Look Up

You might have noticed bright Jupiter continuing a steady march toward Saturn. The pair are now visible only in the first few hours of each night. Look for them to continue to get closer to each other each week until their long-awaited close pairing in mid-December.

The other two planets — Mercury and Venus — are morning “stars.” Venus sinks lower each morning but is still conspicuous before dawn. You can observe Venus hovering above Mercury from Nov. 8 to Nov. 18, 40 minutes before sunrise, for those with an unobstructed eastern horizon.

According to Seasky.org, on Nov. 10 Mercury will be at its greatest western elongation. This is the best time to view Mercury since it will be at its highest point above the horizon in the morning sky. While according to In-The-Sky.org, Mercury’s orbit lies closer to the sun than the Earth’s, meaning it always appears close to the sun and is lost in the sun’s glare much of the time. It is observable for only a few weeks each time it reaches greatest separation from the sun – moments referred to as greatest elongation. This repeats roughly every three to four months, taking place alternately in the morning and evening skies, depending whether Mercury lies to the east of the sun or to the west.

When it lies to the east, it rises and sets a short time after the sun and is visible in early evening twilight. When it lies to the west of the sun, it rises and sets a short time before the sun and is visible shortly before sunrise. Viewing Mercury through a telescope before the sunrises is tricky and can be dangerous since you don’t want to view the sun through a telescope. This could cause the observer to be blinded.

Lastly, according to Seasky.org, on the night of Nov. 11 and the morning Nov. 12, the Northern Taurids Meteor Shower will peak. The shower runs annually from Oct. 20 to Dec. 10. It is a long-running minor meteor shower producing only about five to 10 meteors per hour. This shower is, however, famous for producing a higher than normal percentage of bright fireballs.

The thin crescent moon shouldn’t be much of a problem for what could be a really good show. Best viewing will be just after midnight from a dark location far away from city lights. Meteors will radiate from the constellation Taurus but can appear anywhere in the sky. The Northern Taurids is produced by dust grains left behind by Asteroid 2004 TG10.

Look Up appears in the weekend edition. If you have any astronomical questions or facts you’d like to share email news@smdailyjournal.com with the subject line “Look Up.”