Thursday, November 17
The International Space Station will cross the sky from 5:49:56 to 5:55:25 a.m. (NW to ESE). Peak magnitude: -3.3; Highest altitude: 80°. Closest distance: 258 miles. As astronomical twilight ends and nautical twilight begins. 5:49:56 a.m. exits the shadow of the Earth near Algol in Perseus; 5:51:22 between Capella and Polaris in—you guessed it—Camelopardalis; 5:52:47 Coma Berenices; 5:53:55 left of Jupiter; 5:54:44 left of Spica.
A great Leonid meteor storm occurred, well observed over the Americas, 50 years ago (1966). Rates as high as 40 meteors per SECOND were observed!
Oleg Novitskiy (RSA, b. 1971, 2nd spaceflight), Thomas Pesquet (ESA, b. 1978, 1st spaceflight), and Peggy Whitson (NASA, b. 1960, 3rd spaceflight) are scheduled to launch from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan aboard the Soyuz MS-03 spacecraft on a mission to the International Space Station at 2:20 p.m.
Venus is closest to Kaus Borealis (Lambda Sagittarii) today during evening twilight. Use binoculars.
Friday, November 18
The International Space Station will cross the sky from 5:00:22 to 5:03:29 a.m. (NNE to ESE). Peak magnitude: -2.6; Highest altitude: 47°. Closest distance: 340 miles. 5:00:22 a.m. exits the shadow of the Earth in Draco; 5:00:38 Mizar & Alcor; 5:01:10 below Cor Caroli; 5:01:28 above Arcturus.
Saturday, November 19
The International Space Station will cross the sky from 5:43:35 to 5:48:06 a.m. (W to SSE). Peak magnitude: -2.8; Highest altitude: 43°. Closest distance: 363 miles. Astronomical twilight. 5:43:35 exits the shadow of the Earth in Taurus above Aldebaran and the Hyades; 5:44:54 just below Procyon; 5:45:16 below the Head of Hydra.
Space Shuttle Columbia (STS-80) began the longest Shuttle mission ever flown (17d 15h 53m), and mission specialist Story Musgrave (1935-) on his final space mission became the only person to fly on all five Space Shuttles, 20 years ago (1996).
Eileen Collins (1956-), American astronaut, celebrates her 60th birthday today.
Soyuz MS-03 is scheduled to dock with the International Space Station at 4:01 p.m.
An Atlas Centaur rocket body will cross the sky from 6:33:13 to 6:38:48 p.m. (SSW to ENE). Peak magnitude: +1.6; Highest altitude: 76°. Closest distance: 439 miles. 6:34:30 p.m. Capricornus; 6:35:00 left of Mars; 6:37:53 Square of Pegasus; 6:38:48 disappears into the shadow of the Earth in Andromeda to the right of Cassiopeia.
Sunday, November 20
Terry Lovejoy (1966-), Australian amateur astronomer who has discovered five comets, celebrates his 50th birthday today.
The 16.4-magnitude asteroid 430 Hybris may pass in front of the 10.6-magnitude star BD -3° 5037 in Aquarius (δ=-2.9°; spectral type unknown; 680-861 ly) for up to 1.4 seconds around 7:08:09 p.m. ± 2s. Probability of seeing the event along the predicted centerline is 48.9%.
Alpha Monocerotid meteors may be seen around this date (radiant, now in Canis Minor, rises at 9:39 p.m.; 17° high at moonrise at 11:13 p.m.; 25° at midnight).
Monday, November 21
Alpha Monocerotid meteors may be seen around this date (3 meteors per hour, more or less; radiant transits at 3:45 a.m., altitude 48°; expected worldwide peak around 5 a.m., 45°; radiant altitude 43° as morning twilight begins).
Last Quarter Moon, 2:33 a.m.; rises 11:13 p.m. Sunday; transits 6:09 a.m.; sets 12:57 p.m.; δ = +10° in Leo
Regulus is near the Moon before dawn; they are closest at 2:35 a.m. (Use binoculars and you will see 31 Leonis is even closer to the Moon at 2:35 a.m.)
The Iridium 47 satellite ("Silver") will sunglint to -2.9 magnitude around 6:38:22 p.m. at azimuth 29° (NNE) and altitude 40° (705 miles), in Camelopardalis, along a line between Capella and Polaris.
Wednesday, November 23
The 19.8-magnitude unnamed triple trans-Neptunian object 47171 (1999 TC36) may pass in front of the 14.5-magnitude star 4UC 481-003291 in Cetus (δ=+6.2°; spectral type & distance unknown) for up to 18.9 seconds around 2:05:42 a.m. ± 3.1m. Probability of seeing the event along the predicted centerline is 4.1%.
Zavijava (β Virginis) is near the Moon this morning before dawn.
Saturn and Mercury are closest today, very low in the SW during bright evening twilight. Use binoculars.
The Moon crosses the celestial equator heading south at 8:05 p.m. (below horizon).
The 15.7-magnitude asteroid 1801 Titicaca may pass in front of the 6.2-magnitude star 39 Gem in Gemini (δ=+26.1°; F7V; 152-159 ly) for up to 3.6 seconds around 8:19:56 p.m. ± 11s. Probability of seeing the event along the predicted centerline is 17.7%. For more information, visit http://asteroidoccultation.com/asteroid.htm.
Thursday, November 24
Porrima (γ Virginis) is near the Moon as morning twilight begins.
Sound far-fetched? There has been talk for years about eventually placing observatories on the Moon. It is probably not cost effective for optical telescopes (space telescopes are cheaper and at least as effective), but placing radio telescopes on the farside of the Moon would be ideal for radio astronomy since the entire body of the Moon would shield the sensitive instruments from the ever growing cacophony of terrestrial radio interference.
China plans to put a communications satellite in a halo orbit about the Earth-Moon L2 Lagrangian point in June 2018, and then land on the farside of the Moon (a first!) towards the end of 2018 or in early 2019 with the Chang'e 4 lander and rover. The Dutch are collaborating with China to include a small radio telescope as part of the instrument package on board the Chang'e lander. Data will be relayed back to Earth through the L2 lunar communications satellite.
At extreme perigee, the Earth-Moon L2 Lagrangian point is located 37,807 miles from the center of the Moon on the opposite side of the Earth. At that distance, the Moon subtends an angle of 11.96° and the Earth directly behind it subtends an angle of 0.47°.
At extreme apogee, the Earth-Moon L2 Lagrangian point is located 42,405 miles from the center of the Moon on the opposite side of the Earth. At that distance, the Moon subtends an angle of 10.67° and the Earth directly behind it subtends an angle of 0.42°.
Since at the lunar L2 point the Moon looms about 25 times larger than the Earth, the L2 halo orbit will have to be large enough to allow direct line-of-sight transmission to the Earth.
