November is an especially favorable month for planet watching, with notable targets available both after sunset and before sunrise. Saturn dominates the evening sky, while Venus, Mercury, Mars and Jupiter provide a changing display in the morning hours.
Saturn is visible well up in the southern sky during the middle and later evening. It shines at magnitude +0.6, appearing as a steady yellowish light, and remains well placed for telescopic viewing throughout the month. Its rings are currently tilted about 6.5 degrees toward Earth. On Nov. 18, Saturn will appear about 6 degrees below the waxing gibbous moon.
Mars and Jupiter rise above the east-northeast horizon around the middle of the night. Mars begins November near Jupiter, passes 1.2 degrees to the upper left of the giant planet on Nov. 16, and then moves farther east during the rest of the month. Mars brightens from magnitude +0.9 to +0.6, and on Nov. 26 it will pass 1.7 degrees from Regulus in Leo, creating a striking orange-yellow and blue-white contrast.
Jupiter is bright enough to stand out as a silvery, steady point of light. It is high enough for a steadier telescopic view by about 3 a.m., although its cloud belts and Red Spot are easier to see when the planet is highest in the southeast after dawn begins. On Nov. 29 and into Nov. 30, Jupiter, Mars, Regulus and the waning gibbous moon will form a group stretching roughly 7 degrees across the sky.
Venus becomes increasingly prominent in the predawn east-southeast sky. It rises 55 minutes before the Sun on Nov. 1, but by the end of November it rises nearly 3.5 hours before sunrise and reaches almost 35 degrees above the horizon at sunrise. Venus reaches magnitude -4.9 on Nov. 29, its brightest point of the month. Through a telescope, the planet may show a very thin crescent early in November.
Venus passes near Spica in Virgo during the month. On Nov. 3, Spica appears 2.4 degrees to Venus's upper right, while their closest approach comes around Nov. 19, when the star is 1.8 degrees to the planet's upper left. On Nov. 7, Venus, Spica and a waning crescent moon will fit inside a circle about 2.5 degrees wide low in the east-southeast sky, roughly an hour before sunrise.
Mercury is hidden by its inferior conjunction with the Sun on Nov. 4, then emerges into the eastern morning sky after the second week. From Nov. 16 through Nov. 26, it rises in the east-southeast more than 95 minutes before sunrise. Mercury reaches its greatest western elongation, 20 degrees from the Sun, on Nov. 20, making this its most favorable morning appearance of the year for observers in the mid-northern latitudes.
When estimating distances between objects, a clenched fist held at arm's length spans roughly 10 degrees. Observers should also account for the clock change on Nov. 1, when clocks are set back one hour from Daylight Saving Time.
Sources: Space.com.