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General Astronomy Topics

The Sky for November for the Deep South Star Gaze
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November 4, 5 - Taurids Meteor Shower. The Taurids is a long-running minor meteor shower producing only about 5-10 meteors per hour. It is unusual in that it consists of two separate streams. The first is produced by dust grains left behind by Asteroid 2004 TG10. The second stream is produced by debris left behind by Comet 2P Encke. The shower runs annually from September 7 to December 10. It peaks this year on the the night of November 4 and the morning of the 5th. The second quarter moon may block most of the dim meteors this year. But if you are patient, you may still be able to catch a few good ones. Best viewing will be just after midnight from a dark location far away from city lights. Meteors will radiate from the constellation Taurus, but can appear anywhere in the sky.

(Note - this data is added because the Taurids persist until about December 10th)


November 9th - Conjunction of the Moon and Venus


The Moon and Venus will share the same right ascension, with the Moon passing 1°00' to the north of Venus. The Moon will be 26 days old.

At around the same time, the two objects will also make a close approach, technically called an appulse.

The pair will be visible from soon after it rises, at 02:43, until soon before it sets at 14:52.

The Moon will be at mag -10.6, and Venus at mag -4.3, both in the constellation Virgo.


November 10th - Comet C/2023 H2 (Lemmon) will make its closest approach to the Earth on 10 November, at a distance of 0.19 AU.

On the day of perigee it will become visible at around 18:00 (CDT), 49° above your western horizon, as dusk fades to darkness. It will then sink towards the horizon, setting at 22:04.


Based on the magnitude parameters published for this comet by the BAA Comet Section, we estimate that it may be around mag 5 on 10 November 2023. This estimate is based on observations that the BAA has received from amateur astronomers, assuming that its current level of activity will remain constant.


The comet's position on 10 November 2023 will be:


Object--------------------------------- Right Ascension------- Declination ------Constellation-------- Magnitude

Comet C/2023 H2 (Lemmon) ---18h25m10s -------------22°35'N -----------Hercules -------------5.3



THE SKY ON 10 NOVEMBER 2023


Sunrise

06:17 AM


Sunset

17:01 PM


Evening Twilight ends

18:24 PM


Morning Twilight begins

04:54 AM


Waning Crescent

4% 27 days old


Planets

________________________________________

Name---------Rise----------Culm------------ Set



Mercury----- 07:23-------- 12:30------------17:36


Venus--------02:45--------- 08:49------------14:52


Moon---------03:36----------09:37------------15:31


Mars---------- 06:31---------11:48------------17:06


Jupiter-------- 16:30---------23:05------------05:41


Saturn---------13:18---------18:49-------------00:19


All times shown in CST.

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