Take in our nearest celestial neighbour this November
A favoured observing target of the late Patrick Moore, the Moon is putting on a show for us this month. However, as it’s just past new, our natural satellite will be absent from proceedings on the night when seemingly everyone will be venturing out under the night sky – the 5 November, Bonfire Night. But don’t miss the opportunity for an extra starry show in between the fireworks – turn here for Stuart Atkinson’s easy-to-take tour of the brighter stars and planets on the 5th.
A few days either side of the fireworks, keep an keen eye on the Moon’s thin crescent phases for some beautiful close approaches with bright Mercury and Venus – their brightness pointing the way to the slender lunar crescents. There are also rare opportunities, thanks to libration, to take in features normally hidden just off the Moon’s visible face, and a partial lunar eclipse visible on the 19th. Pete Lawrence has full observing details in the ‘Sky Guide’.
The lunar phases around full Moon can be seen as a bit of a bugbear for astronomers, their brightness making fainter night-sky targets harder to observe and image. But in our feature, Will Gater will persuade you otherwise. For it’s then that one of the most dramatic features of the lunar surface is best seen – the spectacular ray systems around the Moon’s deepest craters. Picked out in dazzling brightness against the darker surroundings, their illumination gives a sense of the immense collisions that threw so much material so far across the lunar basalt. So have your telescope at the ready, perhaps with a neutral density filter on standby.
Enjoy the issue!
PS Our next issue goes on sale on Thursday 18 November.