Caoimhín's Content

Today, we are still looking at the night sky in November, but we will concentrate on the constellations. In a recent video we looked ahead to the month of November to point out various objects such as Venus, along with some of the upcoming meteor showers. Later this month we will have Mercury’s greatest elongation, which may not be visible from here in Ireland, as well as a Full Moon which is already being described as a supermoon.

We will look forward first just to the 11th of November. As we are going to deal with the constellations, the Moon and the planets don’t really matter too much. Last year at this time and on this date, the constellations were in the same places, and have been for hundreds and thousands of years. The planets and Moon of course vary depending on the year. For a given date, say the 11th of November, the Moon isn’t going to be in the same place at the same time on that date every year. We use a solar calendar rather than a lunar calendar. Of course the bright light of the Moon doesn’t help us spot constellations, moving a few days further forward will get the Moon out of the way. Even early in the evening we can see Jupiter, Saturn and Venus, but we won’t worry about those too much,. This is still nice and early in the evening just 6:30. From here in Ireland at this time of the year it will be reasonably dark that early in the evening.

We can see the summer triangle, which is of course not a constellation but an asterism. It is drifting further west and beginning to set earlier. Starting to become the prominent shape in the middle of the sky once the sky is dark enough is the Square of Pegasus. We are moving from the summer triangle to this more winter time square. Of course, we can’t use the square of Pegasus to estimate the season the way we can with the summer triangle, it’s more of a roughly autumn time shape, and not very exact. However, that does bring Pegasus, a famous mythological creature, nice and high in the sky. The Square of Pegasus extends East into a line of stars, those being the constellation Andromeda, and just beyond them there is fin shape for Perseus. A little higher, along the path of the Milky Way is a W for Cassiopeia. A little lower and we can see a kind of a pentagonal shape for Auriga,

Turning around to the North we’ve got the Plough, really quite low in the beginning of the night for the next couple of evenings. The Plough is directly under the North Star if we move a little bit later. The Plough is circumpolar for us here in Ireland, so no matter the time of year or night, as long as you’re not in the bottom of a valley or next to huge buildings, the Plough is going to stay above the horizon. Here in Ireland we’re at around 52 to 54 degrees North, depending on where you are exactly. That’s how high the North Star is going to be in the sky for us. If you’re right down at the equator, the North Star will be down at the horizon, but we can see there’s still quite a bit of distance between the North Star and the Plough. Even if the North Star is still in the sky, if it were just a bit lower in the sky, the Plough would be under the horizon for this moment in time. If you are living closer to the equator, whether that’s the south of Europe or North Africa, the Plough may dip under the horizon for a while at certain times of the night. Even if you’re in Algeria or Tunisia, you’re still in the Northern Hemisphere, but you may be close enough to the equator that the Plough can dip under the horizon. The same as true for Southern parts of the United States of America and Mexico. For us, it really doesn’t matter the time of year, we’re always going to see the Plough from here in Ireland. Just next to the North Star is the second brightest star in Ursa Minor, and Ursa Minor is region between those two stars, two of the only ones visible in this direction from a city. Some people call the shape of Ursa Minor the Little Dipper and the Big Dipper is the Plough pointing up to it.

This is what we can see in the evening from the city, even with light pollution there are several constellations that are visible to the naked eye and recognisable to the naked eye. If we take a look at Vega in the summer triangle, we know Vega is in the constellation of Lyra, but we’re not really seeing any of the other stars in that constellation. The same is true with Altair in Aquila, you might see a couple of the other stars there, but they are quite faint. Taking a look at Deneb in Cygnus, we can at least see some of the stars that make up the wings and if you’ve got good eyes you might be able to pick out Albireo, almost in the center of the triangle, which is part of the constellation of Cygnus as well. These things are all visible to the naked eye even from the city. Moving forward towards morning time there are some of the more famous constellations. Some I have talked about extensively, of course Orion, one of the most recognisable shapes in the sky. We’ve also got the brightest star Sirius as part of Canis Major. Pollux and Castor are clearly visible for the heads of Gemini. Aldebaran is easy enough to see, though it might be a little bit tricky to see the V of the Hyades attached to Aldebaran. this is the front of Taurus, and the Pleiades or the Seven Sisters are at the back of Taurus. All of these things are absolutely visible to naked eye from the city. Technically there is a lot more, if we take a look North again, some of these stars are in the constellation Draco but they are going to be quite faint. They are visible but they are going to be a little tricky to pick out. Especially with the Moon rising close to morning time later in the month, some faint stars may be obscured. You can still just about see Cor Caroli, the brightest star in Canes Venatici, just under the Plough, but we’re not seeing the whole constellation there.

As I say, that is what we can see from the city. I almost always say that we will look at the sky from the countryside so things are a little bit easier to see, but of course it’s not a small change, the difference is quite significant. From a dark sky in the countryside, we can definitely see the other stars that make up the constellation of Lyra and we’re definitely seeing the rest of Cygnus even if it’s difficult to pick out which stars are which. We can even see that little kind of rhombus shape there for Delphinus between Deneb and Altair. We can see a lot more of the stars that are part of the constellation Aquila with the bright star Altair, but it is quite low in the sky. Looking to the South, just above Saturn this year. The square-ish shape for the Square of Pegasus is still clear, although it isn’t exactly a square but at least it is nice and obvious. The stars that make it up are bright, they stand out from the background, which we would expect given that they’re visible in the city. The fin shape of Perseus is still there although it is a little trickier to pick out from the background stars and we still have that W shape of Cassiopeia, Turning around towards the North and now we’ve really got the full shape of the Big Bear, Ursa Major, not just the Plough or the Big Dipper. We can absolutely see the rest of the Little Dipper there as well and we can see that kind of curvy shape of Draco. Those stars are still faint and difficult to pick out from the background, but they’re certainly visible.

