NASA’s monthly skywatching tips include a rare lunar occultation

NASA has just released its monthly tips for what to look out for in the sky during November.

There are several planets that will be easy to spot over the coming month. Saturn, for example, will be viewable in the evenings toward the south, and if you’re looking from the Americas, the planet will appear to have a close meetup with the moon on November 10. “Check the sky again around midnight, and you’ll see the moon has visibly shifted a couple of degrees west of Saturn, showing evidence of the moon’s orbital motion in just a few hours,” NASA explained in its most recent monthly post.

The space agency also notes that Jupiter is rising in the east early in the night in November — along with the bright stars of the constellations Taurus and Orion — and working its way across the sky by dawn. By the end of the month, Jupiter will be rising just as the sky is getting dark. And look out for the orange dot of Mars, too, as it rises behind Jupiter about three hours later. Early risers will also find Mars high overhead in the morning sky before dawn.

Keep your eyes peeled for the blazing bright Venus, too, which can be spotted in the evening sky, low in the southwest, following sunset throughout the month.

Lunar occultation

Several hours before sunrise on November 27, skywatchers in the eastern half of the U.S. and Canada have an opportunity to witness an occultation. This is an astronomical event in which one celestial object is hidden by another one that passes between it and the observer, when the nearer object appears larger and completely obscures the more distant celestial object. In this case, Earth’s moon will pass in front of the star Spica.

“This occultation is one of a series that began in June and will continue monthly through late next year,” NASA explained. “These happen as the moon’s orbit slowly shifts northward and southward across the sky, and every so often, its path crosses in front of Spica monthly for a time. But each occultation is only visible from a small portion of Earth. For example, while this November event favors North American viewers, South American observers will get their chance next April. For U.S. skywatchers, this November occultation is the last good opportunity in this series to see the moon occult Spica until 2032, when a new series of monthly occultations will begin for locations across the globe.”

There’s plenty to keep an eye out for over the coming weeks. Just hope for clear skies, and for the best view try to get to a place where there’s minimal light pollution from things like street lights.