THE SOUTHWORTH PLANETARIUM
70 Falmouth Street Portland, Maine 04103
(207) 780-4249 usm.maine.edu/planet
43.6667° N 70.2667° W
Altitude: 10 feet below sea level
Founded January 1970
2021-2022: XLI
"What chagrins me a little in watching the majority of people is that they behave as though it is normal to be alive. To me, life is a source of constant amazement." -Paul Du Marchie, aged 95
THE DAILY ASTRONOMER
Monday, November 15, 2021
November 2021 Night Sky Calendar Part III
AN OFT-TOLD TALE:
Next week, the Sun will slip silently into Scorpius after having loitered briefly within Libra, the faint constellation at Virgo's feet. The Sun shall only remain within Scorpius for eight days (November 21 - November 29), hence its nickname "The Thanksgiving constellation," as the Sun occupies the Scorpius region on every Thanksgiving, no matter its date. While the dreaded scorpion dissolves into dusk, the mighty hunter Orion ascends in the early evening sky. This transition has occurred for millennia: Scorpius exits stage west, Orion enters stage east. Conversely, in mid-May, Orion will dive into the western sol fires while Scorpius creeps slowly up into the southeastern evening sky. These two prominent constellations will never appear in the sky simultaneously.*
The "other" Orion
The mythological explanation for their respective positions involves an oft-told tale about Orion, one that, admittedly, shows a side of Orion that we planetarium people tend to ignore. (Our Orion is thoroughly and appallingly Disnefied.") Honestly, Orion was something of a lout: a lustful, boastful, uncouth hunter who indiscriminately slew animals merely for the fun of it. He also pursued women with the same reckless abandon as he chased quarry. Orion was not inclined toward moderation any more than he was guided by a sense of propriety. As unpopular as he became with his neighbors -particularly the women- the gods largely ignored his base behaviour, despite their distaste for hubristic mortals. After all, Orion was truly a great hunter whose strengths and skills commanded the admiration of the Olympians. However, one day Orion made what would turn out to be a fatal faux pas. While he proudly sat atop a tower of fresh animal cadavers, he claimed that he would soon slay every animal in the world, from the meekest dogs to the more ferocious monsters. "It shall be an easy task, for there isn't a beast in all of the world that would dare to challenge me!" Had Orion been paying attention to the sky at the time, he might have noticed the crescent moon hanging high above the trees. Within that chariot rode Artemis, goddess of the moon and wild animals, who overheard Orion's outrageous proclamation and resolved to prevent him from following through with it. She deployed Scorpius the Scorpion onto the world the very next with strict orders to find and kill Orion. It turned out that Scorpius was as able a hunter as Orion and managed to find him quite quickly. While Orion was sneaking up on an unsuspecting bear, the scorpion crept up quietly toward Orion and stung him in the ankle, killing him almost instantly.
Poseidon, the ocean god presumed to have been Orion's father, hoisted the hunter into the stars. Artemis honored Scorpius with its own constellation, and, fearing that Orion would avenge his death on Scorpius, placed it in such a position so as to never appear in the sky with the man he killed.
Scorpius: Humans can eat meat today because of him
Now that we're careening headlong into winter, we watch the seasonal switch from Scorpius to Orion. Be comforted. In six months, we'll watch them trade places, yet again.
SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 20: MOON AT APOGEE
Remember the moon's orbit is not ecircular, but elliptical, so its distance from Earth constantly changes. During each orbit, the moon reaches a point of least distance, perigee, and a point of greatest distance, apogee. Today, the moon reaches apogee and will be 406,279 km (251,864 miles) from Earth. Consequently, yesterday's full moon is known as a micro moon.
MONDAY, NOVEMBER 22: MOON AT GREATEST NORTHERN DECLINATION FOR 2021
Declination, the celestial equivalent of latitude, measures an object's angular distance from the celestial equator, the projection of Earth's equator onto the sky. Today, the moon will ascend to 26.3 degrees north of this equator. Tonight, the moon rises at 6:24 p.m. and will set at 10:40 a.m. the following day and thus will remain above the horizon for 16 hours. 16 minutes.
SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 27: LAST QUARTER MOON
MONDAY, NOVEMBER 29: MERCURY AT SUPERIOR CONJUNCTION
Superior conjunction occurs when a planet moves to the far side of the Sun relative to Earth. When a planet moves between the Sun and Earth, it is said to be inferior conjunction. Mercury is in superior conjunction today and won't be visible until early December, when it will move into the western evening sky.
PLANET WATCH
MERCURY
Mercury, never an easy sight under the best conditions, lurks low in the pre-dawn eastern sky around mid month and then rapidly descends into the morning twilight. Of course, being the closest planet to the Sun, all its motions are rapid. Mercury moves to the Sun's far side -from our perspective- on November 29th and then emerges into the western evening sky in December. VERDICT: Look for Mercury around mid month, but don't bother after that, at least not until December.
VENUS
The brilliant second world continues to make a spectacle of itself in the western evening sky this month. As always, it outshines all the night sky stars and planets. VERDICT: Provided you're outside in the early evening, you should experience little difficulty finding Venus. Just look for the blazing beacon in the western evening sky
MARS
After a bit of a hiatus, Mars returns to the early morning sky late this month! Although the red world returns to our skies, it will be exceedingly difficult to observe. VERDICT: Mars admirers should wait until December to see the dragon eye planet. Note: Mars will gradually grow brighter throughout the next year until it reaches opposition on December 8, 2022.
JUPITER (PICK PLANET)
Yes, well, Venus is almost always the pick planet, isn't it, by virtue of its superior brightness? This month, we confer the coveted crown onto Jupiter, the bright planet that begins the night high in the western sky. Although only a third as bright as Venus, Jupiter at least loiters about for a longer period presently. VERDICT: Easy to find throughout the evening, Jupiter delights and dazzles, so give it at least a passing glance
SATURN
Though rarely the pick planet, Saturn is truly the most photogenic planet: it is the one that most often adorns the covers of textbooks and telescope catalogs. However, as its distance from the Sun is nearly twice that of Jupiter, it hardly ever appears as a blinding beacon in our sky. This month, the ringed world starts the night low in the western sky and will set before 10 p.m. See Saturn to the west of Jupiter, which is almost fifteen times brighter than it. VERDICT: If you're out admiring Jupiter, might as well spare a moment to see the only other gas giant easily visible to the unaided eye.
*Well, they won't appear simultaneously here. One can see Orion and Scorpius together in the skies of the extreme southern hemisphere.
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