This is what we’re getting as the Sun goes down, even quite early, just coming up to 7 o’clock. We’ll push forward towards morning time, but not too close to morning time, not all the way to Sun rise but certainly a little bit closer. If the Moon is out, it will bring a little bit of extra light with it, but if we’re looking for stars in the countryside it won’t matter too much. For fainter objects the light of the Moon of course will have an influence. The tail of the Big Dipper is in the Northeast and we can see both of the stars that make up the constellation of the Hunting Dogs, Canes Venatici. Continuing to turn back around to the South, we’re seeing more of Gemini the Twins but again it’s those two bright stars that are really prominent. Procyon, the brightest star in Canis Minor, is nice and bright but it is difficult to fill in the constellation of the Little Dog. With the Big Dog, Canis Major, we can kind of see a dog-like shape there now that we’re the countryside, but of course the lines of the constellations would really really help. The bright star Capella is nice and high by morning in the constellation Auriga.

These are some of the more famous constellations, all along the Southern horizon are more constellations, but they’re not quite as famous and they’re often not quite as obvious. Even some famous constellations are hard to spot. For example, we have the shape of Leo the Lion, the Sickle of Leo in the East and we’ve got the two brightest stars in Gemini. In between Leo and Gemini is Cancer the Crab, but even in the darkest part of the countryside it’s pretty difficult to pick out that shape. With the lines of the constellations to help us it is easily visible, and we can see the line that makes up Canis Minor with Procyon it’s brightest star at one end. Canis Major looks reasonably like a dog with the lines, and Gemini looks reasonably like twins. The Big Bear, maybe, kind of, looks like a bear, though I know that one’s a little difficult to imagine. The Little Bear certainly doesn’t look like a bear cub. There’s a “child’s drawing of a house”-shape of Cepheus and next to it Cassiopeia the W. The Square of Pegasus is neatly outlined, and beneath it what would be Cetus the Whale, another pretty difficult constellation to imagine.

Pulling back towards the earlier time of 6:30 or 7, o’clock, with the lines of the constellations we can see that Saturn is in the constellation of Aquarius. This kind of abstract shape doesn’t have that many bright stars, but if you find Saturn, you’ve found Aquarius. In a similar way, finding Jupiter puts you in Taurus, but of course Taurus is that little bit easier to recognise than Aquarius. The lines also help us see how the Pegasus constellation joins into the Andromeda constellation. On its own Andromeda can be a tricky one to spot. You can also see Sagitta and Vulpecula the two small constellations that are inside the summer triangle but aren’t part of the constellations that make up its corners. Just above the West, we’ve also got Hercules and Corona Borealis. We are still expecting a nova, a bright “new” star in Corona Borealis, it should happen eventually.

Bringing up the artwork of the constellations fills in more of the details. It’s easy to see the three parts of the summer triangle, the Swan, the Lyre and the Eagle, are a lot easier to recognise nowith pictures to help. Pegasus of course is the Winged Horse, with the “Maiden of the Rock” Andromeda. Triangulum just underneath it looks like a triangle with just the lines and with the artwork. It can be a tricky constellation to spot, it does look like a triangle but then again, it is only a triangle. It’s not quite as recognisable as the pentagonal shape of Auriga or the very recognisable shape of The Plough or the Big Dipper. Another tough to spot constellation is the Unicorn coming up with Procyon in Canis Minor. It is called Monoceros, because it only has one horn, the same why rhinoceros which has a horn on its nose It is a very difficult constellation to spot without the artwork as it is mostly faint stars.

Continuing on towards morning time, with Moneceros above the Horizon, all of Canis Major will come above the horizon as well, with Canis Minor very much looking Minor compared to the Major, just on the other side of the Unicorn. The Big Dog and Little Dog are joined by two more dogs, the Hunting Dogs of Canes Venatici, just underneath the Big Bear. Turning around Northwards in the morning time, and with the artwork Draco is far more prominent than its faint stars would imply. The Little Dipper or Ursa Minor along with the Big Dipper inside Ursa Major are visible almost superimposed over the shapes of the Big Bear and the Little Bear. The W of Cassiopeia and the kind of house shape of Cepheus continue to bear little obvious similarities to the King and Queen the images show. We’ve also got Cameleopardalis the Giraffe, above the North Star early in the morning.

This is just a quick sort of update on what constellations are going to be where over the course of November. They are slowly changing, but we’re not quite back into the real winter time, when we’ll see Orion and Taurus close to sunset. However, we’re also not in summertime when we saw the summer triangle and constellations like Scorpius and Sagittarius all night long. We are very much in transition, seeing these constellations kind of halfway, some of the summer constellations at sunset and the winter constellations before sunrise, but we’re not quite fully changed over to what we’d expect for the long dark winter nights yet. I do hope you enjoyed this update, if you did like this piece please do like it, you can also subscribe to this website and my YouTube channel to support future work. Thank you for reading and hopefully I’ll see you back here next time.