The full Moon offers a great chance to see ray features before gliding past the Beehive Cluster in this week’s stargazing guide, Star Diary 27 November to 3 December 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 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 weeks from 27 November to 3 December. I'm Ezzy Pearson, and I'm joined this week by Paul Money.
Hello, Paul.
Paul: Hello, Ezzy how's things with you?
Ezzy: Things are going well. Can you tell us what we've got coming up in the night sky over the next week or so?
Paul: Yes, well, you know, it's always the same, isn't it? We have to start in the morning sky.
It's real! It does happen, you know, there's still the morning sky with astronomical events in it. It just means we have to get up, and this one is 6am, sort of thing, or thereabouts.
Basically, we're looking for Venus, and Venus is obviously a bright, looks like a bright star, but we know it's a planet, and it's passing. The star Spica, or Speeka, depending on how you want to pronounce it, and it does so over the next few days right to the end of November, so 27th to 30th.
It's in the morning sky, so it's a brilliant star to us, that's why it gets the name Morning Star, and of course when it's in the evening, the Evening Star as well.
But it's gliding past Spica. So there we are. We want to be looking towards the southeast, but then... Venus is so bright, you shouldn't be able to mistake it as such.
So watch over the next few mornings as Venus glides past this naked eye star, which is Alpha Virginis, so it's in the constellation of Virgo. So that's Venus to get us started.
Now that same day, 27th, when we start the week, that evening is actually full. The Moon is full. So, normally you'd turn around and say, Oh, well, let's not bother with that.
But it does make a nice triangle with the Pleiades and Aldebaran in Taurus, because it's lying in Taurus at the moment.
So it will wash out a lot of the stars, but you might just make out a few of the brighter members of the Pleiades. And Aldebaran is a naked eye star anyway, slightly orange, to see if you can see the colour. But it is the full Moon, that night.
It's also a good time, full Moon, to look for the various ray features. So if you've never looked at the Moon when it's full, because one of the earliest things we used, I used to remember, is that, oh, you don't bother looking at the Moon when it's full, because the details are washed out.
However, we've learned more since then, because, of course, actually, the ray features are really prominent. So if you want to study the ray features, there's patches of them all over from Tycho, Copernicus, Kepler, and a few of the other smaller ones as well.
So full Moon isn't a time to ignore the Moon itself. You actually, there are things to look at under full Moon.
Ezzy: It's more one of those things, there's different things to look at at different times of the Moon. If you want to look at a crater or the sort of topography of the Moon, I suppose, like it's lumps and bumps. Then, best time is when it's on the Terminator.
But, there's always something good to see on the Moon. Except for new Moon. But even then, actually, you've still got the Earthshine, so there's always something.
Paul: Yeah, as soon as you see that very slim crescent, you know, look for the Earthshine you know, and of course, new Moon, technically, if it occurs and there's an eclipse, well, you're seeing the new Moon.
It's the only time, of course, you do see the technically the new Moon itself, isn't it, during a solar eclipse, but there we are.
Okay, now, all week, we've still got... I mean, it's amazing, we've had them quite a few months, but we've still got all four giant planets on view.
And the first two, and these are the ones that are gradually, over the next couple of months, are going to get lower and lower and so harder to see.
But we've got Saturn and Neptune. They're over in the south and south southeast. Saturn's in the south and Neptune's in the south southeast by 6 PM. So they are well placed to view, as long as you've got no cluttering.
As it happens, I've got buildings in that direction, so... My time is limited when I can observe these two planets, so I have to get them a little bit earlier on. So they're getting to the position where I'll soon lose them.
But if you've got clear horizons around through to the west, then actually you'll be able to follow them for several months or such.
But we know that they're getting lower because Saturn is now setting before midnight. In fact, it sets about 11 PM.
So, you know, it's getting closer. The period of visibility, is beginning to narrow now for both those planets.
That's Saturn and Neptune, but a bit further along, of course, we've also got Jupiter and Uranus. So we've got all four of the giant planets still on.
'A parade of the giant planets'. Sounds like it should be a B-movie.
But we've got Jupiter and of course Uranus as well. And the thing about Jupiter is that, I mean, it's so well placed. It's above the head of Cetus. Technically it's in the constellation of Aries, so as it happens it's so highly placed in the sky that we're getting some really good views of it now.
Imagers are getting some cracking pictures of the features actually on Jupiter itself.
