Moon names and myths

The full moon of November is commonly known as the Beaver Moon, or the Frost Moon. The former is attributed to the Algonquins and the latter to Colonial Americans. Other American Indian names include the Trader’s Moon (Cherokee), Geese Going Moon (Kiowa) and the Sassafras Moon (Choctaw).

In Europe, the Celts called it the Dark Moon, and for the medieval English it was the Snow Moon. The prize for the longest name has to go to the Dakota Sioux, who called it the Moon When Horns are Broken Off, or to the Winnebago, who called it the Moon When Deer Drop their Antlers.

Focus on the planets

Mercury appears in the evening sky during the last week of November. Look for the innermost planet very low in the southwest about a half-hour after sunset.

Venus shines brightly low in the southwest, setting about an hour after the sun as the month opens. The planet gains both height and brilliance during November and once again becomes the brilliant “evening star” in December.

Mars is still prominent and high in the southern sky during the evening hours. It is still bright enough to overpower the faint stars in its vicinity, but has ceded the title of brightest planet to Venus.

Jupiter rises in the east around 2 a.m. However, the best time to view the gas giant is when it is high in the southeast during the morning twilight hours.

Saturn precedes Jupiter on the eastern horizon, coming into view by 8 p.m. as the month begins. The two bright stars accompanying Saturn are Castor and Pollux of Gemini. The rings of Saturn are particularly well situated this month for telescopic viewing.

Uranus is to the west of Mars in the constellation of Aquarius. On Nov. 1, Uranus is located midway between and above the moon and Mars, where it can be seen with the aid of binoculars.

Neptune lies farther to the west of Mars than does Uranus, located in the constellation of Capricornus. A finder’s chart and low-powered telescope should bring the far-distant planet into view.

Pluto is lost in the glare of the sun this November.

Our celestial neighborhood

Long before the Europeans landed on these shores, American Indians had built a rich mythology around constellations of their own making, writes Damond Benningfield in StarDate Magazine. One of these, the Lakota Race Track, is an oval that mirrors the geographic outline of the Black Hills and is, for the most part, represented on this month’s star chart.

It encompasses Rigel, the Pleiades, Capella, Castor and Pollux, Procyon and Sirius. The latter pair, Procyon in Canis Minor and Sirius in Canis Major, lie just below the southeastern horizon at roughly 9 p.m., the time chart depicts. Later in the evening, the entire oval, which represents a track around which the gods race to determine the fate of humankind, comes into view.

November events

1 Sunrise, 6:13 a.m.; sunset, 4:24 p.m.; moon in first quarter, 11:26 p.m.

2 Venus is low on the southwestern horizon about 30 minutes after sunset. Red Antares is to the left, and slightly above Venus. Later, around 8 p.m., Mars shines high in the south to the upper left of the moon. The solitary star below them is Fomalhaut.

8 Full moon, 8:13 p.m. A total eclipse of the moon takes place this night. Totality is listed as lasting from 8:06 p.m. to 8:31 p.m. Look to the east during mid-totality for the beautiful “copper-red penny” of the moon.

10 The moon is at apogee, or the farthest distance from Earth this night.

13 Saturn is to the moon’s right this evening. On the opposite side of the moon is Pollux and immediately above its twin, Castor.

17 Moon in last quarter, 11:16 p.m. The Leonid meteor shower will peak over the next few nights. Look for the display to begin around 11 p.m., when Leo the Lion rises, and to reach a peak of 20 meteors per hour after midnight.

22 The sun enters the astrological sign of Sagittarius but, astronomically, is set to enter Scorpius on Nov. 23.

23 New moon, 5:59 p.m. The moon is at perigee, or closest approach to Earth, and the combination of these two events could lead to abnormally high tides. A total eclipse of the sun occurs on this day, but you’d have to be in Antarctica to see it.

25 Look to the southwest about 30 minutes after sunset for a view of the thin crescent moon, with Venus to its right. Well to the lower of the pair, Mercury hovers just above the horizon.

30 The sun enters Ophiuchus on the ecliptic. This is not one of the traditional 12 houses of the sun. The moon is in its first quarter at 12:16 a.m., the second time this phase occurs in November. Sunrise, 6:51 a.m.; sunset, 3:57 p.m.