How’s November? The planet’s sunset, a partial lunar eclipse, and the return of the winter star.
From November 6 to November 11, watch the moon slip
Sky chart for November 7 After sunset, Venus appears just two degrees from the crescent moon in the southwest. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech
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And between now and early December, you’ll find Jupiter and Saturn getting closer and closer to Venus every night.
A partial lunar eclipse is on its way, occurring overnight November 18-19, when the moon slips into Earth’s shadow for several hours. Weather permitting, the eclipse will be visible from wherever the moon appears above the horizon during the eclipse. Depending on your time zone, it will happen early or late at night for you.
Map showing the visibility of the partial lunar eclipse on November 18-19. Dark areas indicate greater visibility. Check local details for visibility near you. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech
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Now these are large areas of the planet that will be able to see at least part of the eclipse, including North and South America, East Asia, Australia, and the Pacific region. So check when they see it for your area.
For observers of the United States East Coast, the partial eclipse begins shortly after 2 a.m., and reaches its peak at 4 a.m. For observers on the West Coast, this means starting just after 11pm, with a maximum of 1am.
Partial lunar eclipses may not be as spectacular as total lunar eclipses – where the moon is completely covered by Earth’s shadow – but they do happen often.
And that means more opportunities to witness subtle changes in our solar system sometimes happening right before our eyes.
Throughout the month, if you are late and look east, you will see that some familiar comrades are starting to wake up late at night. The familiar stars returned in the northern winter sky, rising late at night and sitting high in the south at dawn.
The sky chart shows the locations of several Trojan asteroids that NASA’s newly launched Lucy spacecraft will visit, too dim to see without a large telescope, but their location in the sky is close to the Pleiades star cluster. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech
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You’ll find the constellation Pleiades leading the constellation Taurus the Bull and hunter Orion, followed by the brightest star in the sky, Sirius – all coming back to accompany us during the long winter nights here in the Northern Hemisphere. (And for those in the Southern Hemisphere, they keep you company during the shorter nights as spring turns to summer there.)
A nice note about this month’s Pleiades is that many of the eight asteroids that NASA’s Lucy mission will visit are in that part of the sky.
The Lucy spacecraft launches from Space Launch Complex 41, Saturday, October 16, 2021, at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida. Credit: NASA/Bill Ingalls
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The Lucy spacecraft was launched on October 16 on a 12-year mission to visit a special group of asteroids called the Trojans. They share Jupiter’s orbit, with one group leading the planet, and another group following it.
Lucy will be the first space mission to explore this unique group of asteroids, providing new insights into the formation and early history of our solar system.
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