In the Sky This Month

Look for Mars near the Moon tonight. The planet looks like a bright orange star. It stands above the Moon at nightfall and to the right of the Moon as they set in the wee hours of Thanksgiving.

The southern constellation Phoenix, which is named for the mythological bird that was reborn from its own ashes, just peeks above the southern horizon in early to mid evening for skywatchers across most of the United States.

Mira, the “miraculous” star, in the constellation Cetus, is high in the south during mid to late evening. Mira got its name because it periodically disappears then reappears, the result of a rhythmic expansion and contraction.

The first day of winter is weeks away, but the stars of winter are working into the evening sky. Look for them in the east by about 9 or 10 p.m. Orion the hunter highlights the east, with the twin stars of Gemini well to its left.

Taurus, the bull, is quite low in the east shortly after nightfall. A star system in the constellation, V830 Tauri, contains the youngest planet yet discovered. V830 is to the upper left of Aldebaran, the bull’s bright eye, but you need a telescope to see it.

Fomalhaut, the brightest star of the southern fish, is low in the south at nightfall, far to the lower left of the Moon. It’s the only bright star in its region of the sky. A possible planet around the star recently was found to be only a cloud of dust.

The planet Saturn appears near the Moon this evening. It looks like a fairly bright star to the right of the Moon at nightfall. The much brighter planet Jupiter is a little farther from the Moon.

The Moon is in the southwest at nightfall. The giant planets Jupiter and Saturn line up to its upper left. Jupiter is closer to the Moon, and it’s by far the brighter of the two worlds.

When European sailors began exploring the southern hemisphere, they compiled maps of the stars. Astronomers used those maps to create some new constellations. One of those constellations moves low across the south on November evenings: Grus, the crane.

The Leonid meteor shower should be at its best tonight. The Moon is just past new, so it won’t get in the way of the fireworks. The shower isn’t at its best this year, so you might see a peak of a dozen or so meteors per hour in the wee hours of tomorrow morning.