{"id":38905,"date":"2022-11-27T00:05:26","date_gmt":"2022-11-27T00:05:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.skyatnightmagazine.com\/?p=114085"},"modified":"2022-11-28T08:04:13","modified_gmt":"2022-11-28T08:04:13","slug":"star-diary-28-november-to-4-december-2022","status":"publish","type":"rss_feed","link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcskyatnight\/rss_feed\/star-diary-28-november-to-4-december-2022\/","title":{"rendered":"Star Diary: 28 November to 4 December, 2022"},"content":{"rendered":"

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By Ezzy Pearson\n \t\t<\/p>

Published: Sunday, 27 November 2022 at 12:00 am<\/p>

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What\u2019s in the night sky of the week of 28 November to 4 December 2022 in our weekly stargazing guide.<\/p>\n\n

Chris Bramley <\/strong>Hello and welcome to Star Diary, the podcast from the makers of BBC Sky at Night Magazine<\/a>. You can subscribe to the print edition of the magazine by visiting skyatnightmagazine.com<\/a> Or the digital edition by visiting on iTunes or Google Play.<\/p>\n

Ezzy Pearson <\/strong>Greetings listeners and welcome to Star Diary, a weekly guide to the best things to see in the Northern Hemisphere\u2019s night sky. As we\u2019re based here in the UK, all times are in GMT. In this episode we\u2019ll be covering the coming week from 28 November to 4 December. I\u2019m Ezzy Pearson, the magazine\u2019s features editor, and I\u2019m joined on the podcast today by reviews editor Paul Money. Hello, Paul.<\/p>\n

Paul Money<\/strong>\u00a0Hello there Ezzy, another week again?<\/p>\n

Ezzy <\/strong>Absolutely. So what are your recommendations for this week\u2019s stargazing?<\/p>\n

Paul<\/strong>\u00a0Well, you\u2019ll be really pleased. For the first week, we\u2019re in the evening sky. No, no, silly early mornings for us at the moment, so. Nice and convenient, isn\u2019t it?<\/p>\n

Ezzy <\/strong>Always good to have an evening sky<\/p>\n

Paul <\/strong>Exactly. And that\u2019s pretty much all week with our events. So, you know, we\u2019ve got a nice evening\u2026 it\u2019s because of the Moon, as always. It\u2019s the Moon. It\u2019s in the evening sky at the moment. We start off with November 28 and 29. And what you want to be doing is looking towards the south at around about five in the evening sort of thing, so 5 p.m. and a thick crescent Moon and on the 28th it\u2019ll actually be the lower right of Saturn<\/a>. So it\u2019s a good guide to Saturn. Saturn\u2019s in Capricornus at the moment, and then the next evening it\u2019ll be to the lower left of the ringed planet<\/a>. So, you know, it\u2019s a good guide to Saturn. It\u2019s interesting also to watch Saturn over the coming weeks because it will be drifting back towards what you might say, the left, sort of thing for common terms when you look at the sky, because when it moves to the right it\u2019s in retrograde motion, when it moves to the left, it\u2019s actually a normal prograde motion. So keep an eye on Saturn as well, because it will be moving past two stars as we get towards the end of the month. So that\u2019s something to look forward to. But at the moment this week, as I say, we\u2019ve got the crescent moon moving up through Capricornus. I\u2019ll say to the right of Saturn on 28 and to the left of Saturn on 29. Okay. So after that, then the next evening, we\u2019re actually at the first quarter Moon on 30th and it\u2019ll lie quite close to Tau Aquarii. I always like it when the Moon is next to a bright star because you know, you probably don\u2019t notice some of these stars until something draws your attention to it. So the first quarter Moon will lie next to Tau Tauri on the evening whilst nearby. We also still have minor planet Vesta and it\u2019s magnitude +7.5. So it does require binoculars<\/a>, but what you\u2019ll find is gradually it\u2019s getting in lower and lower down towards the sort of southwestern horizon. We will lose it by the end of the month, but we\u2019ve also got the Moon. So of course with first quarter, Moon it\u2019s quite bright. So there will be a fair amount of light, but you know, magnitude 7.5 is not too bad at all. So you should better pick up Vesta still with a pair of binoculars. Now the next day, then December 1. Yeah. Oh. We\u2019re nearly heading towards Christmas. Oh, my God. You know, nice dark night sort of thing. Christmas. I think my worry about when we get to Christmas, I know we\u2019re getting close to the winter solstice and then the lights. The nights will start moving out. So we\u2019ll get lighter nights. Oh, no. Oh, we don\u2019t have to worry about that yet. Do I?<\/p>\n

