44 NOVEMBER 2019 • SKY & TELESCOPE
Mercury
Saturn
Uranus
Neptune
10 "
Nov 1 11 21 30
116 30
11630
16
16
Venus
Jupiter
Mars
NOVEMBER 2019 OBSERVING
Planetary Almanac
The Sun and planets are positioned for mid-November; the colored arrows show the motion of each during the month. The Moon is plotted for evening dates in the Americas when it’s waxing (right
side illuminated) or full, and for morning dates when it’s waning (left side). “Local time of transit” tells when (in Local Mean Time) objects cross the meridian — that is, when they appear due south and
at their highest — at mid-month. Transits occur an hour later on the 1st, and an hour earlier at month’s end.
The table above gives each object’s right ascension and declination (equinox 2000.0) at 0h Universal Time on selected dates,
and its elongation from the Sun in the morning (Mo) or evening (Ev) sky. Next are the visual magnitude and equatorial diameter.
(Saturn’s ring extent is 2.27 times its equatorial diameter.) Last are the percentage of a planet’s disk illuminated by the Sun and
the distance from Earth in astronomical units. (Based on the mean Earth–Sun distance, 1 a.u. is 149,597,871 kilometers, or
92,955,807 international miles.) For other dates, see skyandtelescope.com/almanac.
PLANET VISIBILITY Mercury: visible at dawn after the 18th • Venus: visible at dusk all
month • Mars: visible at dawn all month • Jupiter: visible at dusk all month • Saturn: visible at
dusk, sets early evening
PLANET DISKS have south up, to match the
view in many telescopes. Blue ticks indicate the
pole currently tilted toward Earth.
PEGASUS
CAPRICORNUS
AQUARIUS
Fomalhaut
Rigel
Betelgeuse
CANIS
MAJOR
PISCES
Sirius
ORION
Pleiades
CANCER
TAURUS
Pollux
Castor
Procyon
Arcturus
Vega
CORVUS
GEMINI
VIRGO
BOÖTES
HERCULES
CYGNUS
LIBRA
Spica
LEO
HYDRA
Regulus
SCORPIUS
OPHIUCHUS
SAGITTARIUS
AQUILA
ERIDANUS CETUS
ARIES
10 am 8 am 6 am 4 am 2 am Midnight 8 pm 6 pm 4 pm 2 pm
LOCAL TIME OF TRANSIT
+30°
+40°
–30°
–10°
–40°
+20°
+10°
+30°
–10°
–30°
–40°
RIGHT ASCENSION^12
14 h h 10 h 8 h 6 h 4 h 2 h 0 h 22 h 20 h 18 h 16 h
DE
CL
IN
AT
IO
N
0 ° EQUATOR
+10°
+20°
10 pm
ECLIP
TIC^ Uranus
Neptune
Saturn
Jupiter
Venus
Mars
Nov 3
7
Nov
11 – 12
17
20
23
Mercury^30
44 NOVEMBER 2019 • SKY & TELESCOPE
Date Right Ascension Declination Elongation Magnitude Diameter Illumination Distance
Sun^114 h 22.5m –14° 10′ —–26.8^32 ′^13 ′′ —0.9^93
30 16 h 21.5m –21° 31′ —–26.8 32 ′ 26 ′′ —0.986
Mercury^115 h 37.7m –22° 12′ 20° Ev +0.5 8.6′′ 29% 0.785
11 15 h 08.1m –17° 48′ 2° Ev — 10.0′′ 0% 0.675
21 14 h 38.5m –13° 02′ 17° Mo +0.3 8.2′′ 30% 0.818
30 15 h 02.2m –14° 50′ 20° Mo –0.6 6.4′′ 66% 1.043
Venus 115 h 45.5m –20° 09′ 21° Ev –3.8 10.7 94% 1.565
11 16 h 37.7m –22° 50′ 23° Ev –3.8 10.9′′ 92% 1.526
21 17 h 31.5m –24° 24′ 25° Ev –3.9 11.2′′ 91% 1.484
30 18 h 20.6m –24° 47′ 28° Ev –3.9 11.6′′ 89% 1.443
Mars^113 h 06.7m –6° 12′ 20° Mo +1.8 3.7′′ 99% 2.539
16 13 h 43.4m –9° 55′ 26° Mo +1.8 3.8′′ 98% 2.470
30 14 h 18.6m –13° 10′ 30° Mo +1.7 3.9′′ 98% 2.394
Jupiter 117 h 29.9m –23° 04′ 45° Ev –1.9 33.4′′ 100% 5.903
30 17 h 56.2m –23° 18′ 22° Ev –1.8 32.1′′ 100% 6.141
Saturn 119 h 05.8m –22° 27′ 67° Ev +0.6 16.0′′ 100% 10.384
30 19 h 16.3m –22° 11′ 40° Ev +0.6 15.4′′ 100% 10.768
Uranus^162 h 06.1m +12 ° 14′ 161° Ev +5.7 3.7′′ 100% 18.889
Neptune^1623 h 08.9m –6° 36′ 113° Ev +7.9 2.3′′ 100% 29.539
November Sun & Planets