BBC Sky at Night November_2020

THE SOUTHERN HEMISPHERE

With Glenn Dawes NORT
M35M37
Look out for the peaks of two meteor showers,
the Northern Taurids and the Leonids HEAST A

When to use this chart The chart accurately matches the sky on the GEMINI
dates and times shown for Sydney, Australia.
1 Nov at 00:00 AEDT (13:00 UT) The sky is different at other times as the stars MONOCEROS
15 Nov at 23:00 AEDT (12:00 UT) crossing it set four minutes earlier each night. PYXIS
30 Nov at 22:00 AEDT (11:00 UT)
T
NOVEMBER HIGHLIGHTS STARS AND CONSTELLATIONS b_ Winter Triangle Betelgeuse
Christmas Tree
November is a good month for The constellation of Eridanus, the _
meteor showers. The Northern Taurids 5LYHU ƆRZV IURP 2ULRQ LQWR WKH GHHS
are active from 20 October to 10 December, south, ending at its alpha star Achernar. a
and expected to peak around 12 November. Named from an Arabic phrase meaning
With a radiant near the Pleiades, they ‘end of the river’, it’s the ninth brightest star CANIS MINORProcyon ` Rosette
are slow moving, often producing colourful (mag. +0.45) and hottest of the nine
ƅUHEDOOV 7KH /HRQLGV FDQ EH VHHQ LQ DURXQG Ō& 7KH VWDU KDV D PDVV M50 78
November, from the 6th to 30th, with a seven times the Sun. Due to Achernar’s
peak expected on 18th. The radiant is close short rotation period of 2.2 days it’s quite b a
to the Sickle of Leo. With new Moon on oblate in shape, having an equatorial radius
the 15th, the early morning skies on the 60 per cent greater than its poles. It is the EAST ` Sirius M41
dates of both peaks should be Moon-free. least spherical star known in the Milky Way.
_
_ Ca ANIS MAJOR

THE PLANETS M48 M47

Brilliant Jupiter has now moved into mid-evening. Like Mars, Uranus and b
the western evening sky with Saturn Neptune are also high in the northern
behind (4° eastward). These gas giants evening sky. Turning to the morning, Venus PUPPIS
follow the Teapot of Sagittarius, departing is dropping towards the Sun and is visible
just before midnight. Mars is well placed low at dawn, while Mercury can be glimpsed
to observe, transiting the meridian below Venus deep in the brightening sky.

DEEP-SKY OBJECTS Gum 11

This month we take a deep-sky dive a
into the constellation of Fornax. The
three stars that make up Chi Fornacis are The ‘Chi’ stars are the gateway _
around 6th magnitude and can be viewed to the Fornax 1 Galaxy Cluster.
with binoculars. Arranged in the shape of Move 2° to the north-northeast to ` a
a right-angled triangle, they also fit in an discover the edge-on spiral galaxy
eyepiece field (0.5°). The ‘right-angle’ NGC 1380 (RA 3h 36.5m, dec -34° 59’). VELA
star, Chi2 (RA 3h 27.5m, dec. -35° 41’) is the Glowing at a respectable mag. +9.9,
brightest at mag. +5.7 and yellower than its it has a bright halo (3’ x 1’), unlike SOUTHEAS
white companions. Chi3 is a double with many other fainter galaxies in the
mag. +6.5 and +10 stars separated by 6.4”. group. NGC 1380 is impressive as it
features a non-stellar nucleus embedded
in a prominent circular core.

CHART: PETE LAWRENCE Chart key DIFFUSE ASTEROID STAR
NEBULOSITY TRACK BRIGHTNESS:
GALAXY DOUBLE STAR
METEOR MAG. 0
OPEN CLUSTER VARIABLE STAR RADIANT & BRIGHTER
GLOBULAR
CLUSTER COMET TRACK QUASAR MAG. +1
PLANETARY
NEBULA PLANET MAG. +2

MAG. +3
MAG. +4
& FAINTER

BBC Sky at Night Magazine November 2020

a

NORTH

_

_ b Almach
M110
Capella ` M32

M34 a ANDROMEDA M31 `
PEGASUS
PERSEUS
ORTHWEST
AUM3RI6 NGC 1499 Algol NGC 752 `

N

N (orptehaerk dTaaturei 1d2raNdiova)nt TRIANGULUM b
a `

4th Pleiades Hamal _ Alpheratz
` M33
TAURUS _
Elnath
ARIES a
_ Aldebaran 1st a _ `
Ecliptic b
ìVî Hyades Uranus 28th a Circlet

Menkar 1st PISCES Markab _

ab _ k 30th b GrePategSaqsuuasre of
a _

Celestial Equator b Alrescha Mars

Mirror of VenusW` Neptune a Steering Wheel Enif
` M15
25th
b CETUS

ORION M42 ` Rigel a _ `
ERIDANUS AQUARIUS M2
a
EQUULEUS
b _a NGC 1380 r NGC 253 _SNCGUCL5P5TOR Deneb Kaitos ` _ WEST
_ b
LEPUS ` ab
` AUPSISTCRIISNUS
` FORNAX NGC 300 _ a Fomalhaut

COLUMBA ` H_OROLOGIUM NGC 7293 b NGC 7009
_` CAELUM a
a 22nd
b a

_ R ` b `_
a
NGC 1433
b
`

DORADO a PHOENIX
PICTOR
`_ RETICULUM _

Achernar b

Canopus _ a b _ l
a ` `
`
_ _

b ` LTMarCan`tula`Nebula b g b TUCANA a _ CAPRICORNUS
b ` _ GRUS
CARINA Saturn
NGC 362 INDUS

a _ MaENSA a HYDRSUoSuthSC`MeleC`stia4l P7oTleuc_anae a _
b VOLAbNSa _ ` SAGITTARIUS

` CHAMAELEON ` M55
_ _

R_ ` b OCTANS PAVO b
u
ab NGC 6752

` a _
`
Cluster Eta Carina Nebula _b `
Running Chicken APUS AUCSTORRAOLINSA _
a TRIAAUNSGTURLAULME
Gem _ b TELESCOPIUM OUTHWEST S

MUSCA _

Acrux _` a b ARA
a`
b CoaJl eSwaeclkBox CIRCINUS
CRUX _ `
Rigel Kent_
a`
+CENTAURUS `

SOUTH BBC Sky at Night Magazine November 2020