Nan at Night by Nancy Hoyt
-Thursday the 5th: A myriad of bright stars twinkles across the firmament early this evening. High in the west look for Vega, Deneb and Altair, the stars of the Summer Triangle. Fomalhaut is low in the south, with yellow-orange Capella low in the northeast.
-Friday the 6th: Happy Birthday Dave! Deneb Kaitos, “the tail of the whale,” swims through the southern sky. The moderately bright orange star forms the tail of Cetus, the whale. Around 10 p.m., it appears about halfway between the southern horizon and the point directly overhead.
-Saturday the 7th: Pollux and Castor, the “heads” of the Gemini twins, stand to the upper left of the Moon in late evening. Pollux is closer to the Moon and looks orange. Another bright orange dot of light, the planet Mars, is to the lower left of the Moon. The Moon is at perigee, its closest point to Earth this cycle.
-Sunday the 8th: The bright orange planet Mars huddles close to the Moon tonight. They rise before midnight and stand high overhead at first light tomorrow.
-Monday the 9th: Regulus, the brightest star of Leo, the lion, is a little to the lower left of the Moon as they rise after midnight tonight, with brighter Mars above them. The Moon is half-lit in its last quarter stage.
-Tuesday the 10th: Aldebaran, the “eye” of Taurus, the bull, is in good view in the east by 8 or 9 p.m. The star is nearing the end of its life, so it is undergoing a series of dramatic changes. Those changes have caused Aldebaran to puff up like an orange balloon.
-Thursday the 12th: Saturn, which looks like a bright star, is to the left of the Moon at first light this morning, Spica, the “spike” or wheat in the hand of Virgo, the maiden, is to their lower right.
“The bright, beautiful constellations of winter creep into prime viewing time during the longer, cooler nights of November. Beautiful Orion rises in mid-evening early in the month, but by early evening at month’s end. Taurus, the bull, charges into view ahead of Orion, with Gemini, the twins, rising to the north of Orion. The Dog Star Sirius, the brightest star in the night sky, follows the hunter in late evening. Venus, the “morning star,” disappears in the dawn glare by month’s end, but Mars is growing brighter as we head toward winter.”
