Mars is small to begin with, about half the diameter of Earth, and most of the time it is on the other side of its orbit from us. That tends to make it a plain orange blob, even in telescopes, without the details that make the larger planets so interesting.
This time around, Mars will be high overhead for observers at mid-northern latitudes, unlike the previous few close approaches. Riding above the thick lower layers of our atmosphere in the constellation Gemini the Twins, it will be an arresting sight in a clear, dark sky. The bright orange object will catch the eye as soon as it rises in the east-southeast, around 8:30 p.m. local time as the month begins and two hours earlier by month's end. It will double in brightness during November.
The surface detail that can be seen with telescopes will depend on what is in Mars' atmosphere as well as our own. Major dust storms on Mars in July and August may have left debris still swirling about that will take time to settle. Observers can only wait and watch to find out.
Some images of Mars can be viewed at the Web site of the International Mars Watch at
http://elvis.rowan.edu/marswatch/images.php as well as at
http://www.lpl.arizona.edu/~rhill/alpo/mars.html . Both sites include information on observing and imaging Mars.
Jupiter will be bright as always, but it will be very low in the southwest at dusk, getting lower each week. Our turbulent atmosphere will obscure much of its detail, but its four bright moons will still be easily visible. By month's end, Jupiter will set about an hour after the sun.
Saturn will follow the bright star Regulus up into the eastern sky around midnight. Seen through a telescope, Saturn's famous rings are now tilted closer to edgewise than they have been in a decade.
The dazzling "morning star" in the east will be Venus, rising more than an hour after Saturn and nearly four hours before the sun. As the month passes, Saturn will move higher while Venus remains near the sun in the constellation Virgo, easily outshining all of the stars there.
Mercury will make its best pre-dawn appearance of the year for observers in the Northern Hemisphere during November. Rising in the east-southeast about 90 minutes before the sun at the start of the month, the innermost planet will reach its greatest elevation above the horizon on Nov. 8. The bright star Spica will be nearby on the right (south) and a bit fainter. After passing its peak, Mercury will sink rapidly back toward the glow of sunrise, disappearing by month's end.
Meteor shower
The annual Leonid meteor shower will peak on the night of Nov. 17-18. The Leonids appear to radiate from the constellation Leo the Lion. They are caused by streams of fast-moving dust particles from Comet Tempel-Tuttle, which rounds the sun every 33 years.
Watch for meteors after midnight local time as sickle-shaped Leo gets higher in the east. That is when your part of the planet will be rotating into the path of the oncoming meteors. The higher Leo is above the horizon, the more meteors will appear all over the sky. The bright star Regulus is part of Leo and can serve as a marker for the radiant, the point from which the meteors appear to come. The first-quarter moon will set before meteors begin to appear, so in a clear sky there may be as many as 20 to 40 meteors per hour after 3 a.m.
Light pollution wipes out many meteors for observers, so choose a dark site with an open view of as much of the sky as possible. Give your eyes at least 15 minutes to adjust to the dark. A lawn chair and blanket will help you stay comfortable as you watch the sky.
More information about meteor showers is available from the American Meteor Society at:
http://www.amsmeteors.org/showers.html .
Light pollution
Satellite imagery showing the extent of light pollution can be viewed at
http://earth.google.com , which has a free program called Google Earth that can be downloaded. Look under "Featured Content," "NASA" and "Earth City Lights." You can locate patches of darker sky nearest your home, as well as the roads to reach them. The image resolution is a few kilometers, so you may not be able to find dark spots in the suburbs, for example. That may change if a recent proposal for a "light-pollution satellite" is approved. Its goal would be to provide 50- to 100-meter resolution for the globe at night, mapping the entire planet once a year.
Moon phases
The moon will be at third quarter on Nov. 1, new on Nov. 9, at first quarter on Nov. 17 and full on Nov. 24.
Source: Indiana University
Related stories:
August brings the Perseid meteors and a cluster of planets
(PhysOrg.com) -- The annual Perseid meteor shower will peak before dawn on Aug. 12. This year the Perseids will be competing with the nearly full moon at first, but after the moon sets there will be many bright streaks in the sky.
Probing Question: What are Shooting Stars?
In the early morning darkness on April 15, 1912, as the R.M.S. Titanic was sinking in the freezing Atlantic, survivors witnessed a large number of streaking lights in the sky, which many believed to be the souls of their drowning loved ones passing to heaven.
The moon meets the Pleiades in April
The Pleiades star cluster will have a beautiful encounter with the slender moon in the western sky after sunset on April 8. Usually the moon's brightness overpowers nearby stars, but not when it's such a thin crescent. Binoculars will reveal the spectacle as the moon passes just below the famous Seven Sisters.
Venus, Saturn and Regulus cluster before dawn in October
Venus, Saturn and Regulus will dance a pas de trois low in the eastern sky an hour before sunrise during October, with the crescent moon joining them on Oct 7.
Natural fireworks, courtesy of the Perseid meteor shower
As the Perseid meteor shower becomes visible in all its glory on 13 August, natural fireworks will fill the sky. Showers of meteors, or ‘shooting stars’, appear as bright streaks of light in the sky. The display runs through the night.
Saturn dominates the night sky in January
The highlight of January will be the planet Saturn, which will rise in the east around 8 p.m. local time at the start of the month and two hours earlier by month's end. The planet with the famous rings will be almost at its biggest and brightest as it crosses the southern sky, remaining visible most of the night.
December offers meteor shower and cluster of three planets
The Geminid meteor shower is usually the best of the year, but it tends to take a back seat to the Perseid shower of August. The Perseids have the advantage of a pleasant summer night, while the Geminids have a major problem in attracting spectators -- it takes dedication to wait patiently outdoors in the biting cold of a December night. At least you don't have to deal with biting mosquitoes.
Rare high-altitude clouds found on Mars
Planetary scientists have discovered the highest clouds above any planetary surface. They found them above Mars using the SPICAM instrument on board ESA's Mars Express spacecraft. The results are a new piece in the puzzle of how the Martian atmosphere works.
