Monday 13th to Sunday 19th November 2023
On Monday 13th, planet Uranus reaches opposition when it will be shining at its brightest. With a magnitude of around +5.6 it could just be seen with the naked eye from a very dark location that has zero light pollution.
If you look towards the east around 6pm, Jupiter will be easy to spot due east, with the Pleiades open cluster of stars to the left of it. Uranus will be located half way between the two.
It may be difficult to identify the planet amongst the background stars, so I have provided a star chart to help you select the correct pinpoint of light!
The early morning of Saturday 18th sees the peak of the Leonids meteor shower, so named because the radiant point where the meteors appear to originate from is near the head of the lion in the constellation of Leo.
From 1am on the Saturday morning, Leo will have risen above the horizon towards the east.
By 4am, Leo will have moved towards the south east and a very bright planet Venus will be rising towards the east with the constellation of Virgo as its backdrop.
At its peak, the Leonids meteor shower can produce up to 12 shooting stars per hour which are debris left by comet Tempel-Tuttle entering the Earth's atmosphere at speeds of up to 70 km/s.
www.starsoversomerset.com
Screenshots courtesy of Stellarium
Copyright Adrian Dening and Radio Ninesprings 2023
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