NOVEMBER  2005

NOVEMBER STAR MAP | STARWATCH INDEX | MOON PHASE CALENDAR

Print Large Sky Charts For 9 p.m. EST:   NORTH | EAST | SOUTH | WEST | ZENITH

481a  NOVEMBER 6-10, 2005:   Mars, Venus Rule

Last Saturday, driving home from church, my wife, Susan, headed eastbound onto Route 22. Not being bothered with watching the road, I noticed Venus sparkling low in the southwest as she entered the cloverleaf. Venus is the third brightest object in the sky after the sun and the moon. Once we merged with the eastbound traffic, I noticed another “star” in the east. I just assumed it was a plane since we were headed towards Lehigh Valley International Airport, but the plane didn’t move or flash. “My gosh,” I thought. “It had to be Mars, the fourth brightest object in the sky.” This week, the waxing moon joins the pair, starting off on Sunday to the left of Venus, as a crescent in the southwest. By week’s end, a fat gibbous moon is to the right of orangey Mars in the east. On Monday Mars is officially at opposition, opposite to the sun, so that when the sun sets at 4:51 p.m., Mars will be just rising in the east and visible all night long. Members of the public are cordially invited to attend a Mars Watch on Thursday, November 10, in the upper main parking lot of Dieruff High School, 815 North Irving Street, Allentown. Dieruff’s StarWatch team will be on hand, as well as a number of other individuals who have volunteered their time to bring their scopes to this event to view Mars, as well as the waxing gibbous moon. Several of the scopes will be computer controlled which means that a host of other objects, such as Uranus, Neptune, and the Andromeda Galaxy should be within reach. This is a weather sensitive event. Rain or overcast skies will cancel the Mars Watch. Log on to www.astronomy.org after 5 p.m. on Thursday to confirm that the event is a go. There is no rain date, but future public observing evenings are in the works.

481b  NOVEMBER 11-12, 2005:   Mars, Venus Rule

Last Saturday, driving home from church, my wife, Susan, headed eastbound onto Route 22. Not being bothered with watching the road, I noticed Venus sparkling low in the southwest as she entered the cloverleaf. Venus is the third brightest object in the sky after the sun and the moon. Once we merged with the eastbound traffic, I noticed another “star” in the east. I just assumed it was a plane since we were headed towards Lehigh Valley International Airport, but the plane didn’t move or flash. “My gosh,” I thought. “It had to be Mars, the fourth brightest object in the sky.” This week, the waxing moon joins the pair, starting off on Sunday to the left of Venus, as a crescent in the southwest. By week’s end, a fat gibbous moon is to the right of orangey Mars in the east. On Monday Mars was officially at opposition, opposite to the sun, so that when the sun set at 4:51 p.m., Mars was just rising in the east and visible all night long. For the moon, this happens every 29-1/2 days when it is in its full phase and visible all night, but for Mars, the period is much longer, on the average, 780 days. That’s because Mars orbits the sun in just under two years, 687 days to be precise. After we pass Mars at opposition, the Earth will slowly inch ahead, allowing Mars to be seen in the evening sky until late July 2006. Then the Earth and Mars will be essentially opposite to each other in the sky, and Mars will be lost in the glare of the sun as it passes in back of our daystar. Slowly, the Earth will begin to gain on Mars, and the Red Planet will again become visible, but this time in the brightening morning sky around New Year’s Day 2007. It will take until late December 2007 before Mars and the Earth are once again situated at opposition. Enjoy this Red November!

