Stargazing this Week
Wake up early on Nov 18th to see the Leonids after the moon has set.
The Leonids are back
The legendary Leonid meteor shower returns for the majority of November. Peak viewing occurs this week on the night of the 17th. At well over 10 meteors per hour, this shower should be much more exciting than the feeble Draconids we reported on earlier this fall.
The Leonids are sun-induced ejecta from the Comet 55P/Tempel-Tuttle, whose 33-year orbital period almost directly intersects with Earth’s. Some years the Leonid shower is known to storm, generating well over 1000 meteors per hour. The last such storm was 2009, but famous storms such as the 1833 event have been well-documented across communities.
Given the bright, waxing gibbous moon in the sky, the best time to view the meteors will early in the morning, around 6 am. To find them, look to the Southeast for the sickle shaped asterism that serves as Leo the lion’s head. Leo rises just north of East around 11pm.
A serious Lunar eclipse
Another chance to view the meteors comes on the night of November 18th, when the moon will darken as it passes through the Earth’s shadow. Make sure to turn your attention back to the moon as it picks up that characteristic shade of deep crimson.
North America and the Pacific Ocean will be treated to full views this short transit, which happens at 09:02:56 UTC. For residents of Washington, that’s about 1 in the morning (technically on the 19th). For folks down under - particularly our readers in New Zealand - this is around 10pm. Although you’ll be far enough south so the moon will be right between the Earth’s umbra and penumbra.
This is the longest lunar eclipse visible so far this century, so it makes a reasonable excuse to stay up late on Thursday.
Look to the South after midnight Pacific time to see the lunar eclipse.
Bullish on Ceres
For an observational challenge, grab your binoculars or telescope this week and look for our solar system’s largest asteroid. Ceres - which is now classified as a dwarf planet - is moving across the face of Taurus the Bull this month.
Ceres comprises about a quarter of the mass that makes up the asteroid belt. Modern definition of planets require them to clear out all other debris in their orbits, which is part of the reason why Ceres remains a "dwarf planet". It's also has less than 1o percent of the mass of Pluto.
In the early evening, taurus is located to the East, standing between Orion and the Pleiades.
This is a great opportunity to check the same part of the sky over multiple days to see Ceres’ progress. If you’re in to astrophotography, you’d do well to stack multiple images from multiple nights against each other.
As always, check out Stellarium for an open source planetarium tool.
