November Astronomical Events

November 2 - Full Moon

November 5 - Mercury in Superior Conjunction
 
November 16 - New Moon
 
November 17 - 18 - Leonids Meteor Shower. The Leonids is one of the better meteor showers to observe, producing an average of 40 meteors per hour at their peak. The shower itself has a cyclic peak year every 33 years where hundreds of meteors can be seen each hour. The last of these occurred in 2001. The shower peaks this year on November 17 & 18, but you can usually see some meteors from November 13 - 20. The moon will be totally out of the way this year, providing an exceptional viewing experience for the Leonids. Look for the shower radiating from the constellation Leo after midnight. The Leonids Meteor Shower occur when the Earth encounters debris left from comet Tempel-Tuttle and have been described as "the cosmic equivalent of bugs hitting the windshield of an automobile."

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On the 1st, Mars, now bright at magnitude 0.4, is in the Beehive star cluster in Cancer and pops above the eastern horizon at around 11:00 P.M. The Moon joins Mars on the 8th and Jupiter on the 23rd. On the 30th, Mars finally cracks magnitude zero, joining the ranks of the five brightest sky objects. By the end of the month, Jupiter, in the opposite part of the sky, is highest at nightfall and sets by 10:00 P.M. Venus closes out the month very low in the predawn east and has faded to magnitude -3.9; its show is over until it returns as a conspicuous evening star next April. Saturn, ensconced in Virgo, its new home for the next three years, is back and nicely high for early risers.