Astronomy- The Astrophiz podcast with Dr Ian ‘Astroblog’ Musgrave
Moon Phases for November:
1 November - New Moon - ideal for stargazing
9 November - 1st Quarter Moon
14 November - Moon at perigee (closest)
16 November - Full Moon
23 November - Last Quarter Moon, also ideal for stargazing
26 November - Moon at apogee (furthest)
Most of the planetary action is in the evening skies and late evening skies.
Evening Skies:
Venus is very high in early evening skies in the west
Mercury is at its best in the evening twilight this month, near thin crescent moon on 3 November.
Saturn is still quite good in the west this month.
Jupiter is visible rising in the east in the late evening skies
Mars enters evening skies later in the month, but still at its best in the mornings.
In mid-month, Mercury, Venus and Saturn will be seen close to each other an hour after sunset.
Uranus is in opposition at Mag5.7 so is actually an unaided eye object under dark sky conditions. Easy to find about 2 degrees above the Pleiades
Comet C/2023 A3 (Tsuchinshan-ATLAS) is climbing higher and fading, but for the start of the month is still a nice binocular object in evening western skies before fading from most binoculars.
The Leonid meteor shower is a waste of time this year due to a blazing moon.
Morning Skies
Mars is higher in the twilight in the East
Jupiter is best in the mornings right now, as it slowly moves back to Aldabaran.
Astrophotography
Venus is in the heart of the galaxy, but you’ll need dark skies to have the long exposures needed to bring out the Milky Way’s heart.
Comet C/2024 S1 is a possible (but not probable) ‘Lovejoy-type object’ to keep an eye out for.
