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Some daily events in the changing sky for November 13 – 21.
Venus is getting lower and Saturn higher in the dawn every morning. (These scenes are drawn for the middle of North America. European observers: move each Moon symbol a quarter of the way toward the one for the previous date. For clarity, the Moon is shown three times actual size.)
Friday, November 13
Jupiter's largest moon, Ganymede, casts its shadow onto Jupiter's face from 6:01 to 9:35 p.m. EST.
Meanwhile, Jupiter's Great Red Spot transits the planet's central meridian around 8:25 p.m. EST.
Algol in Perseus should at be at its minimum light for a couple hours centered on 9:09 p.m. EST.
Low in Saturday's eastern dawn, look for Spica glimmering about 4° upper left of the thin crescent Moon (for North America), as shown at right.
Saturday, November 14
Jupiter's moon Europa reappears from eclipse out of Jupiter's shadow around 8:55 p.m. Pacific Standard Time. Watch for it a little east of the planet, about halfway in from Io.
Low in Sunday's eastern dawn, look for the hairline crescent Moon about 6° right or lower right of Venus (for North America).
Sunday, November 15
Jupiter's Great Red Spot transits around 7:04 p.m. Pacific Standard Time.
You won't see this many meteors at once! But each one, if traced backward far enough across the sky, would intersect the shower's radiant point in Leo. The most productive area to watch is whatever part of your sky is darkest.
Monday, November 16
The Leonid meteor shower should peak very late tonight.
New Moon (exact at 2:14 p.m. EST).
Algol should be at minimum light for a couple hours centered on 5:58 p.m. EST, after dusk for the East Coast.
Watch in a telescope as Jupiter's moon Europa occults Ganymede annularly, from 8:19 to 8:26 p.m. EST. They'll appear to merge and then separate as the minutes tick by. For a complete list of such mutual events among Jupiter's satellites visible from North America through the end of the year, see the October Sky & Telescope, page 56.
Tuesday, November 17
Jupiter's Great Red Spot transits around 8:43 p.m. Pacific Standard Time.
Wednesday, November 18
You can't miss Jupiter shining brightly in the south or southwest these evenings. Look far to its lower left for Fomalhaut. Look even farther to its upper right for Altair.
Thursday, November 19
Jupiter's Great Red Spot transits around 7:35 p.m. Eastern Standard Time.
Jupiter's moon Io reappears from eclipse out of Jupiter's shadow, a little off the planet's eastern limb, around 7:36 p.m. Pacific Standard Time (when Jupiter will still be in good view from western North America). Europa is right nearby; watch Europa appear to go from single to "double"! And then, for about the next 40 minutes, watch the "double" narrows back to single! Because Europa occults Io from 8:19 to 8:23 p.m. Pacific Standard Time.
Friday, November 20
Jupiter's biggest moon, Ganymede, casts its tiny black shadow onto Jupiter's face from 7:03 to 10:37 p.m. Pacific Standard Time (when Jupiter will be in good view from western north America).
Saturday, November 21
In the western twilight, the crescent Moon shines about two fist-widths to the lower right of Jupiter.
The unique eclipsing binary star Epsilon Aurigae is now dimming into one of its 2-year-long partial eclipses, which come every 27.1 years. See our article online and the longer feature article on this mysterious star in last May's Sky & Telescope, page 58. (These scenes are drawn for the middle of North America. European observers: move each Moon symbol a quarter of the way toward the one for the previous date. The blue 10° scale is about the size of your fist held at arm's length. For clarity, the Moo
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