Ezzy <\/strong>\u00a0I think you\u2019re getting ahead of yourself a bit there Paul.<\/p>\n

Paul <\/strong>We don\u2019t have to worry about that. So we got nice dark nights at the moment and hopefully that\u2019ll be crystal clear as well. So the next evening December 1, the Moon lies below Neptune. Well, the thing about Neptune, of course, is you actually do need binoculars or a small telescope for this because it\u2019s around about magnitude +7.8. So not too fainter than Vesta, but the Moon will drown it out a little bit. So you use the Moon, it\u2019ll be directly below Neptune<\/a> in actual fact that evening. But the thing most people will actually notice is that bright planet to the upper left of the Moon, it\u2019s also to the left of Neptune. And this is Jupiter<\/a>. Now it has dominated the sky for the last few months. It has got a rival and we\u2019ll come to that very shortly. But with the naked eye, it looked like there\u2019s a bright star to the upper left of the Moon, and that in actuality is Jupiter. So check out Neptune first. Don\u2019t don\u2019t you know, poor, poor Neptune. So just because you\u2019ve got a bright, naked eye planet in the bright naked eye Moon, don\u2019t ignore Neptune. Go and have a look at Neptune. And of course, if you use a telescope, you can try looking for Triton<\/a>, the largest moon in Neptune as well, and say the moonlight might cause a problem. And then on December the second, the moon itself will lie to the left of Jupiter as well. So you get two nights where the Moon moves either side of the giant planet. However, 1 December is very special because Mars, that\u2019s the second\u2026 It is actually pretty bright in the sky. His brightest near enough. And so Mars is at its closest to the Earth<\/a> on 1 December. Now there\u2019s no law to say it has to be actually when it\u2019s at its brightest, because that a short while later on when it\u2019s not opposition, but this is when it\u2019s at its closest on 1 December, when it\u2019s actually at opposition<\/a>. That will be next week and we\u2019ll cover that next week. But they don\u2019t have to coincide. There\u2019s no reason for them to coincide. So it just happens to be December 1 Mars that is closest to the Earth and it lies amongst the horns of the bull Taurus<\/a>. So he\u2019s in a quite prominent constellation as well. Now it\u2019s size in a telescope. I mean, where\u2019s the. Oh, yes, it\u2019s it\u2019s really good. So we\u2019re looking at telescopes. 17.2 arcseconds. Hang on, did I say Arcseconds? Yes. Arcseconds So it is still fairly small, but that\u2019s still pretty good going for Mars because it can be pretty small in a telescope when it\u2019s at its furthest point. So, you know, this is a good time to get Mars and see any sort of subtle details. On the surface, you do need to crank the magnification up. And bear in mind, because I hear this a lot from people, \u201cI looked at Mars, my telescope put the magnification up and it was just a blurry red blob.\u201d The problem we\u2019ve got is the atmosphere. Now, you and me, Ezzy we need it, so do our listeners. Yeah. Otherwise we will not live for long.<\/p>\n

Ezzy <\/strong>But if you don\u2019t have any atmosphere, you\u2019re not going to do much observing of anything at all. I know people like to complain about it getting in the way and messing about with you\u2019re seeing, but you do need it to live.<\/p>\n

