Society News and Night Sky Notes – November 1999

Society News Headlines

  • Nov 3rd – Venus is 3° South of Moon.
  • Nov 3rd – Taurid Meteor Shower Peak.
  • Nov 3rd – Comet C/1999 S3 (Linear) at Perihelion (1.924 AU).
  • Nov 5th – Mercury is stationary.
  • Nov 6th – Saturn is at opposition.
  • Nov 6th – Leeds Astromeet 1999 (140th Anniversary Event).10:30am – 7:00pm at Centenary House, North Street, Leeds.
  • Nov 7th – SPA meeting at The London Planetarium at 10:00hrs.
  • Nov 12th – Public Open Night at the LAS Pex Hill Observatory. 7:30pm – 9:30pm.
  • Nov 13th – RAS Meeting at Savile Row, London at 16:00UT.
  • Nov 13th – Mars is 3° South of Moon.
  • Nov 14th – Neptune 0.2° South of Moon.
  • Nov 15th – Uranus 0.1° South of Moon.
  • Nov 15th – Transit of Mercury across the Sun. (Not seen from UK).
  • Nov 17th – Leonid Meteor Shower Outburst due 19:45UT,best seen Nov 18th 01:00 – 0200am UT for Liverpool.
  • Nov 17th – Leonid’99 Meteor Outburst Page.
  • Nov 17th – Watch the Leonids LIVE! from Japan.
  • Nov 17th – Leonid Meteor shower information from Sky & Telescope
  • Nov 19th – Liverpool A.S. November monthly meeting – starts 7pm at Liverpool RC Catheral Crypt Concert Room
  • Nov 20th – Jupiter is 4° North of Moon.
  • Nov 22nd – Saturn is 3° North of Moon.
  • Nov 23rd – Aldebaran 1.3° South of moon.
  • Nov 25th – Mercury stationary.
  • Nov 27th – BAA Ordinary Meeting at Rutherford Appleton Lab, Didcot, Oxon.
  • Nov 27th – Comet C/1997 BA6 (Spacewatch) at Perihelion, (3.436AU).
  • Nov 28th – Mars 1.7° South of Neptune.
  • Nov 29th – Venus 4° North of Spica.

THE NIGHT SKY DURING THE MONTH OF NOVEMBER 1999.

Will it be cloudy to-night?, ask the The U.K. Goverment Met Office Weather service. To make your own star chart fo your location at any time, Click Here.


The Sun and Moon

All times are in GMT the same as U.T.
Times For Observer in Liverpool, Merseyside, England, U.K.
Latitude 53 degs 24 mins North.
Longitude +3.0 degs West.

            2nd       7th       12th      17th      22nd      27th     2nd Dec
SUNRISE    07:12     07:22     07:31     07:40     07:49     07:58      08:06
SUNSET     16:38     16:29     16:21     16:13     16:06     16:01      15:57
PHASES OF THE MOON DURING NOVEMBER 1999
NEW MOON
on 8th
at 03h:54m
FIRST QUARTER
on 16th
at 09h:04m
FULL MOON
on 23rd
at 07h:05m
LAST QUARTER
on 29th
at 23h:20m

THE PLANETS THIS MONTH.


MERCURY.

On the 15th Mercury is at inferior conjunction and actually passes directly in font of the Sun,a transit. This is quite a rare event as Mercury’s orbit is tilted by 7° with respect to the Earth’s and usually passes above or below the Sun. Unfortunately this tansit occurs when both the planet and Sun are below the horizon as seen from the U.K. The next transit visible from these islands is on May 7th 2003.


VENUS.

Venus very slowly starts its inevitable journey back towards the Sun, but this will not be readily apparent due to the planet’s high altitude in the pre-dawn South Eastern sky. On the 4th Venus lies 2°.5 South of the Moon at 00h and on the 13th telescopic observers will see that Venus appears to have gained a satellite when it passes less than 1′ arc North of the star SAO138721.Venus’ phase is 59% sunlit mid-month with an apparent diameter of 21″.


MARS.

Mars passes through the low constellation of Sagittarius throughout November. The Planet’s elongation is 55° East at the end of the month which means that it will be visible in the evening sky even though its brightness has dimmed considerably since opposition in April. On the 13th at 16h Mars is 2° South of the Moon.

MARSWATCH – latest observations of the red planet.


ASTEROIDS.

  • 13 Egeria, 216 Kleoparta and 354 Eleonora are at opposition this month at 10th to 11th magnitude.
  • 6 Hebe and 29 Amphitrite are in the morning sky.
  • 14 Irene, 18 Melpomene and 532 Herculina are also well placed. at 10th Magnitude.

For More information on Asteroids Click Here.


JUPITER.

Jupiter, moving away from last month’s opposition, lies a mere 6′ North of the 4th magnitude star Omicron Piscium on the 9th and on the 21st, at 02h, is 4° North of the Moon. Its diameter mid-month is 48″. Launched in October 1989, the Galileo Jupiter Probe entered orbit around the great planet on December 7th 1995. The Project Galileo Homepage will give you up-to-date information and the very latest images returned.


SATURN.

Saturn is at opposition on the 6th and its 20″ diameter disk makes it a perfect object for observers with telescopes. Using the highest powers possible,scan the surface for faint pastel shades of the cloud tops and look for the shadow of the rings on the planet and the planet’s shadow on the rings behind.Low powers will reveal Saturn’s largest satellite Titan even from a light-polluted site. from a dark sky you may see other moons although you will need a handbook or a specialised program to identify them. At 04h on the 22nd Saturn is 4° North of the Moon.


URANUS and NEPTUNE.

Both are now less than 90° away from the Sun, and must be considered as unfavorable for observations at this time.


PLUTO.

Pluto is in close conjunction with the Sun and will be out of view for several months.



METEORS.

TAURIDS 12 per Hour ZHR – max on the 3rd (Favorable) and 13th (Unfavourable).
The Leonids in 1833

An engraving of the Leonid Meteor Shower of 1833

An engraving of the Leonid Meteor Shower of 1833

LEONIDS 1999 STORM – max on the Nov 17th/18th at 02h:00mPossible Storm. (Favourable)
Understanding The Leonids

COMETS.

 

Plus these pages will give daily and weekly reports of this and other Comets progress.

OCCULATIONS.

  • Nov 21st at 17hr:26m Disappearance of Xi 2 Ceti.
  • Nov 22nd at 02hr:17m Disappearance of Mu Ceti.
  • Nov 22nd at 19hr:21m Disappearance of 5 Tauri.