘micromoon’, appearing slightly smaller and dimmer than usual
  • The Sun is very active right now, moreso than it has been for many months. It has four active regions: AR 2783, AR 2785, AR 2786 and AR 2787, with a combined sunspot number of 67. Look on the GONG/NSO website for impressive H Alpha images: Click here for GONG
  • The ISS makes multiple evening passes as follows:
    Monday: 17:12, W to E, max 87° & 18:49, W, max 31°
    Tuesday: 18:02, W to ESE, max 87°
    Wednesday: 17:14, W to E, max 86° & 18:51, W to WSW, max 30°
    Thursday: 18:03, W to SE, max 61°
    Friday: 17:16, W to ESE, max 76° & 18:53, W to SW, max 23°
    Saturday: 18:05, W to SSE, max 34°
    Sunday: 17:17, W to SE, max 46° and 18:55, WSW to SSW, max 12°

Week of 23rd November

  • Astronomical twilight ends at 18:07 UT at the beginning of the week and at 18:04 UT by the end of the week
  • On Wednesday night the Moon (-11) and Mars (-1.3) traverse the sky together at only 5° separation
  • The Moon is Waxing Gibbous and will be Full early next week. It reaches apogee on Friday, when it will be at its most distant orbital point from Earth at about 403,000 km away. It will appear slightly smaller in the sky than usual, subtending only 29.4 arcminutes across the sky, compared to its average size of 31.1 arcmin
  • The Sun has two active regions, AR 2783 and AR 2784, with a combined sunspot number of 23. This continues the sustained increase in solar activity as Solar Cycle 25 intensifies
  • The ISS makes multiple evening passes as follows:
    Monday: 17:55, SSW to SE, max 31° & 19:31, WSW, max 12°
    Tuesday: 17:08, SSW to E, max 22° & 18:44, WSW, max 36°
    Wednesday: 17:56, SSW to ESE, max 56° & 19:33, W, max 12°
    Thursday: 17:09, SW to E, max 42° & 18:46, W, max 37°
    Friday: 17:58, WSW to SE, max 84° & 19:35, W, max 11°
    Saturday: 17:11, WSW to E, max 71° & 18:47, W, max 34°
    Sunday: 18:00, W to ENE, max 84° and 19:37, W, max 10°

Week of 16th November

  • Astronomical twilight ends at 18:13 UT at the beginning of the week and at 18:08 UT by the end of the week
  • The Leonid meteor shower peaks on Tuesday night. The radiant is in the head of Leo. The shower produces a maxiumum of around 15 meteors per hour and is created by the Earth moving through debris left behind by Comet 55P/Tempel-Tuttle, which was discovered in 1865, five years after the Cooke 10-inch was made
  • Mars continues to dominate the evening sky, shining at mag -1.5 and culminating at 21:07 UT
  • The Moon will be First Quarter on Sunday. It will make a close approach to Jupiter (-2.1) and Saturn (0.6) as it sets on Thursday evening
  • The Sun has one departing active region, AR 2781
  • The ISS returns to our evening skies this week with passes as follows:
    Friday: 18:41, SSW to S, max 13°
    Saturday: 17:55, S to SE, max 16°
    Sunday: 17:09, SSE to ESE, max 11° and 18:43, SW to SSW, max 26°

Week of 9th November

  • Astronomical twilight ends at 18:21 UT at the beginning of the week and at 18:14 UT by the end of the week
  • Mercury (-0.6) reaches greatest elongation west on Tuesday and will be at its highest point in the morning sky, reaching an altitude of 15°. It is separated from the Sun by about 19°, take care if trying to observe Mercury. Venus is nearby shining at -4.0. Early risers will be treated to a fine view when the waning crescent Moon joins the scene on Thursday morning, making a beautiful trio of solar system objects
  • The Moon will be New on Sunday
  • The Sun has two active regions AR 2780 and AR 2781, with a combined sunspot number of 37. AR 2781 is the largest active region of the new solar cycle and is facing Earth, which could pose a geoeffective risk if it produces significant eruptions
  • There are no visible ISS evening passes this week

Week of 2nd November

  • Astronomical twilight ends at 18:31 UT at the beginning of the week and at 18:22 UT by the end of the week
  • The planets continue to make an impressive line of observing targets across the night sky, from west to east: Jupiter (-2.1), Saturn (0.6), Neptune (7.8), Mars (-2.0), Uranus (5.7) and for the early risers, Venus (-4.0) and Mercury (0.1)
  • Whilst not the most productive of meteor showers with only around 5 to 10 meteors per hour, the Taurids can be impressive. The shower peaks on Wednesday night. The Taurids are unusual in that they are generated by two separate streams of material, the first left behind by Asteroid 2004 TG10 and the second deposited by Comet 2P Enke
  • The Moon will be Last Quarter on Sunday
  • The Sun has two departing active regions AR 2778 and AR 2779, with a combined sunspot number of 26
  • There are no visible ISS evening passes this week
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