November, the eleventh month, is named after the Latin word “novem” for ninth. Remember that the pre-Julian Roman calendar started its year with what is today March, which would have made November the ninth month.

Focus on the planets

Mercury is at superior conjunction, or on the opposite side of the sun from Earth this month and lost to view.

Venus appears on the southeastern horizon at dawn by the end of the first week of November. This reportedly is the best time of the year to view our dazzling sister planet, which rises earlier each morning and is well up on the horizon at sunrise by mid-month.

Mars rises about two hours before dawn and is well up on the eastern horizon, situated above far-brighter Venus, as the sun makes its appearance.

Jupiter rises around midnight as November opens and by 9:30 p.m. at month’s end. Jupiter grows in size during the month, offering observers with a telescope fine views of the planet’s Red Spot, cloud belts and satellites.

Saturn rises in the east during early evening hours and spends the month moving from Orion towards Taurus. Saturn is tilted so that some of the most favorable viewing of its fabled ring system occurs over the next several months.

Uranus and Neptune are up late at night nestled among the stars of Capricornus on the western horizon. A powerful pair of binoculars should allow you to differentiate the greenish disk of Uranus and the bluish disk of Neptune from stars of the same size and magnitude.

Pluto is lost to view during November.

Our celestial neighbors

There’s a new kid in the neighborhood! California Institute of Technology astronomers, using the 48-inch telescope at Palomar Observatory, recently reported finding the largest solar system object since the discovery of Pluto in 1930.

Quaoar (Kwa-whar), named after an American Indian god, has a diameter of 745 miles, making it roughly one-half the size of Pluto. Quaoar is 4 billion miles from Earth, orbits the Sun every 288 years, and is a resident of the Kuiper belt, a region of comet nuclei and other icy debris located beyond the orbit of Neptune.

Quaoar, a ball of ice and rock, has an importance beyond the fact it has taken so long to discover it. Its size and location calls into question the planetary status of Pluto, which many have argued should simply be listed as a Kuiper belt object. “Quaoar definitely hurts the case for Pluto being a planet,” says Michael Brown, one of its discoverers. Pluto likely will keep its status for now since it can brag about having a satellite, Charon, something none of the other objects in the region appear to possess.

November events

1 Sunrise, 6:13 a.m.; sunset, 4:24 p.m.

2 Look for the thin crescent moon to the upper left of Mars at dawn.

4 New moon, 3:35 p.m. The moon is at perigee, or closest approach to Earth. This combination of sun, moon, and Earth alignment with perigee often leads to abnormally high tides.

11 Moon in first quarter, 3:52 p.m. This also is Martinmas, a cross-quarter day celebrated in Scotland roughly corresponding to the more common cross-quarter day celebration of Halloween.

16 Moon at apogee, or greatest distance from the Earth, today.

17 The Leonid meteor shower is expected to peak somewhere between the 17th and 19th of the month. This year’s display is unlikely to rival last year’s spectacular storm and a nearly full moon will wash out some of the display. The best time reported for American viewers are the predawn hours of Nov. 19 but it is recommended that meteor buffs check out the skies every day for the unpredictable Leonids.

20 Full moon, 8:35 p.m. The full moon of November is called the Frost Moon or Beaver Moon. A penumbral eclipse of the moon also will occur tonight.

21 Look for the just past full moon to the immediate northwest of Saturn tonight.

22 The sun enters the astrological sign of Sagittarius.

23 Astronomically the sun enters Scorpius although, astrologically, it just has entered Sagittarius.

26 The southeast horizon at dawn features brilliant Venus with Mars to the upper right. Slightly above and to the right of the Red Planet is Spica.

27 Moon in last quarter, 10:46 a.m.

30 The sun enters Ophiuchus, however this is not one of the traditional houses of the zodiac. Sunrise, 6:51 a.m.; sunset, 3:57 p.m.