Prince George Astronomical Society
7365 Tedford Road V2N 6S2 Prince George, BC, Canada

Stunning picture of a Zodiacal Light or false down, back in mid-March at the Spring Equinox by our member Blair Stunder. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zodiacal_light(also%20called,interplanetary%20dust%20causes%20this%20phenomenon.

FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 20 Whenever Fomalhaut is "southing" (crossing the meridian due south, which it does around 7 p.m. this week), the first stars of Orion are just about to rise above the east horizon for skywatchers in the world's mid-northern latitudes. And, the Pointers of the Big Dipper stand upright low due north, straight below Polaris.

Here's a picture of another very bright comet which you might be able to see it with a pair of binocular, but you’ll have to act soon to see it in the early dawn sky before it gets lost in the Sun’s glare. The comet will be visible from early November into mid December. Picture here shows Comet C/2020 S3 (Erasmus) on 2020-11-16.236 by our member Malhar R. Kendurkar. He took these pictures of comet during his ongoing Global Supernova Sky Survey. ... Information about the images: Orange image is a Mid-Infrared image of a comet to see the nucleus and after reducing data, the core of the comet is clearly visible in the negative image. The third image shows the tails of the comet, i.e Ion Tail and Dust Tail and some jets coming out of it's nucleus. This comet was discovered on the night of September 17th, 2020 by astronomer Nicolas Erasmus during the ATLAS (Asteroid Terrestrial-impact Last Alert System) sky survey. If you want to read more about this comet or have questions about this comet feel free to contact us.! https://www.universetoday.com//enter-comet-s3-erasmus-a-b/

THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 19 Now the Moon forms a flat triangle with Saturn and Jupiter, as shown above. The Moon forever creeps east from hour to hour against the background stars and planets. In the course of the evening, can you see the triangle change shape at all before it sets?

SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 28 This evening the bright, almost-full Moon shines between Aldebaran below it and the Pleiades above it. Off to their left, bright Capella looks on.

FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 27 Bright Jupiter and Saturn are almost as close together now (2.6 apart) as modest, 3rd-magnitude Alpha and Beta Capricorni above them (2.3 apart); see below. Wait for full dark to catch the faint stars.

WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 18 The waxing crescent Moon hangs out with Jupiter and Saturn this evening and tomorrow evening, as shown above. Or so it appears. The Moon is 1.3 light-seconds distant from us, but Jupiter is currently 46 light-minutes away and Saturn is 87 light-minutes distant. Meanwhile Altair (17 light-years away) shines high to the two planets' upper right, about halfway up the sky just after dark: halfway from the horizon to the zenith. ... Altair is the bright eye of Aquila, the Eagle. Just upper right of Altair is 3rd-magnitude Tarazed. Down from there runs Aquila's dim backbone, along the Milky Way if you have a dark enough sky. Most of the Milky Way's glow comes from stars thousands of light-years away. This arrangement reminds me of another Summer Triangle bird, Cygnus the Swan, whose long neck and backbone also run along the Milky Way. Cygnus currently flies high to Aquila's upper right.

TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 17 During twilight this evening, Saturn and Jupiter point diagonally down to the thin crescent Moon low in the southwest, as shown below. A new lunation has begun. Left of the Moon, how many stars of the disappearing Sagittarius Teapot can you still discern? Can you get them all using binoculars?... Late tonight the Leonid meteor shower should be at its peak, and there's no Moon. Best time to watch: from about 3 a.m. until the beginning of Wednesday's dawn. That's when the shower's radiant point, in the Sickle of Leo, climbs high in the southeast. The Leonids have been weak in recent years, but under ideal dark-sky conditions you might count more than a dozen per hour. The numbers will be fewer under light pollution and earlier in the night. (You're guaranteed to see zero Leonids until the radiant rises, around 10 or 11 p.m.) Around 8 or 9 p.m. this week, the Great Square of Pegasus stands at its level, boxy position very high toward the south. (It's straight overhead if you're as far south as Miami.) Its right (western) edge points very far down toward Fomalhaut. Its eastern edge points less directly toward Beta Ceti, less far down.

THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 26 Does the Sun already seem to be setting about as early as it ever will? You're right! We're still nearly a month from the winter solstice on December 21st but the Sun sets its earliest around December 7th if you live near latitude 40 north. And already the Sun sets within only two minutes of that time. A surprising result of this: The Sun actually sets a trace earlier this weekend than on Christmas even though Christmas is around solstice time!... This offset from the solstice date is balanced out by the opposite happening at sunrise:

MONDAY, NOVEMBER 16 Also around 8 p.m., Orion is clearing the eastern horizon. His three-star belt is nearly vertical. High above Orion shines orange Aldebaran. Above Aldebaran is the little Pleiades cluster, the size of your fingertip at arm's length. Capella shines far left of Aldebaran and the Pleiades. Down below Orion, Sirius rises around 10 p.m. No matter where they are, Sirius always follows two hours behind Orion. Or equivalently, one month behind Orion.

WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 25 Mars shines about 5 above the waxing gibbous Moon high in the southeast in early evening, as shown above. These are currently the two closest large celestial bodies; they're 1.3 light-seconds and 5 light-minutes away. Next is the Sun at 8.3 light-minutes. Mercury and Venus are both currently on the far side of the Sun.

TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 24 Mars shines about a fist-width to the upper left of the waxing gibbous Moon this evening, as shown below. Mars has lost two thirds of the brightness it displayed around opposition in early October. But at magnitude 1.4 it's still as bright as Sirius, which will be up and shining low in the southeast after midnight. At that time, Mars will be very high in the southwest.... Around 8 p.m. the Great Square of Pegasus stands level very high toward the south (straight overhead if you're as far south as Miami). Its right (western) edge points very far down toward Fomalhaut. Its eastern edge points less directly toward Beta Ceti, less far down. Now descending farther: If you have a very good view down to the south horizon, and if you're not much farther north than latitude 40 (roughly Denver, New York, or Madrid), picture an equilateral triangle with Fomalhaut and Beta Ceti as its top two corners. Near where the third corner would be (a bit to the right of that point) is Alpha Phoenicis, or Ankaa, in the constellation Phoenix. It's magnitude 2.4, not very bright but the brightest thing in its area. It has a yellow-orange tint; binoculars help confirm this.