The Moon points the way to Neptune, before heading on to the Pleiades in this weekly podcast stargazing guide for 20 to 26 November 2023.
Chris: Hello and welcome to Star Diary, the podcast from the makers of BBC Sky at Night Magazine. You can subscribe to the print edition of the magazine by visiting skyatnightmagazine.com or to our digital edition by visiting iTunes or Google Play.
Ezzy: Greetings listeners, and welcome to Star Diary. A weekly guide to the best things to see in the Northern Hemisphere's night sky. As we are based here in the UK, all times are in GMT. In this episode, we'll be covering the coming week from 20 to 26 November. I'm features editor Ezzy Pearson, and I'm rejoined by reviews editor Paul Money.
Paul: Hello there, Ezzy. Bit of a shorter week this time, not physically, but sometimes you get an odd week where there aren't quite as many events. It's just one of those things, isn't it?
Ezzy: Well, we have had a few very jam packed weeks, so maybe a bit of a breather is always a good thing. But that doesn't mean there's nothing to see, so what do we have to look forward to?
Paul: Well, we've got the Moon back in the evening sky, and because we've got lots of planets in the evening sky, it gives it lots of opportunities to glide past them. So we actually start with 20th, so November 20. Around about seven o'clock in the evening, you'll find the first quarter Moon to the lower left of Saturn.
So when you look at the moon, you'll see a star to the upper right of it, and that will be actually the planet Saturn. It won't just be a star. That's around about seven o'clock in the evening. The next evening, the Moon actually moves up and lies close to an occult. Psi 1 Aquarii, and that's magnitude 4.2.
That's the actual star, not the Moon. The Moon's a lot brighter than that , but it's about 70 minutes. The occultation, it will vary depending on where you are but we've had sort of like transits and what not of the moons across Jupiter.
This is, you could say, I always think this, an occultation is like a transit of the Moon across the actual star, except those are special types of transits, we call them occultations, and so it passes in front and blocks the light of the star itself.
So for about 70 minutes, and we're looking roughly 7:40 pm on that particular evening. And in fact Psi 1, there's a group, there's Psi 1, 2 and 3, the little triangle, but it doesn't occult the other stars, but it will get quite close to the Moon's edge.
The southern edge will get close to Psi 2 as well, uh, not long after that. So well worth having a look at, and I find these fascinating to watch them as the star disappears, because the Moon's edge, it, with the night side of the Moon, the dark side of the Moon, as we call it, that will block out the star.
So the star will just go straight out. Stars are stellar points. Unless they're doubles, and that's a different matter. But they're stellar points. And so, it literally will just go, one minute it's there, one second it, even a fraction of a second, it's gone.
Ezzy: Yeah, because we've had, we've had quite a few occultations over the past couple of months. But it's been a while since there's been one with a dark edge.
Paul: Exactly, yes. And these are, these are the easiest ones to see when they first happen, um, because when they happen on the bright limb, which has to be in the morning sky, it's a lot harder to get that moment when the star disappears because it's against the bright Moon limb.
But yeah, this is a nice one for, this is well worth it. Just seeing a star suddenly wink out for no reason, but it's actually because the dark side of the Moon is covering it. So the reappearance, as I say 70 minutes after 7:40PM, is actually on the bright limb. So that's a little bit hard to get the exact time or watch it and then realize, oh, hang on, there's the star again.
Because you might think it's the bright edge of a crater or something, but suddenly it's there. So, I find them fascinating.
And then to finish off, on the 22nd, the Moon then lies to the left of Neptune. Now you've got to bear in mind Neptune's faint, but you should still be able to see it in a pair of binoculars.
But the moon acts as a guide and it is to the left, actually, of the planet Neptune.
Now, as I say, we haven't got a great deal happening, but 24 November into 25th, so this is late night on the 24th into the 25th. When I say late night, I'm talking about 11:58 on 24th. So literally you've got two minutes left,
Ezzy: That's almost as late as it possibly can be.
Paul: Yes, exactly. We've got Ganymede doing a transit across Jupiter again. Now, this lasts until 3:50 AM. However, bear in mind once again that Ganymede will cross first, then once Ganymede is off the disk, and again, it's in the southern hemisphere because of the tilt of Jupiter and the plane of the orbits of the moons, of Jupiter.
And there, it'll take a while before the shadow then begins to cross. So, you could get the transit of Ganymede first, have a bit of a break, and have a coffee, or whatever, and then the shadow will start to transit again. If you like early morning, of course, sort of thing.
But, you know, sometimes these things are well worth getting up for and having a look at.
And then, as I say, it's a bit of a short week, but finally, on November 25th, we've got the moon passing on 24th and 25th of Jupiter. But on 25th in the morning, well, late evening on 25th, the Moon actually lies forming a bit of a triangle between Jupiter and Uranus. Now it's heading towards full.
It's a few days away from full, and we'll deal with that next week, but it is heading towards full, so it's quite bright. But again, Uranus is a binocular target, so you won't see it with the naked eye with the Moon so close, but well worth having a photograph. You could try a photograph, but you'd need to take different exposures, one to get the Moon, and then one to overexpose and get Uranus.
And Jupiter, of course, is quite easy as well. So there we have it. And of course, just a reminder that actually to their left is the Pleiades, so a sign of the winter skies. Yes, so we've got the Moon then on 25th, the evening of 25th, forming this triangle between Jupiter and Uranus. On 26th, so this is the Sunday evening, it's actually closer to the Pleiades than Uranus but it forms a bit of a triangle with the Pleiades and Uranus as well.
So that finishes off the week for us.
Ezzy: So, there's still quite a lot of interesting things to see in the night sky this week. If you want to keep up to date with all of the goings on in the night sky, do be sure to subscribe to the Star Diary podcast so we can bring you the highlights every single week.
But to summarise this week again, on 20 November, we've got the Moon in the evening sky again, and it's going to be to the lower left of the planet Saturn.
On 21st, the Moon is going to occult the star Psi 1 Aquarii in the evening sky, and it will do so with its dark edge, so it will be like the star suddenly just winks out, and it will also pass very close to the star Psi 2.
On 22nd, the Moon is going to be to the left of Neptune. On 24th, going into 25th, Ganymede will transit across Jupiter's face. On 25th, it's a great chance to see the Moon, Jupiter and Uranus forming a shallow triangle together. And finally, on 26th, the Moon and the Pleiades will be together when the Moon is almost full.
So lots to keep up to date with there. And hopefully we will see you back here next week. Goodbye.
Paul: Goodbye.
Ezzy: If you want to find out even more spectacular sites that will be gracing the night sky this month, Be sure to pick up a copy of BBC Sky at Night magazine, where we have a 16 page pull out sky guide with a full overview of everything worth looking up for throughout the whole month.
Whether you like to look at the Moon, the planets, or the deep sky, whether you use binoculars, telescopes, or neither, our sky guide has got you covered with detailed star charts to help you track your way across the night sky. From all of us here at BBC Sky at Night magazine. Goodbye.
Chris: Thank you for listening to this episode of the Star Diary podcast from the makers of BBC Sky at Night magazine.
For more of our podcasts, visit our website at skynightmagazine.com or head to Acast, iTunes or Spotify.
