What’s in the Sky in November

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  • The comet responsible for producing the Leonids Metoer Shower is called 55P/Tempel-Tuttle. The Leonids’ parent comet, which measures 2.24 miles in diameter, makes a trip around the sun every 33 years. It was discovered independently by two men: Ernst Tempel in 1865 and Horace Tuttle in 1866.

 

  • 14th- 21st Leonids Meteor Shower (013 LEO) Three possible peaks this year Leonid (013 LEO) which require observations. According to
    Maslov (2007), the “normal” maximum will be relatively strong (ZHR 15–20 on November 17, 04h UT). Calculations of Vaubaillon (2023) show that the Earth encounters the 1633 trail of 55P/Tempel-Tuttle on November 14, 16h37mUT (15th 03:37Hrs AEDT). It is not clear what to expect because the trail is far from the comet and composed of small meteoroids (< 1 mm). Rates may be high, but the shower is expected to consist preferably of faint meteors. Sato (2023) finds an encounter with the 1733 trail on November 19/20 between 23h53m and 00h54m UT (20/21  10:53hrsAEDT). Since the minimum distance is relatively large (about −0.002 au) and the required
    ejection velocity is high, the rates will be low. All data is welcome to verify or to adjust model parameters. Credit: IMO

  • 14th  Moon at Perigee, closest point from Earth this month, 22:18hrs AEDT,  distance from Earth 360,106.8 km, 1.2 light seconds away.
  • 14th Saturn is a stunning object overhead at 14:17hrs AEDT in the evening with several moons of Saturn being clearly visible in our telescopes. At Magnitude o.9, distance 9.25 AU 77.04 light minutes away.
  • 14th Jupiter is rising at 20:23 hrs AEDT and currently in the constellation of Aries at mag. -2.8 at a distance of 4.16 AU,  34.62 light minutes away.
  • 26th Moon at Apogee, Closest point to Earth this month, 22:56hrs AEDT, distance from Earth 405,315.0 km.