The starry sky in November 2024
First of all, thank you to the many interested visitors in recent weeks. Children in particular stimulate their own thinking with their thirst for knowledge and their astonishing knowledge.
The observatory opens at 19:00 from November to February inclusive. The sky is dark enough for astronomical observations at this time. Of course, the clear night sky already mentioned several times must prevail.
Sun and moon
Winter is fast approaching. The maximum height of the sun at midday at the beginning of the month in Zweibrücken is only around 22 degrees and decreases even further until the winter solstice, at the beginning of the last third of December.
The full moon will affect the observation of fainter objects around the days of November 15.
Planets
Mercury reaches a reasonable angular distance of 22.5 degrees from the sun on November 16. Nevertheless, there is no evening visibility in our latitudes as the planet, named after the Roman messenger of the gods Mercurius, is very low in the zodiac at -25.4 degrees declination.
Venus is an object for the early evening sky. Its setting is further delayed from 18:51 on November 1 to 19:33 on November 30. It can be seen low in the southwest as a brightly shining celestial object.
Mars shifts its risings to the time before midnight. On 15.11. it crosses the horizon at 21:18. Its apparent movement in the sky heralds its opposition in January. However, it is still rather inconspicuous and appears quite small in the telescope.
Jupiter is approaching its opposition position, which it will reach on December 7. It already presents an impressive image in the telescope. As mentioned last month, the four bright Galilean moons Io, Europa, Ganymede and Callisto can be observed with binoculars. A tripod or at least a stable support is recommended. On November 1, it rises in Zweibrücken at 19:05 on the 15th of the month at 18:00. Even with a small telescope, the movement of the moons around Jupiter can be easily observed within a few hours. Its innermost moon Io orbits Jupiter in 42.5 hours. On the right is a diagram showing the position of the moons.
Saturn is past its prime, but can still be observed in the evening sky. Due to its increasing distance from Earth, it appears smaller and smaller to us in the telescope. On the 15th of the month, it reaches its greatest height above the southern horizon at 7:45 pm and sets at 1:10 am.
Uranus will be at opposition to the Sun on November 17. However, despite its favorable observation position, one should not expect too much when looking through a telescope; it has an apparent diameter of only a few seconds of arc.
Starry sky
The comet Tsuchinshan-Atlas, also known as C/2023 A3, which was visible in October, has left the evening sky and is moving further into the depths of our solar system.
Deep in the North you can recognize the striking constellation of the Big Dipper, also known as the Big Dipper due to the arrangement of its main stars.
A little later, at around 22:00, the East to free the winter constellations Orion and Gemini from the layers of haze near the horizon.
High about us now stands our neighboring galaxy, the Andromeda Nebula with the designation M31. M31 is already an impressive sight in binoculars. A guide to finding it can be found in the monthly overview of the previous month.
In the South is the inconspicuous constellation of the whale.
The following graphic shows the view of the sky on November 15 at 10 pm.
