Sun, moon and stars
When you will soon be able to see a particularly large number of shooting stars
Updated on November 1, 2024 – 4:07 p.mReading time: 4 min.
Whether planets or stars: there will be a lot to observe in the starry sky for all night owls in the coming weeks. Where you should take a closer look.
The dominant star in the night sky is undoubtedly Jupiter. The giant planet is about to reach opposition to the sun. It dominates the night sky as a strikingly bright point of light. At midnight it can be seen high in the south in the constellation Taurus near the open Hyades star cluster, also known as the rain star.
Even with small binoculars, Jupiter’s four large and bright moons can be seen. They are also called Galilean moons after their discoverer Galileo Galilei. But Simon Marius from Ansbach near Nuremberg also found it independently in 1609 and described his discovery in the book “Mundus Iovialis” – the world of Jupiter.
400 years ago, on December 26, 1624, Marius died. Numerous commemorative events this year commemorate this important astronomer. At the suggestion of Johannes Kepler, Jupiter’s large moons Io, Europa, Ganymede and Callisto were named.
When viewed from Earth, Jupiter’s moons appear only as points of light. But the European space probe “Juice” is on its way to them to explore these icy worlds up close. Launched on April 14, 2023 from the European spaceport in Kourou (French Guyana), “Juice” passed close to the Earth and the moon on August 20 this year. The gravitational forces of the Earth and Moon put the space probe on a new orbit.
On January 29, 2029, it will once again race just past Earth, being thrown onto its final path. Juice will arrive in the Jupiter system on July 31, 2031 and begin her explorations of the icy moons.
The European Space Agency’s (ESA) Juice probe was launched in 2023 to explore the gas giant Jupiter and its three large icy moons Ganymede, Callisto and Europa. She investigates whether these moons may offer life-friendly conditions by closely analyzing their surfaces and environments. You can find out more about this here.
As darkness sets in early, Venus, Earth’s inner neighbor planet, lights up in the southwest sky. It will soon go down: at the beginning of the month at half past six in the evening, on the last day of the month a quarter of an hour after 7 p.m.
Mars in the constellation Cancer gradually becomes the planet of the entire night, apart from the earliest hours of the evening. Mars rises on November 1st at 9:42 p.m. and on the 30th at twenty minutes past eight in the evening. On the night of the 20th to the 21st, the waning moon passes the red planet.
Saturn is the planet of the first half of the night. He postpones his downfall until midnight. He withdraws from the second half of the night. The ringed planet becomes stationary in the constellation Aquarius in the middle of the month.
From November 13th to 30th, the shooting stars of the Leonid Stream appear in the morning sky. The peak maximum is expected in the early morning hours of the 17th. These are quite fast meteors with penetration speeds of around 70 kilometers per second, which is 252,000 kilometers per hour.
New Moon occurs on the 1st at 1:47 p.m. The full moon phase will be reached on November 15th at 10:29 p.m. The full moon shines in the constellation Taurus. One day before, the moon is closest to the earth at a distance of 360,109 kilometers. At 405,314 kilometers, the moon will be far away from Earth at noon on the 26th.
In the early evening sky, around 6 p.m., the starry sky still shows its summery character. High in the south you can see the Summer Triangle, which is made up of the brightest stars from the constellations Lyra, Swan and Eagle. These are the stars Vega, Deneb and Atair. Deneb is almost exactly at the zenith, i.e. directly above our heads.
Four hours later, at the so-called standard observation time of 10 p.m., you can see the typical autumn sky. In the south stands the mighty star square of Pegasus. Pegasus is the symbol of the autumn sky, which is why the Pegasus square is also called the autumn square. The star chain of Andromeda hangs from the northeastern star of the autumn quadrangle.
Sure! Here’s a summary of the key astronomical events to observe in the coming weeks:
- Jupiter: The dominant planet in the night sky, Jupiter will be at opposition, standing out as a bright point of light. It can be seen high in the south around midnight, situated in the constellation Taurus near the Hyades star cluster. Jupiter’s four large moons, known as the Galilean moons (Io, Europa, Ganymede, and Callisto), can be viewed with small binoculars.
- Venus: This inner planet will light up the southwest sky. Its visibility decreases through the month—early in November, it sets around 6:30 PM, moving to around 7:15 PM by the end of the month.
- Mars: Rising later in the night, Mars will be visible in the constellation Cancer. The planet rises at approximately 9:42 PM at the start of November and around 8:20 PM by the month’s end. Notably, the waning moon will pass by Mars on the night of November 20–21.
- Saturn: This planet will be visible in the first half of the night, remaining prominent until midnight before retreating from view. It is found in the constellation Aquarius and becomes stationary mid-month.
- Leonid Meteor Shower: From November 13 to 30, the Leonid Stream will produce shooting stars, with the peak expected in the early morning of November 17. These meteors travel at speeds of around 70 km/s (252,000 km/h).
Keep your telescopes and binoculars ready for a month rich in celestial events!