The Night Sky
November 2021
Imagine you are stargazing on a dark, moonless evening. You scan the sky with your eyes maybe to try and spot the faint track of a meteor cutting across the sky. Then suddenly you are aware of a familiar star brightening. It illuminates more and more until it becomes the brightest in the sky, even brighter than a full moon and casting a shadow behind you. The following morning in broad daylight it is still visible! This actually did happen on July 4th just over a thousand years ago (no time at all in celestial time.) You would have witnessed the death throes of a dying lone star as it ignited into an amazing supernova. This is still visible now, although it is a smudge in a pair of binoculars, but with the right location and camera…wow! This is M1, or its common name The Crab Nebula.
Photo by Tim Jardine
There are many recorded supernovas in our history. It was thought that this particular blast was recorded by native American rock art but it is likely to have been another equally impressive event.
Here is the location of the Crab Nebula. It is very close to the area we looked at in last month’s article.
Looking East. November 4th at 11pm (or 18th at 10pm)
Supernova are not common. The dying star has to be of a particular size or fusion state to trigger an event of this type. In a typical galaxy only a small proportion fit this criterion, perhaps just three a century. In fact, the last one directly observed was over four hundred years ago. They are important as the huge amount of energy and material expelled can form the many elements we see and need around us today.
Looking South-November 4th 11pm (or 18th at 10pm)
As you will observe this month, Orion is now marching above the horizon in the East (chasing the Pleiades, remember...) The big Square of Pegasus is now a dominant feature of the night sky.
Planets
The Ecliptic is marked on my star chart above (Looking South). This is the path that the planets appear to follow and, due to their position and ours on the Earth, only the very faint Neptune and Uranus are currently high in our night sky. Jupiter is setting below the horizon.
Looking North -November 4th 11pm (or 18th at 10pm)
The view to the North should produce a beautiful Milky Way ‘arc’ overhead if we have a very clear moonless night on the 4th November. You will see Cygnus the Swan flying over the carpet of stars towards the West. Ursa Minor is pointing downwards, like the hand of a clock, having spun around Polaris over the year - indicating the arrival of autumn.
New Moon 4th November
Full Moon 19th November
Clear Skies
Milan Davidovic
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