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5 bright planets to spot in November — when and where to see them
From a close encounter between Mars and Jupiter to dazzling Venus and elusive Mercury, November offers plenty of planetary highlights. Here's when and where to look.
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This is a great month for planet watching, either in the evenings or mornings. During convenient evening hours, the planet of choice is Saturn, visible well up in the southern sky during mid-to-late evening hours. Telescopically, the southern side of its famous ring system is currently tilted about 6½ degrees to our line of sight.
Around the middle of the night, Mars and Jupiter come into view above the east-northeast horizon and just before the break of dawn are in excellent position, soaring high in the southern sky in the vicinity of the Sickle of Leo the Lion. Watch how Mars approaches Jupiter early in the month, passes it on Nov. 16, then spends the rest of the month sailing away to the east. Meanwhile, in the predawn morning sky, Venus literally vaults into prominence as the month progresses. And from midmonth on through the end of November, Mercury asserts itself, appearing as a very bright "star" to the far lower left of Venus.
In our schedule, remember that when measuring the angular separation between two celestial objects, your clenched fist held at arm's length measures roughly 10 degrees. Here, we present a schedule below which provides some of the best planet viewing times as well directing you as to where to look to see them
Reminder: On Nov. 1 — where applicable — change clocks back one hour from Daylight Saving Time. On this date, the clock hour from 1 to 2:00 a.m. is repeated, thus making this day the longest of the year: 25 hours long. The mnemonic is: "Spring Ahead, Fall Back."
Mercury, hidden during inferior conjunction with the sun on Nov. 4, will emerge in the eastern morning sky after the second week of the month to undergo an excellent morning apparition for the Northern Hemisphere. This rocky little world arrives at its greatest western elongation (20 degrees) from the sun on Nov. 20; its most favorable morning apparition of the year for mid-northern observers. From Nov. 16 to Nov. 26 speedy Mercury will rise in the east-southeast before the beginning of astronomical twilight, more than 95 minutes before sunrise.
Venus is a good reason to be up at the crack of dawn in November; it's a silvery lamp that rises above the east-southeast horizon. Venus was at inferior conjunction on Oct. 24. But the steep angle of the ecliptic at dawn in late autumn helps Venus vault noticeably higher with each passing day for observers at mid-northern latitudes. On Nov. 1, it rises 55 minutes before the sun. But just several days later on Nov. 5, viewers around 40 degrees north latitude can see Venus come up one hour and 25 minutes before the sun and shine 15 degrees above the horizon at sunrise. As November ends, Venus rises nearly 3½ hours before the sun and hangs nearly 35 degrees up at sunrise.
All month Venus brightens impressively and on the penultimate day of the month it will reach the pinnacle of its magnificent brightness, shining at magnitude -4.9, rising almost 3½ hours before the sun. If there's snow on the ground, check for shadows made by Venus's light. Through a telescope, the phase of the planet looks most remarkable early in the month. That's when you may be able to glimpse Venus when it's only a few percent illuminated, a hairline crescent close to an arcminute long; about 1/30 the apparent diameter of the moon. Venus is not alone in the dawn sky.
Its leap takes it up into the proximity of the bluish 1st-magnitude star Spica in Virgo on the morning of Nov. 3. The star will be sitting 2.4 degrees to the upper right of Venus. During this month, Venus seems to perform a dos-à-dos with Spica and at first seems destined to soar up and catch it. Instead, the closest it gets to this star is 1.8 degrees to its upper left early on the morn