482    NOVEMBER 13, 2005:   Mars and Venus: Compare Their Colors

For the past five weeks, I have been engaged in a backyard construction project which has involved the relocation of 100 tons of topsoil and the laying of a foundation for a large shed. The work often continues beyond sunset until the stars stretch crisply across my Coopersburg sky. I have enjoyed watching them appear, as well as the emergence of Venus as the palate of twilight colors deepen, and the still air takes on a moistened, earthy scent. Brilliant, white Venus, twinkling ever so slowly in the southwest, has become my “wishing star.” I wish my backyard weren’t so muddy. Then off to my left in the east, as I spy through my skeletal maples and ash is fiery Mars, still maintaining its standing as the fourth brightest object of the night, even though the Earth-Mars distance is now increasing. You can’t read any literature about Mars without coming across some expression of its reddish tinge. And to that extent, I invite you to compare the color difference between Venus, which is basically white, to Mars which is considered red or orangey by most astronomers. A good time to make your observation would be around 5:45 p.m., an hour after sundown. Stand with Venus to your right in the southwest, and Mars, low in the east to your left. A quick comparison of their colors might simply yield no difference at all, but if you’re really careful and observe critically, I think you’ll agree that Mars has a warmer hue. At best, colors in astronomical objects are highly subjective and require the help of binoculars or telescopes to bring enough light to the cones of the eye in order for hues to be seen. The brightest planets and stars are exceptions to this rule, unless you have the misfortune of being colorblind. In that case white is always right!

483    NOVEMBER 20, 2005:   Auriga, the Charioteer

There is a charioteer racing across the late fall and winter sky called Auriga, and its principal star Capella, the sixth brightest luminary of the night, is a cinch to locate. Start by finding orangey Mars which is high in the east by 8 p.m. To Mars’ left and slightly below, is creamy, white Capella, scintillating just a little less vividly in the chilled evening air. You will know that you have met with success because between Capella and Mars, you will find the Pleiades or Seven Sisters, looking like a small patch of exhaled breath floating in the cold. Below the sisters is orangey Aldebaran, the bright eye star of Taurus the Bull. To me, Auriga is the chariot and not the charioteer, who in mythology was the crippled king of Athens, Erichthonius, made famous for his invention of the chariot because he could not walk. To visualize the chariot which can be viewed from any suburban location is another matter which is better left to a picture. One can be found in this week’s web StarWatch at the ULR below. Ironically, the stars that form the chariot as I see it, are supposed to represent the king. Capella symbolizes a goat flung over the shoulders of Erichthonius. Even more confusing is a faint asterism of three stars called the kids. They represent younger goats which are being carried in the left hand of Erichthonius. Find these through binoculars about one field of view to Capella’s right. How a handicapped king could have driven successfully a chariot laden with goats has always eluded me. However, don’t lose any sleep over it. Just go outside and revel in the beauty of this section of nighttime sky. It is a sure sign that when brilliant Capella gains altitude during the early evening in the northeast, the short, cold days of winter are nearly at hand.

484    NOVEMBER 27, 2005:   Skylight, Star Bright

This week, the planet Mars loses its status as the fourth brightest sky object, beaten back by Jupiter which is the normal titleholder. Unfortunately, there is no easy way to compare these changes because Mars sets in the WNW at approximately 4:50 a.m., the same time that Jupiter is on the rise in the ESE. Over the past two weeks, I have begun to notice Jupiter from my kitchen window around 6 a.m., playing hide and seek among the branches of my backyard trees. During this same period, ruddy Mars has also been obvious through my kitchen skylight about 8:30 p.m. Please do not get the idea that I live in a glass house or that I have preplanned the positions of my windows to coincide with astronomical phenomena. I am merely taking advantage of the limited vistas that these windows have to offer by making informal observations through them. Anyone can do it. My kitchen skylight regularly gets visited by high winter full moons which I watch, sometimes in the company of a glass of red wine. In addition, I made skylight observations of Comet Hyakutake in March of 1996 and the total lunar eclipse of January 20-21, 2000. This week, with the moon just past its new phase, an excellent opportunity exists to make observations of a more difficult zodiacal constellation, Aries the Ram, which is near Mars. Use binoculars to see Aries’s two fainter stars. Aries is visible about 8:30 p.m. about one binocular field of view above orangey Mars in the SSE. Its four stars form a right angle with the vertex of the right angle lying between Aries’s two brightest stars, Hamal and Sheratan. These stars are normally visible to the unaided eye from more urban locals. Check them out from your backyard, a south facing window, or that special skylight in your home.