THE SOUTHERN HEMISPHERE
With Glenn Dawes
Look out for the peaks of two meteor showers, the Northern Taurids and the Leonids
When to use this chart
1 Nov at 00:00 AEDT (13:00 UT) 15 Nov at 23:00 AEDT (12:00 UT) 30 Nov at 22:00 AEDT (11:00 UT)
NOVEMBER HIGHLIGHTS
November is a good month for meteor showers. The Northern Taurids are active from 20 October to 10 December, and expected to peak around 12 November. With a radiant near the Pleiades, they are slow moving, often producing colourful fireballs. The Leonids can be seen in November, from the 6th to 30th, with a peak expected on 18th. The radiant is close to the Sickle of Leo. With new Moon on the 15th, the early morning skies on the dates of both peaks should be Moon-free.
THE PLANETS
Brilliant Jupiter has now moved into the western evening sky with Saturn behind (4° eastward). These gas giants follow the Teapot of Sagittarius, departing just before midnight. Mars is well placed to observe, transiting the meridian
DEEP-SKY OBJECTS
This month we take a deep-sky dive into the constellation of Fornax. The three stars that make up Chi Fornacis are around 6th magnitude and can be viewed with binoculars. Arranged in the shape of a right-angled triangle, they also fit in an eyepiece field (0.5°). The ‘right-angle’ star, Chi2 (RA 3h 27.5m, dec. -35° 41’) is the brightest at mag. +5.7 and yellower than its white companions. Chi3 is a double with mag. +6.5 and +10 stars separated by 6.4”.
The chart accurately matches the sky on the dates and times shown for Sydney, Australia. The sky is different at other times as the stars crossing it set four minutes earlier each night. mid-evening. Like Mars, Uranus and Neptune are also high in the northern evening sky. Turning to the morning, Venus is dropping towards the Sun and is visible low at dawn, while Mercury can be glimpsed below Venus deep in the brightening sky.
The ‘Chi’ stars are the gateway to the Fornax 1 Galaxy Cluster. Move 2° to the north-northeast to discover the edge-on spiral galaxy NGC 1380 (RA 3h 36.5m, dec -34° 59’). Glowing at a respectable mag. +9.9, it has a bright halo (3’ x 1’), unlike many other fainter galaxies in the group. NGC 1380 is impressive as it features a non-stellar nucleus embedded in a prominent circular core.