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NightwatchNovember, 2009There are fireworks a-plenty during the month of November. We’re not talking about Bonfire Night but fireworks of the celestial type, in the form of three different meteor showers. The first is the Taurids meteor shower which has a rate of 10 meteors per hour. Look for these in the early hours of the 12th. Next up is the Leonids which have an hourly rate of 15 meteors per hour and can be seen on the 17th of the month. Finally we see the Andromadids meteor shower which has an hourly rate of 5 meteors per hour and will peak on the 25th. Meteor showers are caused when dusty particles from a comets tail enters our atmosphere at great speeds and burn up. The gas giant Jupiter is still visible low down in the south and is easy to find as its brightness is only outshone by the moon. See if you can spot its four huge moons orbiting around the planet using just a pair of binoculars. The winter constellations are coming into view now including Taurus and Orion. See if you can spot the beautiful star cluster at the shoulder of the bull called the Pleiades, also known as the Seven Sisters. Also coming into view in the early hours is the constellation Gemini the twins. Look just below these in a straight line and you will come to the red planet Mars. Mars is easy to spot because of its red hue. Nightwatch ArchiveBrowse by year: 2009 | 2008 | 2007 | 2006 | 2005 | 2004 | Annual meteor shower chart |
