THE SOUTHWORTH PLANETARIUM

70 Falmouth Street      Portland, Maine 04103

(207) 780-4249      usm.maine.edu/planet

43.6667° N    70.2667° W 

Founded January 1970

2022-2023: XXXIV

Sunrise: 7:18 a.m.

Sunset: 5:30 p.m.

Civil twilight ends: 6:00 p.m.

Sun's host constellation: Libra the Scales

Moon phase: Waxing gibbous (63% illuminated)

Moonrise: 3:14 p.m.

Moonset: 1:36 a.m. (11/3/2022)

Julian date: 2459886.21

"Honestly, deep inside, each person wants to be a Tolkien, not a Tolstoy.  We don't want our work to be heralded, our insight praised or our skills described as 'consummate.'  We want to craft a realm, a projection of the Universe within us that others may forever inhabit.  During the week, students dutifully read and attempt to analyze 'War and Peace."   On the weekend, those same students play Dungeons and Dragons and, in so doing, luxuriate in Middle Earth."  -Xavier Herrick

THE DAILY ASTRONOMER

Wednesday, November 2, 2022

November 2022 Night Sky Calendar Part II

FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 11: MOON NEAR MARS (BRONZE EVENT!)

Isn't Mars looking utterly spectacular?! Well, if you haven't seen Mars lately, perhaps you can't comment. However, tonight, one will have a perfect opportunity to see the waning gibbous moon (91%) passing just to the north of Musk's new home world. Currently at magnitude -1.5, Mars shines brighter than Sirius, the night sky's brightest star. Both Mars and the moon will rise by 6:10 p.m.

TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 15: MOON NEAR THE BEEHIVE STAR CLUSTER

M44:  The Beehive Star Cluster (Image: NASA)

Tonight one will see the waning gibbous moon (60% illuminated) "close" to Praesepe, the Beehive Star Cluster. Or, one will at least see the waning gibbous moon close to an amorphous splotch of light that we assure is actually the Beehive Star Cluster. Marking the center of the faint zodiacal constellation Cancer the Crab, Praesepe is an open or galactic star cluster. As opposed to the much larger globulars, galactic star clusters generally contain a few hundred to a few thousand stars. They also travel within the galaxy's spiral arms, unlike globulars that loiter within the galactic halo, a spherical region centered on the nucleus. Galactic star clusters tend also to be quite young, at least by galactic standards, whereas the age of globulars is comparable to that of the galaxies to which they're attached. Consisting of nearly 1,000 stars, Praesepe formed about 620 million years ago and, in about 400 - 500 million years is expected to largely dissipate. Although most stars begin with such aggregates, most of them ultimately detach from their birth clusters. The Sun is believed to have remained within its birth cluster for about a billion years before establishing its own route through the galaxy.

WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 16: LAST QUARTER MOON

SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 19: LEONID METEOR SHOWER PEAKS (GOLD EVENT!!!)

The Leonid meteor shower occurs between November 6 - 30th.  During this period, Earth moves through a stream of particles released by Comet Tempel-Tuttle.   When this comet moves through the inner solar system, the Sun's heat causes the comet's surface ice to sublimate:  transition from solid to vapor without passing through the intervening liquid phase.  Dust released from the dissipating ice remains along the comet's path.  When Earth travels through this stream, many of the meteoroids descend through the atmosphere.  During their descent, the meteoroids excite surrounding atoms, causing their electrons to ascend to higher energy orbits. When these electrons return to their original states, they emit the photons we perceive as the meteors. 

The Leonid Meteor Shower.   Fragments of the Comet Tempel-Tuttle

infiltrate our atmosphere between November 6 - 30.   These descending

meteoroids excite nearby atmospheric atoms by elevating their electrons

to higher energy states.  These electrons emit photons when they

revert to their original states. We perceive these photons as the meteors.

Meteor showers are generally named for the constellation from which

the meteors appear to emanate, hence the name "Leonid."

Image:  EarthSky.org

The Leonid Meteor shower is notorious for producing meteor storms every 33 years approximately.    As its parent comet's swoops through the inner solar system once every 33 years to replenish the meteoroid swarm along the comet's path.    

WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 23: NEW MOON

Beginning of lunation cycle 1236

TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 29: MOON NEAR SATURN

Deja vu!    At the beginning of November, the moon slid just south,  Now, at the end of the month, it does it again.  Tonight one will see the waxing crescent moon (40%) close to the sixth world within the constellation Capricornus.     Saturn remains a moderately bright object at magnitude 0.7

WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 30:  FIRST QUARTER MOON

Tomorrow....the planets and stars of November.

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