Sacred monuments

On a barren, windswept plain on the largest of the Orkney Islands looms a mound that is 24 feet high and 115 feet in diameter. It houses a tomb whose main feature is a 36-foot passageway that leads to an inner chamber with an area of 15 square feet. Besides the major chamber there are four side chambers.

The mound, called Maes Howe, is thought to have been built about 2,800 B.C. and the chamber stones, weighing upwards of 30 tons, still fit so tightly that a knife blade cannot be inserted between them. Why it was built is unknown except that part of its function was that of a calendar. Rays from the midwinter setting sun shine down the passageway into the inner chamber. Also a tall standing stone, the Barnhouse, is aligned exactly with the chamber entrance more than 2,100 feet away so that the sun’s rays illuminate it while also flooding down the passage.

The mound was robbed around 1153 by Viking raiders who left graffiti and drawings. One intriguing inscription reads, “Hakon single-handed bore great treasure from this hole.” Another leaves little to the imagination, “Ingigerth is the most beautiful of women.” What was removed from the tomb, and why the Neolithic people on this remote island spent an estimated 100,000 man-hours building it, will likely always be a mystery.

Focus on the planets

Mercury makes an appearance during the latter half of the month very low on the southwest horizon about a half-hour after sunset.

Venus is situated well up on the eastern horizon at dawn where the brilliant planet cannot be mistaken for any other object in the sky at that time.

Mars appears briefly on the eastern horizon just before dawn where it is paired with the star Spica, with the latter being the brighter of the two.

Jupiter follows Venus into the southeastern sky, where the two have an extremely close pairing on the mornings of the 4th and 5th before gradually pulling apart.

Saturn rises in the northeast during the evening hours where it is almost in a straight line with Castor and Pollux to the ringed planet’s upper left.

Uranus rises in the southwest among the stars of Aquarius, where its bluish-green disk is observable with binoculars.

Neptune is located in Capricornus on the southwestern horizon, where its blue-gray disk may be found with a moderately-powerful telescope. Both Uranus and Neptune are more easily found using the finder’s chart in the April issue of Sky & Telescope.

November events

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

2 The moon is at apogee, or farthest distance from the earth, today. Look for the moon directly beneath Saturn during the late evening hours.

5 Look for the extremely close pairing of Venus and Jupiter in the southeast about an hour before sunrise. Moon in last quarter, 12:54 a.m.

9 Jupiter is directly below the waning crescent moon about an hour before dawn. Venus, Spica and Mars lie in descending order below the pair. The moon blots out or occults Jupiter for a time but it occurs during daylight hours, about 11:00 a.m. EST, so likely can’t be seen by viewers in this area.

12 New Moon, 9:25 a.m.

14 The moon is at perigee, or nearest approach to the earth today. The pairing of perigee with the new moon may cause coastal areas to get abnormally high or low tides.

18 The Leonid meteor shower peaks around this date. Although somewhat obscured by the waxing half moon, viewers may expect anywhere from a few to several dozen meteors per hour. The Leonids originate from the “sickle” of Leo the Lion and are swift, bright, and often leave persistent trails.

19 Moon in first quarter, 12:51 a.m.

21 The sun enters the astrological sign of Sagittarius but astronomically is still in Libra.

22 The sun enters Scorpius on the ecliptic.

26 Full Moon, 3:07 p.m. The full moon of November is called the Frost Moon or Beaver Moon.

29 The two stars to the lower left of the moon are Castor and Pollux. Directly below is Saturn. The sun enters Ophiuchus on the ecliptic. This is not one of the traditional twelve houses of the zodiac.

30 The moon is at apogee for the second time this month. Venus is prominent on the pre-dawn eastern horizon. Faint orangish Mars in directly below and Jupiter far to the upper right. Sunrise, 6:51 a.m.; sunset, 3:57 p.m.