Saturday: The Leonid meteor shower peaks this morning. But there will be increased activity for the next few days. These meteors appear to come from a point in the constellation Leo the lion. This point is about five and a half fists above the southeastern horizon at 5:00 a.m. The Moon is in the first quarter so its light will not interfere with viewing. The Leonid meteors are particles from the tail of Comet Tempel-Tuttle, a comet discovered by Ernst Tempel and Horace Parnell Tuttle in 1866. These are exceptionally fast moving meteors – over 150,000 miles per hour! Go to https://earthsky.org/astronomy-essentials/everything-you-need-to-know-leonid-meteor-shower/ to read everything you need to know about the Leonid meteor shower. As your Mother might say, dress warm and sit in a comfortable chair for maximum enjoyment.
Sunday: “It’s a wonderful day in the neighborhood.”
Constellations can be considered neighborhoods in the nighttime sky. But, the
stars in those constellations are not necessarily neighbors in real life. For
example, the bright stars in the constellation Cassiopeia range from 19 light
years to over 10,000 light years away from Earth. One constellation that
consists of real neighbors is Ursa Major. Or, more specifically, the Big
Dipper. Five stars in the Big Dipper are all moving in the same direction in
space, are about the same age, and are all about 80 light years from Earth.
“Please won’t you be my neighbor?” Skat, the third brightest star in the
constellation Aquarius is a neighbor to these five Big Dipper stars, all of
which are about 30 light years from each other. They are thought to have
originated in the same nebula about 500 million years ago. Just like human
children do, these child stars are slowly moving away from home. Skat is about
three fists above due south at 7:00 p.m. The much brighter Fomalhaut is a fist
and a half below Skat. And, it’s not fun being below Skat.
Monday: Have you ever sat around waiting for a long distance
call from another state? Another country? How about another star system? In
2019, astronomers thought they heard a radio signal from a planet orbiting
Proxima Centauri, our Sun’s nearest neighbor at about 4.2 light years away.
This signal showed many signs of being extraterrestrial in origin, including
coming from a specific location in the sky, having a pure tone, and changing in
frequency similar to something moving exactly towards or exactly away from the
Earth. However, a more recent analysis showed that the signal was more like a
crank call. Read more about the discovery and undiscovery at https://skyandtelescope.org/astronomy-news/the-true-nature-of-the-candidate-et-signal-from-proxima-centauri/.
Proxima Centauri is part of the three star Alpha Centauri system, the third
brightest star in the sky. You need to go down to the southern tip of Texas or
Florida to see Alpha Centauri.
Tuesday: Are you thankful that you live in a solar system
with multiple planets? You should be. A giant planet like Jupiter cleans up
planetary debris that could have collided with Earth and hindered the formation
of complex life. Any inhabitants of the planets orbiting Upsilon Andromedae are
thankful for this, as well. Upsilon Andromedae, a star in the constellation
Andromeda, was the first Sun-like star discovered to have multiple planets
orbiting it. So far, all of its discovered planets are giant planets like
Jupiter. But the system is likely to also contain smaller planets. The dim
star, but certainly not its planets, is barely visible straight overhead at
9:00 p.m. Our Jupiter is five fists above the southwestern horizon at this
time. Saturn is two fists above the southwest horizon.
Wednesday: Deneb Kaitos, Arabic for whale’s tail, is two and
a half fists above due south at 8:30 p.m. This is the brightest star in the
constellation Cetus the sea monster. Or, if you are less prone to hyperbole,
Cetus the whale.
Thursday: Some of us have a lot to be thankful for on
Thanksgiving. But, probably not as much as Andromeda had to be thankful for.
According to Greek mythology, the beautiful princess Andromeda was chained to a
rock next to the ocean. Cetus the sea monster was about to devour her in order
to punish her family. Her mother Queen Cassiopeia and her father King Cepheus
didn’t know what to do. It seemed that all was lost. But, along came
Andromeda’s boyfriend, the great warrior Perseus. Even though Perseus’ standing
as the son of King Zeus and the slayer of Medusa was probably enough to win
Andromeda under normal circumstances, Andromeda’s impending
death-by-sea-monster was not a normal circumstance. So, Perseus drove his sword
into the sea monster’s neck and killed it. This was the first time in recorded
history that a set of parents actually welcomed an uninvited Thanksgiving visit
from the boyfriend. Perseus is about five fists above the east-northeastern
horizon and Andromeda is about seven fists above the eastern horizon at 7:00
p.m.
Friday: Venus is three fists above the southeastern horizon
at 6:30 a.m. The bright star Spica is to its lower right.
The positional information in this column about stars and
planets is typically accurate for the entire week. For up to date information
about the night sky, go to https://nightsky.jpl.nasa.gov/planner.cfm.
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