November star map

The best news for stargazers in November is that Butler nights are much longer, and you can start your stargazing well before 7 p.m. For sure, it is cooler though, but once you’re out there with something warm in a thermos cup, you’re more than good to go!

This Wednesday we have a full moon. It’s considered a “supermoon” because it’s a little closer to Earth than average. Our lunar companion makes it tough for stargazers to see fainter stars and constellations. The second and third weeks of November will be better for evening stargazing with the moon pretty much out of the sky.

One of the major stories this November is the interstellar comet, 3I/ATLAS, an extremely rare comet from another star system. It was discovered in July, and this month it’s finally possible to see it, though not with your naked eye. Chances are you’ll need a fairly powerful telescope or a way to photograph it using a conventional astrophotography setup, or maybe one of those much less expensive all-in-one smart telescopes like SeeStar or Dwarf.

The comet may surprise us though and be brighter than expected. Comet 3I/ATLAS will be on the rise in predawn skies. Early in the month it rises in the eastern skies just before morning twilight kicks in but as November continues it’ll rise earlier and earlier. By the end of the month it’ll be better than halfway from the horizon to the zenith in the southeastern skies. The best way to find it is to use a stargazing app. Most of them, at least at the basic level, are free. I recommend either Sky Guide or Celestron Sky Portal.

Believe it or not, a few summer constellations are still available in the Western sky in the early evening. Cygnus the Swan, Lyra the Harp, Aquila the Eagle, Delphinus the Dolphin and a few others continue their gradual westward migration, making their slow exit from the evening stargazing stage.

In the high southern sky is one of the prime autumn constellations, Pegasus the Winged Horse, with Andromeda the Princess tagging along. Use your Sky Guide App to locate the Andromeda Galaxy, a great telescope target in the constellation Andromeda. If it’s dark enough where you're viewing from, it’s possible to see with the naked eye, well over 2 million light-years away.

Turn around and face north and you'll see an old friend, the Big Dipper, very low in the sky, and partially below the horizon in some locations. The Little Dipper, otherwise known as Ursa Minor, is hanging by its handle higher in the northern sky.

Cassiopeia the Queen, the constellation that looks like a giant sideways W, is proudly showing off her stuff in the high northeast. The W outlines the throne of Queen Cassiopeia, with her majesty tied up in it.

Just below Cassiopeia in the constellation Perseus, the Hero is an absolute must-see. It’s the Perseus Double Cluster. This one you can see for sure in the dark countryside. Just use a small telescope or binoculars. It’ll blow your mind! Through your field of view you’ll see two clusters of stars huddled close together. Astronomically, they’re young families of stars that all formed together, and they’re over 7,000 light-years away!

As November progresses you can’t help but notice a barrage of bright stars rising in the eastern heavens. These are many of the magnificent constellations of winter. My nickname for this part of the heavens is “Orion and his Gang.” It’s also called “The Winter Football,” among other names. The majestic constellation Orion the Hunter is the centerpiece.

Part of that gang includes the Pleiades, the best star cluster in the sky, resembling a miniature Big Dipper. By the way, the Pleiades are a little over 400 light-years away. If you magically “pull in” the aforementioned Perseus Double Cluster to the distance of the Pleiades, the Perseus Double Cluster would take up about a quarter of the sky!

Saturn is one of two planets you easily can see with the naked eye in the early evening. As evening twilight fades, it’s already well above the southeast horizon. Aim even a small telescope at Saturn, and you’ll see its ring system, but not as well as you usually can. The angle of the very thin ring system is still nearly on edge from our view on Earth, but month by month, that angle is opening up as Saturn and Earth travel along their individual orbits around the sun. For sure, you can, at least, since some of Saturn’s many moons, including Titan, its largest moon that’s as big as the planet Mercury.

If you’re a night owl stargazer, Jupiter will dazzle you, emerging from the east-southeast horizon around 11 p.m. the first week of November, but thanks to the Earth’s progression around the sun and the end of daylight saving time, the big guy of the solar system rises a little after 8 p.m. You can’t miss it! Jupiter will be the brightest starlike object in the evening sky this coming winter. With even a small telescope or decent binoculars, you can also catch the nightly show put on by Jupiter’s four moons.

Put on that warm jacket and enjoy the fabulous November night skies!

Mike Lynch is an amateur astronomer and professional broadcast meteorologist for WCCO Radio in Minneapolis/St. Paul. He is also the author of “Stars: a Month by Month Tour of the Constellations,” published by Adventure Publications and available at bookstores and at adventurepublications.net. Contact him at mikewlynch@comcast.net.