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This is the Griffith Observatory Sky Report for the week ending Wednesday, November 14, 2012. Here is what’s happening in the skies of Southern California:
The brightest evening planet, Jupiter, is in Taurus the Bull. Jupiter can’t be missed in the east-northeast after it clears the horizon at about 6:30 p.m., and is high enough for detailed telescope observation about two hours later. Jupiter is at its highest, 77 degrees above the southern horizon, at 1:30 a.m. Jupiter then slowly moves toward the west by dawn.
The Hubble Space Telescope will treat sky watchers in southern California to nightly appearances this week. From Los Angeles, the satellite will reach its apex–the highest point of its path across the sky–between 28 degrees and 30 degrees above the southern horizon each night starting on Friday the 9th. NASA’s famous orbiting telescope will be visible for about three minutes, moving up from the southwest through Sagittarius the Archer and Capricornus the Sea Goat, and then will disappear into earth’s shadow while at its apex. The HST will be highest at 6:44 p.m. on the 9th, 6:40 on Saturday the 10th, 6:36 p.m. on Sunday the 11th, 6:32 on Monday the 12th, and 6:27 on Tuesday the 13th.
The waning crescent moon is visible in the early morning sky until Monday the 12th. It will be next to the brightest planet, Venus, on Sunday the 11th. On the following morning, Monday the 12th, the moon is to the right of the planet Saturn, now returning to visibility after last month’s solar conjunction. The pairing of Saturn and the moon is best seen at 5:55 a.m. New moon is on Tuesday the 13th, and will produce a total eclipse of the sun, visible only from northern Australia and the southern Pacific Ocean. The total phase of the eclipse happens between 11:37 a.m. and 4:45 p.m., P.S.T. The eclipse is not visible from any portion of the United States.
About half an hour before Saturn and the moon are at their best on the 12th, the International Space Station will pass across the early morning sky as seen from Los Angeles. The satellite, matching Jupiter in brightness, will move from the southwest to the northeast horizon between 5:15 and 5:22 a.m., and will reach its apex, 63 degrees high in the southeast, at 5:18 a.m., P.S.T. For possible updates to these times, or for satellite visibility from other locations, register your viewing location on www.heavens-above.com.
Free views of the sun during the day and of the moon, planets, and other celestial objects at night, are available to the public in clear weather five days a week (Wednesday-Sunday) through Griffith Observatory’s telescopes before 9:30 p.m. Check our website for our schedule. The next Griffith Observatory public star party, hosted by Los Angeles Astronomical Society, the Sidewalk Astronomers, and the Planetary Society, is scheduled for Saturday, November 17.
From Griffith Observatory, I’m Anthony Cook, and I can be reached at griffithobserver@gmail.com.