Shorter days make for better viewing
November affords an opportunity to view all five of the so-called naked-eye planets, albeit two appear in the evening and three in the morning. Though you can see them with the naked eye, you need binoculars to best view all of these planets. The Seattle Times’ Planet Watch feature, on the daily Weather page, will help you determine their locations.
In the evening, look low in the southwest and find Jupiter and its four moons. Mars continues to rise earlier in the evening as we begin the best three months of viewing the red planet in this two-year cycle.
Now that the days are shorter, it is practical to view the morning sky without feeling like you are rising in the middle of the night. High in the southeast look for Saturn. Its rings are noticeably less pronounced because of their angle of tilt. Venus is high in the east. One look, and you will say “yes, that’s Venus,” as it outshines everything else in the morning sky. Over the month watch its diameter shrink as its gibbous crescent grows. This is a result of its pulling ahead of Earth as both planets orbit our sun. The next two weeks will offer great views of Mercury to anyone with a good view of the eastern horizon. Its greatest elongation will occur on Nov. 8. Mercury will be almost as high above the horizon as it ever gets. You will be able to observe it out in the early morning light.
- Rodney Ash, special to The Seattle TimesRodney Ash is a member of Seattle Astronomical Society, www.seattleastro.org. Star Watch appears in Northwest Weekend the first Thursday of each month.