I mean I was out just a few nights earlier sort of thing and I actually got some great views. And I'm not... I don't consider myself a particularly good planetary imager, but I've got the belts, I've got the Red Spot and some of the storms in the southern hemisphere. So there's a lot to see on Jupiter. I always think that of all the planets, Jupiter is the one that's most reliable with all the features.
You can see the two main belts, the Great Red Spot, some of the storms that occur and sort of plumes that come out to the north equatorial belt as well, so there's a lot to see.
And even the polar hood is sort of like, definitely a different shade, compared with the rest of the planet as well, so there's actually lots to see out on Jupiter, and of course the Galilean moons, we mustn't forget the Galilean moons, forever going around it sort of thing, so, they're always fascinating as well.
Ezzy: It's a very interesting planet, Jupiter, as you said, it's got a lot going on, it's very much worth taking a crack at it, especially now, considering it's so high in the sky.
Paul: Exactly. I mean, Saturn's interesting. I mean, the rings are the main thing, but again, in the next two years, the rings are gonna go edge on.
So they are closing up for our view, but they're still quite pretty at the moment. And of course, we've got a few moons going around Saturn. And Neptune's got Triton. I mean, yeah, that's can be seen in a modest sized telescope and imaged actually quite easily.
But a Uranus sort of thing, you know, it's a green disc.
Mind you, I always think that's what marks it out. If you see a green disc, you've got a green star, you've got Uranus as such. So, it's a bit easier to spot sort of thing in that respect. But again, you know, modest sized telescopes, you can get three, sometimes four. And if you've got a big telescope, you can go for all five of the classic moons of Uranus.
So. Actually, there's quite a parade of moons on while we've got the giant planets in the night sky.
But talking about our Moon, of course. Now, it's actually in sort of, talking about 30th November, it's actually quite close to Upsilon Geminorum on 30th, but it forms a sort of right angled triangle with Castor and Pollux as well, sort of thing, so it's well displaced.
I always like it because when it's nearish, sort of several quite close by stars, if you watch it, over the coming hours. You can see it moving against the backdrop of the stars, so it shows it isn't a static object, sort of thing. And the same applies a few days later, on 2 December, the moon is directly above the Beehive Cluster, Messier 44, in Cancer.
It's several degrees above it, but again, if you watch over the course of the morning, this is sort of like 5AM in the morning, but if you start, say, around about say, 3AM and watch it. You can watch the moon gradually glide past above the actual cluster itself. Now the moonlight will drown out some of the fainter stars of Messier 44, but it's well worth having a look with binoculars to see how many stars you can see actually in it.
And then we get to the end of the week, 3 December, the Moon then is halfway, almost exactly between the Sickle of Leo, which is an asterism. Leo is the constellation, but there is an asterism that looks like a sickle or backwards. He could call it a hook. It looks like hook . There you are, it's a Disney chacharacter. It's Captain Hook in the actual night sky, but it looks like a sickle.
And the Moon's exactly between Messier 44 and the sickle constellation..., Sickle asteroism as well sort of thing to finish off the actual week. So there we are.
Ezzy: Thank you very much for taking us through all of that, Paul.
And if our listeners at home want to be sure to keep up to date with all of the weekly stargazing highlights, please do subscribe to the podcast so that you can hear us next week.
But to summarize all of those again, on 27 November. The star Spica is going to be next to Venus as Venus is gliding past.
On the same day, you can also see the full Moon forming a triangle with the Pleiades star cluster plus the star Aldebaran.
And it'll also be the full Moon that night, so it's a great chance to catch up on all of the ray features that you can see coming from the craters of the Moon.
Then on 30 Novemberr, the Moon will be next to Castor and Pollux in Gemini as well.
Moving forward onto 2 December. The Moon will be gliding past the beehive cluster.
Then on the following night, on 3rd, the Moon will be between M44. That's the Beehive Cluster again and the Sickle of Leo forming that hook.
And of course, throughout the week, all four giant plants are still very much well on display.
Jupiter is particularly well placed at the moment and has lots to see on there. So if you're a planetary observer, that's definitely one to look out for. Lots going on in the night sky this week, and we hope to see you here back next week to find out even more stargazing highlights.
If you want to find out even more spectacular sights 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 skyatnightmagazine.com or head to Acast, iTunes or Spotify.
Listen to the next episode of Star Diary 4 to 10 December 2023 here.
