00:00Here's four reasons to look up over the coming month.
00:02First up, the waning moon dives into the heart of the constellation Leo for a spectacular rendezvous with Mars, Jupiter,
00:09and the blue-white star Regulus overnight on November 2nd to 3rd as a stellar hive shines on nearby.
00:15Look to the eastern sky an hour before midnight to see the moon shining approximately one degree from the twinkling
00:20light of Regulus.
00:21Jupiter will shine less than five degrees above the moon for viewers in the US, with the red light of
00:26Mars forming a line beyond, pointing away to the shimmering mass of gravitationally bound stars that form the Beehive Cluster
00:33at the center of the constellation Cancer.
00:35Next up, the southern torrid meteor shower's fireball spawning component reaches peak activity overnight on November 4th to 5th, when
00:41up to five shooting stars could be seen each hour under ideal dark sky conditions as Earth passes through the
00:47trail of debris left behind by comet 2P, Inc.
00:50Southern torrids appear to shoot away from a patch of sky in the constellation Taurus, which rises high above the
00:55southern horizon around midnight and early November.
00:58The shower is also known for producing spectacular fireballs as pebble-sized meteoroids collide with Earth's atmosphere while traveling at
01:0465,000 miles per hour.
01:07Our third entry is a dazzling close approach between Mars and Jupiter that unfolds in the eastern sky around midnight
01:12on November 15th to 16th, shortly before the Leonids come to their peak.
01:16The pair will be separated by a single degree as they shine together in the August night sky.
01:21The planets will be close enough to share the field of view of a pair of 10 by 50 binoculars,
01:26but two widely separated to observe at the same time with a six-inch telescope,
01:30which can help reveal the colossal cloud bands lining Jupiter's surface, along with the four brightest moons Io, Europa, Ganymede,
01:37and Callisto, which are also known as the Galilean moons.
01:39Finally, the November full moon reaches maximum illumination at 9.53 am EST on November 24th, as the lunar disk
01:48sits opposite the sun and Earth's sky, appearing fully lit by its rays.
01:52Now, November's full moon is traditionally known as the Beaver Moon, because it rises around the time that the small
01:57mammals take refuge in their dens, having stored enough food to survive the long winter.
02:01It also happens to be the first of three consecutive supermoons, the non-scientific term that's often bestowed on full
02:08moons that occur when the natural satellite is within 90% of perigee, as the moon passes closest to Earth
02:13in its elliptical orbit.
02:15The proximity can make a supermoon appear 14% larger and 30% brighter than the smallest full moon of
02:21the year, according to NASA.
02:22Sadly, the moon will be below the horizon for viewers in the US at the time it turns full at
02:279.53 am EST on November 24th.
02:30Instead, viewers in America will get their best view of the near-full beaver moon as it arcs towards the
02:35western horizon in the pre-dawn hours of November 24th, just a few hours earlier.
02:40The moon will also appear fully lit to the casual observer on the evenings of November 23rd and November 24th,
02:46so there's no need to miss out if you struggle with those early mornings.
