Tuesday, November 1
First Quarter Moon happens at 2:37 A.M. EDT. Later within the day, the rising gibbous Moon passes 4° south of Saturn at 5 P.M. EDT. Not lengthy after, the pair hold collectively within the darkening sky amid the celebrities of Capricornus. You’ll discover them above the southern horizon after sundown, now practically 5° aside because the Moon sits instantly under the ringed planet. The 2 are seen all night, skimming low via the sky.
Saturn’s delicate magnitude 0.6 glow ought to nonetheless be seen with the bare eye; it sits inside 1° of 4th-magnitude Iota (ι) Capricorni, which can be tougher to pick towards the background mild. Any telescope will actually carry out the planet’s most important function: its beautiful rings. Stretching practically 40″ throughout, their northern face remains to be tilted towards Earth. Saturn’s largest and brightest moon, magnitude 8.5 Titan, is simply over 1′ southeast of the planet tonight. A number of smaller, fainter moons, together with Tenth-magnitude Dione, Rhea, and Tethys, cluster nearer to the planet and rings.
Dawn: 7:29 A.M.
Sundown: 5:58 P.M.
Moonrise: 2:54 P.M.
Moonset: —
Moon Part: Waxing gibbous (55%)
Wednesday, November 2
Let’s return to Jupiter in Pisces this morning for a particular sight as the massive Galilean moon Callisto skims due north of the planet.
In fact, Callisto — like the opposite Galilean moons — orbits Jupiter. However the tilt of the moon’s orbit relative to Earth means it typically seems to “miss” the planet completely from our perspective because it crosses in entrance of or behind it. Jupiter in Pisces remains to be magnitude –2.8, easy to seek out and middle in your telescope. The planet units round 4 A.M. native time, nonetheless, so you’ll have to stand up fairly early (or keep up fairly late on the first) to catch it. But it surely’s value it to see the brilliant dot of Callisto slide from west to east proper excessive of the planet, with loads of obvious space between them! In case you occur to overlook the occasion, don’t fear — it’s going to repeat later this month.
The three different Galilean moons are seen as effectively: Io sits far to the west, whereas Ganymede and Europa seem to the east.
Dawn: 7:31 A.M.
Sundown: 5:56 P.M.
Moonrise: 3:27 P.M.
Moonset: 12:53 A.M.
Moon Part: Waxing gibbous (66%)
Thursday, November 3
The Moon passes 1° south of asteroid 3 Juno at 4 A.M. EDT. Nonetheless, if you wish to catch the pair, you’ll once more have to do it both early or late. They’re at the moment situated in Aquarius, which units about 2 A.M. native time. So, in case you’re up round 1 A.M. this morning, you could find the Moon southwest of Juno for a short time earlier than they disappear within the west.
In case you want to view them within the night sky — the higher possibility for catching them via much less turbulent air — they’re seen as quickly because the sky is darkish after sundown. Now, Aquarius is climbing within the southeast and the Moon sits close to a pleasant curve of three 4th- to Fifth-magnitude stars: Psi1 (ψ1), Psi2 (ψ2), and Psi3 (ψ3) Aquarii. The Moon is closest to Psi3, passing significantly close to to this star between about 8 P.M. and 10 P.M. EDT.
Our satellite is now roughly 9° due east of Juno. The primary-belt asteroid glows at magnitude 8.7, inside attain of binoculars or a small scope. See if you could find it, even with the Moon’s background mild. For a more in-depth signpost, Juno is simply 30′ northeast of a comparatively vibrant Sixth-magnitude discipline star.
Dawn: 7:32 A.M.
Sundown: 5:55 P.M.
Moonrise: 3:55 P.M.
Moonset: 2:06 A.M.
Moon Part: Waxing gibbous (76%)
Friday, November 4
The Moon now passes 3° south of Neptune at 4 A.M. EDT. The 2 are low within the west at the moment, so that you’ll need to observe them just a few hours earlier if doable, earlier than they sink too near the horizon.
Like final evening, each are in Aquarius, although Neptune is kind of close to the constellation’s northeastern border with Pisces. Round 2 A.M. EDT on the 4th (11 P.M. on the third within the Pacific time zone), the planet and Moon are nonetheless 25° excessive. Magnitude 7.7 Neptune, which requires binoculars or a telescope, is simply shy of 5° north-northeast of the Moon. It could be a bit difficult to pick the distant planet’s dim, 2″-wide disk, however it’s value a strive. In case you can’t fairly appear to do it, simply give the Moon just a few days to go out of the world and take a look at once more. Neptune sits between a pair of Seventh-magnitude discipline stars that may function your guides all month.
The Moon passes 2° south of Jupiter at 4 P.M. EDT — we’ll test this pairing out within the night sky in our column subsequent week.
Dawn: 7:33 A.M.
Sundown: 5:54 P.M.
Moonrise: 4:19 P.M.
Moonset: 3:16 A.M.
Moon Part: Waxing gibbous (85%)
