Dr. Rishi Shah

The clear, chilly night skies of this month will display some major planets and shining stars that carve out charming constellations for bejeweling the heavens. The elusive planet Mercury could be glanced at in the early morning before sunrise in the eastern sky during the month's beginning. It will be out of view later in the month because of its nearness to the Sun. It would be scurrying across Virgo (maiden), Libra (scales) and Scorpius (scorpion). Planet Venus could be sighted shortly in the southwestern sky after sunset.

It would be seen sporting with the scintillating stars sketching the constellation Sagittarius (archer). The red planet Mars would be lost in solar glare due to its proximity to the Sun. It would be marching from the south-eastern sector of constellation Virgo (maiden) and through constellation Libra (scales). The two giant perplexing planets Jupiter and ringed Saturn would be entering the eastern sky after nightfall. They could be applauded avidly till late in the night in the southwestern sky among the sibylline stars like Delta Algedi (Kuber) that draw the eastern corner and the western flank of triangle-mimicking constellation Capricornus (sea goat) with star Beta Capricorni (Bhardwaj).

Blue Green Uranus
The blue-green planet Uranus will reach opposition to the sun and earth on 05 November. It would also be making its closest approach (perigee) at a whopping 2.804 billion kilometres to earth with its face being fully illuminated by the Sun. The planet would be relatively more iridescent than any other time of the year and be perceivable almost all night long, from an evening in the eastern sky till the sun up above the southwestern horizon. It would hover at its highest position in the sky around midnight local time.
The earth would slide between and be lined up with Uranus and the Sun. Generally, Uranus would be ambling through the comely constellation Aries (ram). Due to dramatically afar distance, it would allegedly appear as a star-like tiny blue-green dot in all but the most powerful telescopes. It would be floating above the star-asterism depicting the imaginary head of the classy constellation Cetus (sea monster).

The far-away bluish planet Neptune could be appraised from dusk in the south-eastern sky till late in the night in the south-western sky. It could be spotted as a shiny star-like entity in the north-eastern area of the congenial constellation Aquarius (water bearer). The diminutive dwarf planet Pluto could be admired through telescopes in the eastern sky among the stars inhabiting the eastern edge of Sagittarius after evening for a few hours. It would then descend towards the southwestern horizon.

The new moon could be evinced on 04 November on revered Laxmi Puja day. Bhai Tika and Chaat Parva will be celebrated cheerfully on 06 and 10 November 2021 respectively. The full moon would fascinate moon-enthusiasts on 19 November. Its popular sobriquet would be the beaver full moon because during this time of year the beavers would be abundantly available in swamps and frozen rivers. A partial lunar eclipse would take place on this day.

A partial lunar eclipse would transpire when the moon would move into the earth's partial shadow (penumbra) and at times its portion would be submerged into the earth’s tenebrous shadow (umbra). The earth would slip between the moon and Sun and obscure solar light and cast shadow onto the moon's surface. During this type of eclipse, a part of the moon would be inky as it would drift through the earth's shadow. The moon would pass through the earth's shadow between 13:04 and 16:32 hours, creating a partial lunar eclipse.
The greatest eclipse would be in 14:49 hours. The eclipse would be visible from any location where the moon would be above the horizon at eclipse-time, including from Oceania, Eastern Asia, Northern Europe, Indonesia, eastern Russia, Japan, Pacific Ocean, North America, Mexico, Central America and western South America. We would not witness this event since the moon would be beneath the horizon at eclipse-time. Eclipses of the moon would be easy to watch with the unaided eye. Unlike solar eclipses, lunar eclipses would be safe to relish without any special filters for eye protection.

The slow and long-lasting Taurid meteor shower will be occurring annually from late October until December. Meteor showers arise when the earth would traverse through the cloud of dregs originating from the comet. Taurids would be produced by the earth hurtling through remnants left behind by Comet 2P/Encke that would encircle the Sun in barely 3.3 years that was first recorded by French astronomer Pierre Mechain in1786. It was recognised as a periodic comet by German astronomer Johann Franz Encke in 1819. We could behold two unusual separate segments of the shower viz and the North Taurids (20 October – 10 December) and the South Taurids (10 September - 20 November).

The North and South Taurids could have emerged ostensibly from the same petit particles and have been similar in density and character. However, classified as a near-Earth object and potentially hazardous arcane asteroid 2004 TG10 has been arguably accepted to be the source of the Northern Taurids. The asteroid would be a bit larger than one kilometre in diameter. It could be a fair fragment of captivating Comet Encke It would orbit the Sun from a span of 44.88 to 628.311 million kilometres once every three years and four months. During its maximum meagre four meteors per hour is expected during wee hours after midnight at around 01:00 hours on 12 November. The moon in Aquarius would be in around the first quarter phase of the shower's top time, posing no interference in savouring the startling show of shooting stars. South Taurids would be insignificantly just sporadic. Meteors will be exuding from the compelling constellation Taurus (bull).
An average Leonid meteor shower would be exhibiting up to fifteen meteors per hour at its climax on the night of 17 till the morning of 18 November in the eastern sky. Leonids would result from earth plowing through Comet 55P/Tempel-Tuttle’s path littered with bits of debris. When they crash through the earth’s atmosphere, they would burn and vaporise, generating the light-streaks dubbed meteors. The fulgent waxing gibbous moon could drown and wash out many meteors, blocking all but the most coruscating ones.

Meteors would emanate from the so-called sickle (opposite question mark) asterism describing the legendary lion’s mane of the confounding constellation Leo. The shimmering star Regulus (Magha) could be extolled below the radiant. It would be simply seventy-nine light-years away. The comet 55P/Tempel-Tuttle with an orbital period of thirty-three years has been deemed as the progenitor of Leonids. It was independently identified by German astronomer Wilhelm Tempel in 1865 and by American astronomer Horace Parnell Tuttle in 1866. This shower has been uniquely demonstrating its cyclonic peak precisely every 33 years. The shower will run from 06 to 30 November.

NASA’s Lucy Space Probe has been dispatched recently on an ambitious twelve-year journey to eight alluring asteroids. It would be flying by one main-belt asteroid and seven Trojan asteroids, which would be leading ahead or trailing behind Jupiter. Its trajectory would be peculiarly pretzel-shaped. The mission has aptly borrowed its nomenclature from the fossilised female remains of pre-human ancestor Lucy uncovered in Ethiopia in 1974.

The study of the Trojans (that are labelled from Greek mythology) could perhaps unravel the mysteries and glean insights into conundrums surrounding the left-over of pristine primordial materials that had coalesced during the evolution of our Solar System while forming planets. The craft would obtain boosts from Earth’s gravity in 2022 and 2024 and whizz through the inner main-belt asteroid 52246 Donald Johanson (the person who had unearthed Lucy fossil) in 2025.

It would arrive at the L4-Trojans in 2027 and buzz by 3548 Eurybates, 15094 Polymele, 11351 Leucus and 21900 Orus. Lucy will be gravity-assisted anew in 2031 and zoom towards the L5-Trojan swarm and scrutinising the 617 Patroclus with its satellite Menoetius in 2033. Lucy would thereafter be darting between the two Trojan clouds every six years. When meditated mathematically, L4 and L5 would indicate two strangely stable Lagrange points in the Jupiter-Sun system. The cost of this venture would be a sheer 981 million US Dollars.

(Dr. Shah is an academician at
(NAST) and  Patron, Nepal Astronomical Society, NASO)