Paul<\/strong> Exactly. And not only that sort of thing, you know, I mean, basically if you had no atmosphere, it would be really crystal black sky. But you\u2019d be dead? So that wouldn\u2019t be much use at all. So the thing is, we have to contend with the atmosphere and if the jet stream drifts over as well, that wrecks the view. So it\u2019s not necessarily your telescope. You\u2019ve got to bear that in mind. It could simply be the atmospheric conditions at the time. It\u2019s also down to make sure you let Mars get high enough in the sky to get away from all the haze down towards the horizon, because that\u2019s the important bit. You know, if you start looking when it first rises, you\u2019re looking through a thicker part of the atmosphere. So the key is to let it get higher in the sky, 7:00 onwards sort of thing from 1 December, we\u2019re getting quite high. Well worth having to look and see if you can see any subtle features on the surface itself. You will see the polar caps. So that\u2019s interesting. And the orientation of Mars this time is it\u2019s almost\u2026 vertical to us looking straight at it. So we\u2019re looking at the equatorial plane and we can see both poles. So have a look at the poles themselves. They should be quite prominent and then look for the albedo features on Mars as well, so that Mars will be the bright reddish star very easily spotted with the naked eye over in the east at about 7 p.m. and that will be when it\u2019s at its closest on 1 December. I say not to coincide with the opposition. That\u2019s a slightly different thing, which we\u2019ll be covering next week. But this is Mars season. We always like to think so. This is Mars. And the problem, of course Mars in its orbit over the coming few years will actually what even though it reaches closest roughly just under two years , but it\u2019s getting further away at its closest point. So we\u2019ll see the disc shrinking. So this is the key to get it now.<\/p>\n

Ezzy<\/strong>\u00a0And you did mention earlier there that Mars has something called albedo features, which are I believe that the sort of dark patches that you see across the Martian surface. Is that correct?<\/p>\n

Paul<\/strong> That\u2019s right. And they they do associate with some physical features on Mars, but not all. But the lighter features are quite interesting because they usually hazes in the atmosphere and you can use various filters to bring out the features as well. So, you know, if you\u2019ve got a fairly typical filter set<\/a> with a range of colours in, then then have a go and just, just compare the view, see what you see. Because blue filters tend to show the atmospheric hazes better, whereas the red filter brings out the dark albedo features in the surface of Mars better. So it\u2019s worth thinking about that if you got a basic filter set to have a look at Mars. So the albedo features are the prominent ones. One of the most prominent is Syrtis Major. I always think it looks like Africa upside down sticking up, and if you see a sort of like a lighter patch underneath it, that\u2019s usually the Hellas impact basin. So I think that\u2019s amazing that we can actually see a huge impact basin visually. And of course people like Damian Page and Pete Lawrence and Christopher Go, etc. and they\u2019ve actually image craters. I mean, it\u2019s amazing. Craters. On Mars.<\/p>\n

Ezzy<\/strong> You can see quite a lot of details on Mars even through a back garden telescope, which I always think is particularly amazing. And if you want to find out more about how to get the most out of Mars when it\u2019s at its close to its approach, be sure to pick up the December issue of BBC Sky Night Magazine<\/a> because we have a feature in that telling you how to go about doing that.<\/p>\n

Paul<\/strong>\u00a0And that\u2019s it for this week then as we end on a high with Mars. But it gets even more exciting next week. So we have to tune in then, won\u2019t we?<\/p>\n

Ezzy<\/strong>\u00a0Yeah, absolutely. Just teasing. They\u2019re a little bit ahead of next week. And if you do want to make sure that you get next week\u2019s episode, please do subscribe to the Star Diary podcast. But to summarise what we\u2019ve got this week, it does definitely look like it\u2019s a great week if you want to do some planetary observing. We\u2019ve got Saturn near the crescent Moon on 28 and 29 November, it\u2019ll be going either side. And then on the 1st of December, we\u2019ve actually got a trio of planets that\u2019ll be making their way across the sky. We\u2019ve got Neptune and bright Jupiter close to the Moon, and Mars will be making its closest approach. That\u2019s on the 1 December. So thank you very much for telling us all about that today Paul.<\/p>\n

Paul<\/strong>\u00a0It\u2019s a pleasure.<\/p>\n

Ezzy<\/strong>\u00a0If you want to find out even more spectacular sites that will be gracing the night sky throughout the month, be sure to pick up a copy of BBC Sky at Night Magazine. Well, we have a 16 page pull out Sky Guide with a full overview of everything worth looking out for. Whether you like to look at the moon, the planets, or the deep sky, whether you use binoculars, telescopes or neither. Our sky guide has got you covered with the detailed star charts to help you track your way across the night sky from all of us here at BBC Sky at Night Magazine. Goodbye.<\/p>\n

Chris Bramley<\/strong> Thank you for listening to this episode of the Star Diary podcast from the makers of BBC Sky at Night Magazine. For more of our podcasts, visit our website at www.skyatnightmagazine.com<\/a> or head to ACast, iTunes or Spotify.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p> <\/body><\/html>\n

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