Here's this month's 'Night Sky' newsletter from Cosmic Pursuits for November 2020 for your reading and observing pleasure...

 

1. All five bright planets are visible this month including the still large and bright planet Mars. If you missed the Red Planet so far (as I have) then early November presents your last good chance. This month also features a couple of meteor showers and plenty of sights to see in the deep sky with a telescope and binoculars. Here's what's going on in the Night Sky This Month.

 

2. Off the eastern 'wing tip' of Cygnus, the Swan, lies the intricate and beautiful Veil Nebula, the remnant of a long-expired star that detonated as a supernova. In this month's observing article you learn more about this astonishing complex and read my 'three-word report' of how it appeared to me when I saw it through a 25-inch telescope many years ago.

 

3. While not the visual equal of their closer-by planetary brethren, Uranus and Neptune still make for worthy viewing in a small telescope, if only to get a glimpse of these distant ice giants at the edge of the solar system. Uranus lies just south of the constellation Aries this month while Neptune lies further west not far from the star Phi Aquarii. This short guide gives you a few tips to help you see these faraway frozen worlds.

 

4. A video for a cloudy night: a rocket launch as seen from the International Space Station.

 

5. Sean Carroll's excellent Mindscape podcast features Nobel-Prize winner Adam Riess on the expansion of the universe and the current 'crisis in cosmology'.

 

6. 'Uncle Rod' Mollise recounts his two recent astrophotography efforts to capture Mars and get his annual shot of the globular cluster M13.

 

7. They're not nearly as bright as the lovely recent Comet NEOWISE, but two fainter comets are making a close approach to Earth over the next couple of months. David Dickinson has the details at Universe Today.

 

8. Some updates, images, and video of the ongoing sample return mission to the asteroid Bennu.

 

9. For the ultimate 'grab and go' observing experience, my preferred tools are the compact and slightly weird little 'Super Wide' 2.1x42 binoculars by Vixen and the similar 2.3x40 binoculars from Kasai Trading. In this detailed review, I do a side-by-side comparison and observing report. Great little tools for casual stargazing in dark sky!

 

10. Time for some jazz, I think. The connection to astronomy here is tenuous, but this piece by the brilliant pianist Keith Jarrett and his associates shares its name with the renowned Questar telescopes once considered the best that money could buy. Enjoy!

 

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Clear Skies!

 

Brian Ventrudo

Publisher