Throughout November, Venus is becoming easier to see in the evening sky. Look towards the South-West immediately after sunset, and it is very low on the horizon… so low, in fact, that it may be behind any nearby trees! If you cannot spot it, wait until December & January to get a much better view.
Just to the top left of Venus, is Jupiter. Both are very bright and easy to see with only your own eyes. Binoculars will reveal Jupiter’s four biggest and brightest Moons.
In the last few days of November, Jupiter and Venus will be very close to each other – just a few degrees apart!
And on the 1st of December, the Moon passes directly in front of Venus! Do make sure you take a look – it is rather strange to see the brightest thing in the night sky suddenly disappear behind the Moon!
Even though the summer has long gone, the Sun is setting so early that we are still able to see the constellations Cygnus, Lyra & Aquila, where the brightest star in each make up the summer triangle. Although these constellations were directly overhead in the summer, they are now low down in the west, ducking beneath the western horizon at 9pm by the end of November – but ideal targets for the early evening.
The star that forms the head of Cygnus the swan is called Albireo, a blue and golden double star that is a beautiful sight with either binoculars or a small telescope. Note that Cygnus is flying directly downwards, head-first into the western horizon! Just to the right of Albireo is the Ring Nebula in Lyra, the left over remains of a star that puffed out its outer layers to form the nebula some 1,500 years ago. And to the left is the Dumbell Nebula, another treat for small telescope owners.
Almost directly overhead, high in the east, is the easily recognisable W-shape of the constellation Cassiopeia. To the right of the W-shape, is the Andromeda Galaxy – it is the most distant object that can be seen with the unaided eye, a staggering 2.25 million light-years away! The hundred thousand million stars that make up the Andromeda galaxy are what helps us see it from such a distance!
Looking to the east, you can see Orion rising from 9pm, meaning that winter is here! Above Orion is Taurus, with a beautiful desert-island cluster of a hundred stars about the same size in the sky as the full Moon, called the Pleiades (or seven sisters as it is also known because seven stars are just about visible to the unaided eye). In fact, the on the night of the 13th, the Moon passes directly in front of the Pleiades.
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