2018 Week 46: (November 11-November 17)

This week in the sky we have two Meteor Showers reaching their peaks!  The Moon should not even play a role in polluting the light sky with its unnecessary light.  The highlights of the week are shown in the chart below.

Date	Event
November 11	Saturn 1.5°S of Moon
November 12	Northern Taurid Meteors Peak
November 15	First Quarter
November 15	Mars 1.0°N of Moon
November 17	Leonid Meteors Peak

The Moon has begun a new cycle and we may have started to see it creep into the evening sky as a waxing crescent.  It will be in conjunction with the great ringed planet, Saturn, during Sunday evening. You do not want to miss Saturn, it is currently singing its 2018 swan song and will be below the horizon.  The ringed planet is speedily heading towards its solar conjunction on January 2, 2019.

Saturn

The next evening the Northern Taurid Meteor Shower will peak.  We talked about these a little bit last week.  They are not very prolific but with good eyes and dark skies you may catch a few.  The radiant point for the Northern Taurids is shown below.

The peak is in a very convenient position as it sits right next to the Pleiades Star Cluster.  By the time Taurus is high in the sky the Moon will be long gone down below the horizon.

Northern Taurid Radiant

The First Quarter Moon follows a few days later with the terminator running right through the middle.  This is a great time to see some of the best features on our lunar neighbour.  During the same evening you will be able to catch brilliantly red Mars in conjunction with the Moon.  They will be only 1° apart.  Provided below is a map of the sky at 19:30 on November 15, 2018.

Grab your binoculars, telescope or just your eyes and take in this sight.  If you would like to get creative take your camera out and see if you can grab this pairing.

Mars/Moon Conjunction - November 15, 2018

If you think the wonders of the week are over you will be surprised.  We have another meteor shower coming up at the end of the week.  The Leonid Meteors will peak.  This, unfortunately is a morning shower with the radiant coming above the horizon after midnight.  However, if you get up early, Leo will be high in the sky and you may be able to catch several Leonids.  The radiant point is shown in the map below.

Leonid Radiant

If you would like to sketch some of the observed meteors, please find a fillable map linked below.

Leonid Observation Sheet

A full description of this shower can be found on my post from last year below.

https://simonjastronomy.blogspot.com/2017/11/the-leonid-meteor-shower.html

The estimated hour rate as stated by the American Meteor Society can be found below.  As a person who lives in the suburbs I should hopefully be able to catch 5 per hour.  It is more likely I will be catching Zzz's instead.

City	Suburbs	Rural	Optimal
3	5	10	20

I hope to spend some time this week organizing some more personal and public observing.  Orion is now heading up into the sky and we hope to showcase this wonderful constellation at a community star night.  Also, stay tuned, I may have the opportunity to write new blog posts on things I observed last Summer in Sagittarius.