Observing Calendar for November – December by Steve Woodbridge

Observing — By pcburns on November 8, 2009 at 8:23 am

Observing Calendar

November 10th to December 9th 2009 (all times GMT)

Date
November 10th	Mars culminates shortly before dawn. As noted last month, it is just at the end of the winter in Mars’ Northern hemisphere now and with its North Pole facing us the North Polar cap should be prominent. The visible diameter grows from 8” to 11” over the month. Anyone prepared to offer images or drawings?
November 11th	Moon rises after midnight
November 11th	Io occults Europa 1906.
November 13th	Rosetta space probe flies by earth (8am). Last time it flew by it was mistaken for an incoming asteroid about to hit the earth! Not sure it will be easy to spot in amateur scopes though.
November 15th	Venus rises at dawn, marking the end of this apparition. Both Venus and Mercury will be very hard to observe over this period.
November 16th	New Moon
November 17th	Maximum of the Leonid meteors, from a radiant in the sickle. Although the parent comet (Tuttle) is now not far off aphelion, there could still be around 15 meteors per hour when the radiant is highest (at about 60° up) at dawn.
November 18th	Predicted maximum of Mira, the brightest long period variable in the sky. Mira varies from around magnitude 3 to magnitude 10 over a period just under a year, although the maximum magnitude varies from year to year – and it doesn’t always happen on the predicted date! Will this be a bright maximum? Good comparisons in Cetus when near maximum are: a (2.7), ? (3.6), d (4.1), l (4.9)
November 21st	Ganymede occults Io 2033.
November 22nd	Jupiter culminates at dusk. The giant planet is still prominent in the early evening sky and worthy of attention, with a size around 39”. Over the period it grows closer to Neptune in the sky (it will pass it on December 19^th), although Neptune is not a lot bigger than Jupiter’s largest moons in size in the sky and a lot fainter than them.
November 25th	Moon sets after midnight
November 30th	Aldebaran, Alpha Tauri, culminates at midnight. Taurus contains the famous Pleiades and Hyades open clusters, both well placed this month. It also contains the first object in Messier’s catalogue, the Crab Nebula. This is the only supernova remnant in his catalogue, and the brightest such in the sky (from a supernova in 1054 AD). Anyone got some good images?
November 30th	Europa occults Io 1945.
December 1st	Saturn culminates at sunrise. It is now becoming quite visible in the early morning sky. The rings have now opened somewhat to 4.3° and we are seeing the north face for the first time for several years. Also on this date at 0220 it may be possible to see Titan emerge from Saturn’s shadow. If you want to see Titan at its furthest from Saturn though, look on November 11^th, 19^th, 27^th or December 5^th.
December 2nd	Full Moon
December 5th	Ganymede occults Europa 2116.
December 9th	Uranus sets at midnight. This distant giant planet is still accessible in the evenings, but just shows a featureless 4” blue disk normally, even in large telescopes.