First-Quarter Moon
The Moon reaches first quarter tonight. It lines up at a right angle to the line between Earth and the Sun, so sunlight illuminates half of the lunar hemisphere that faces our way.
Orion Rising
One of the icons of winter nights is climbing higher into the evening sky: Orion the hunter. The constellation is in good view in the east by about 9 p.m. Look for Orion’s belt of three moderately bright stars pointing straight up from the horizon.
Wet Skies
The Moon is wading into the Celestial Sea, a region of the sky filled with watery constellations. Tonight, it lines up near the western border of Capricornus, the sea-goat, which spreads to the left and upper left of the Moon.
Evening Stars
Myriad bright stars twinkle across the sky early this evening. In the west, look for the stars of the Summer Triangle, Vega, Deneb, and Altair. Fomalhaut is low in the south, and yellow-orange Capella is low in the northeast.
Speedy Star
Pisces, the fishes, stretches across the east and southeast at nightfall. The constellation is best known for a pentagon of faint stars near its top right corner. You need fairly dark skies to make them out, however.
Messier 30
Messier 30, an interloper from another galaxy, scoots low across the southwestern sky on November evenings. It’s a tight family of hundreds of thousands of stars. The stars probably belonged to another galaxy that was consumed by the Milky Way long ago.
Southern Fish
Piscis Austrinus, the southern fish, is in the south this evening. It contains only one bright star, Fomalhaut, which marks the fish’s mouth. The white star is just 25 light-years from Earth.
Great Square
The Great Square of Pegasus passes high across the south on November evenings. Its right side points down toward Fomalhaut, the brightest star of Piscis Austrinus, the southern fish.
New Moon
The Moon will reach its “new” phase tonight. It will cross the line between Earth and the Sun, so it’s hidden in the Sun’s brilliant glare. The Moon will return to view on Saturday evening as a thin crescent low in southwest during twilight,
Uranus at Opposition
The planet Uranus reaches opposition this week. It lines up opposite the Sun, so it rises around sunset and is in view all night. It shines brightest for the year, although you need binoculars to see it, close to the Pleiades star cluster.