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NEW SUNBOOKS
COVERS

NOVEMBER, 2003

Vol.4. NO.11...........................................................Pages 16

 There actually isn't a page 16 of this month's The Sun-News so I added a few interesting things in case you come here!

Donette

graphic by donette smock

November 2003

The Moon

The current phase of the moon

http://tycho.usno.navy.mil/vphase.html

November 8/9th
An Eclipse of the Moon

During the night of the 8th/9th of November the Moon will be totally eclipsed by the shadow of the Earth. The Moon only just passes within the Earth's shadow, so the total phase of the eclipse only lasts for 25 minutes.

The partial eclipse of the Moon stars at 23:32 on the 8th Nov.

The total eclipse starts at 01:06 on the 9th Nov.

The total eclipse ends at 01:31.

The partial eclipse ends at 03:04.

During totality, the Moon is only illuminated by light that has passed through and refracted by the Earth's atmosphere. As the atmosphere scatters much of the blue light - why sunsets look red - the light that reaches the Moon is predominatly red in colour so we sometimes see a beautiful coppery coloured Moon - as shown in the picture above. How bright the Moon appears depends very much on how much dust in the Earth's atmosphere. Following a major volcanic eruption, such as that of Mount St Helens in May 1980, very little light reached the Moon and it becomes a dull grey colour and barely visible.

A total lunar eclipse is a celestial event of great majesty and grace. Among early civilizations, the eclipse was feared as an ominous sign of disaster, death, war and famine. Today, we recognize the eclipse as a simple consequence of the Moon's orbital motion around Earth. To learn more about eclipses, see A Lunar Eclipses for Beginners.

Eclipses of the Moon offer us the chance to enjoy a lovely naked eye spectacle in the heavens as well as a wonderful opportunity to teach our children about the beauty and wonder of Nature. It also affords us a the chance to photograph the event as a permanent momento of the experience.

The Leonid Meteor Shower

Every year, on November 18th and 19th, the Earth passed close to the trails of cometry debris from Comet Temple-Tuttle which produce the annual Leonid Meteor shower. The wonderful image above shows one of the 2001 Leonids burning up in the atmosphere as it crossed the constellation of Orion. Sadly, It will be full moon and its light will swamp that of the fainter meteors but if clear, it will be very worthwhile keeping a watch of the sky as, at 04:00 in the morning of the 19th the Earth is predicted to pass through a dense swarm of dust particles and it is possible that a Meteor Storm may be visible when the number of meteors seen in the sky could reach peaks of up to 1000 meteors an hour. Many of these will be bright enough to be seen even against the glare of the Moon.

Mars

Mars remains the brightest object in the evening sky low in the south-east. At the beginning of the month it still shines at Magnitude -1.2 - not far short of Sirius in brightness - and even at the month's end it will still be at -0.4 - close to the brightness of Vega - so it is still easy to spot. However its angular size is now falling from ~15 arc seconds down to 11 arc seconds during the month so details on the surface are getting harder to see.

Jupiter.

A montage of Jupiter and its moons. Nasa

Jupiter is now a morning object rising about 2 am at the beginning of October and by midnight by the end of the month. With a disc of 33.4 arc seconds (increasing to 36 arc seconds during the month) a small telescope will easily show the cloud bands across the surface. The four largest satellites Io, Europa, Ganymede and Callisto will be seen orbiting around it. On page 108 of November's Sky and Telescope there is a chart showing the disposition of the satellites during the month.

The International Space Station

Use the link below to find when the space station will be visible in the next few days. In general, the space station can be seen either in the hour or so before dawn or the hour or so after sunset - this is because it is dark and yet the Sun is not too far below the horizon so that it can light up the space station. As the orbit only just gets up the the latitude of the UK it will usually be seen to the south, and is only visible for a minute or so at each sighting. Note that as it is in low-earth orbit the sighting details vary quite considerably across the UK. The NASA website linked to below gives details for several cities in the UK. ( Across the world too for foreign visitors to this web page.)



Find details of sighting possibilities from your location from: Location Index

See where the space station is now: Current position

Venus

Venus showing some cloud structure



Venus , is still close to the Sun in angle this month, but may be glimpsed soon after sunset if you have a low western horizon Look for it just where the Sun has set. So close to the horizon, it will not appear so bright as its -3.9 magnitude might suggest. During December it will rise higher in the sky and become much easier to see.

Saturn

Saturn rises at about 9pm at the beginning of the month and by about 7pm as the month ends. It will be seen rising in the East-Northeast in the constellation Gemini. By midnight it will be the South-East. It has an angular size of ~20 arc seconds and, with its open rings extending ~41 arcseconds, presents a beautiful sight. A small telescope will easily show Titan, Saturn's brightest satellite, and you may also see Rhea and Dione. On page 109 of Novembers's Sky and Telescope there is a chart showing the relative positions of the satellites during the month.

any questions you would like answered about the night sky in the next column

please e-mail

Donette Smock

graphic by donette smock

Please direct web questions, graphic question and questions about ONLINE ADS to

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