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Sky Highlights and NEKAAL Events for NOVEMBER 2015
November 3 – Last Quarter (moon absent from evening sky)
November 7 – OPEN HOUSE at Farpoint Observatory, JOIN US beginning 7:30 pm
November 11 – New Moon
November 19 – First Quarter
November 19 – NEKAAL General Meeting, Topeka Library, JOIN US at 7:00 pm
November 25 – Full Moon
PLANETS in November 2015
Evening Sky:
Midnight:
Uranus – in southwest
Neptune – in west
Morning Sky:
Mercury – in east
Venus – in southeast
Mars – in southeast
Jupiter – in southeast
CONSTELLATIONS well placed in evening during November 2015
North to South, at 8-10 pm:
Ursa Minor, the Little Bear, also the Little Dipper
Cepheus, the King of Ethiopia
Cassiopeia, the Queen of Ethiopia
Lacerta, the Lizard
Andromeda, daughter of Cepheus and Cassiopeia
Pegasus, the winged horse
Pisces, the fishes (who had been Aphrodite and Eros)
Cetus, the sea monster
Aquarius, the water carrier, or god of rain
The Summer Triangle now shines in the west, early in November's evenings.
No bright planets in this month's evenings. But all the good planets are in the morning twilight–you can't miss extremely brilliant Venus!
No even comets visible in binoculars from Kansas this month, but comet Catalina C/2013 US10 may be visible in binoculars late in November, very low in the eastern sky just at morning twilight–might even be visible naked eye. Look in Hydra, moving into Virgo by month end.
Best small telescope comet bet this month is PANSTARRS (C/2013 X1), visible in Perseus at magnitude 11 and brightening slowly, moving into Andromeda by month's end. Look right overhead about 10-11 pm, or high in the east before that.
The Leonids meteor shower peaks on the night of November. The moon sets in the late evening, which is ideal as the meteor shower's radiant will be high enough in the sky after about 4 am, and the maximum rate will be 4-6 am. Look in the southeastern sky.